Alfred adler what is individual psychology

However, Adler emphasized that what matters most is how the individual experiences the weakness of their organ inferiority. In addition to the style of life that can result from organ inferiority or perceived organ inferiority , Adler discussed two other factors that commonly lead to dysfunctional styles of life, and which can be attributed primarily to parental influence: pampering and neglect. The pampered style of life was of particular concern to Adler. He was not referring to children who are loved and cared for intimately, but to children whose parents constantly hover over them, solve every problem, and relieve the child of any duties or responsibilities.

As a result, the child never learns to take care of itself or to interact with others in a cooperative manner.

The more deeply I have delved into the problem of neurosis and searched the cases presented, the more clearly have I come to see that in every individual with a neurosis some degree of pampering can be traced…Under such circumstances the child develops like a parasite… pp. In other words, they simply do not function well in relationship to others because they have never had to. As for the neglected child, one who is unwanted, they have had no opportunity for social interaction whatsoever since their own family fails to interact with them.

In cases of suicide, Adler believed that even death can be desired as a means of revenge against those who have hurt or neglected a child by showing others what they have lost in the one they failed to love Adler, Adler believed that the right way to achieve superiority was through social interest and the cooperation that naturally follows. This is not some high-minded philosophy, however, but simple reality. All persons feel inadequate in certain situations. They feel overwhelmed by the difficulties of life and are incapable of meeting them single-handed.

Hence one of the strongest tendencies in man has been to form groups in order that he may live as a member of a society and not as an isolated individual. This social life has without doubt been a great help to him in overcoming his feeling of inadequacy and inferiority. We know that this is the case with animals, where the weaker species always live in groups…On the other hand, gorillas, lions, and tigers can live isolated because nature has given them the means of self-protection.

A human being has not their great strength, their claws, nor their teeth, and so cannot live apart. Thus we find that the beginning of social life lies in the weakness of the individual. This evolutionary perspective provides an explanation for the paradox that Individual Psychology is focused largely on social relationships! Once again, we know though perhaps unconsciously that alone we are weak and inferior, but together we can accomplish great things. In the meantime, however, he acknowledges that many things still oppose it and work to destroy the social feelings and social interest of children, such as sexism, racism, poverty, crime, the death penalty, suicide, greed, mistreatment of the poor, the handicapped, and the elderly, and all forms of prejudice, discrimination, and intolerance Adler, It is not an easy challenge facing humanity, but Adler suggested that the path toward harmony lies, in part, in recognizing the three main ties that every person must take into account.

First, we are tied to this one world, the earth. We must learn how to survive here, given whatever advantages and disadvantages that means.

Second, we are not the only member of the human race. Through cooperation and association, we can find strength for all and we can ensure the future of humanity. Finally, we must accept that there are two sexes. For Adler, this last tie is resolved primarily through love and marriage. Otherwise, love is a word used without meaning. Adler proposed that if we give meaning to life through the recognition of these three ties to our environment, then others can share in our meaning of life and the benefit will then return to us Adler, a.

In more practical terms, social interest is evident in cooperation. In order for an individual to overcome their own feelings of inferiority, they must know that they are valuable, which comes only from contributing to the common welfare.

Adler felt that those who seek personal power are pursuing a false goal, and they will eventually disappear from life altogether. Individual psychology is based on the premise that when a person realizes that the common good is essential to the development of humanity, then they will pursue personal development that is in accord with the greater good.

They will recognize both the good and challenges that come their way as belonging to all, and they will cooperate in seeking to solve the challenges. In American society, work is often done by teams. The short definition of a team is two or more individuals, with different roles, who socially interact in order to pursue some common goal. Teams can lead to successful outcomes in a wide variety of settings, such as in software development, Olympic hockey, disease outbreak responses, or the unexpected damage to a spacecraft, like Apollo Given the importance of teamwork, both in personal settings and within organizations, there has been a great deal of research on teams, addressing cognitive, motivational, and behavioral factors, as well as information on effective team design, team training, and team leadership.

Despite the wealth of information on both the positive and negative factors involved in teamwork, there is an interesting contradiction in the Western world:. There are two components of these feelings of inferiority: primary and secondary.

This feeling is productive, as it provides motivation for the child to develop. Secondary inferiority, on the other hand, is the inferiority feeling in the adult results when the child develops an exaggerated feeling of inferiority p.

These feelings in the adult are what is harmful, and they comprise the inferiority complex. The superiority complex occurs when a person has the need to prove that he is more superior than he truly is.

When this child is treated through psychotherapy, it is revealed that the child behaves in this impatient manner because he feels inferior. However, he did recognize patterns that often formed in childhood and could be useful in treating patients who fit into them. He called these patterns styles of life. The term birth order refers to the order in which the children of a family were born. Adler b, pp. Second-born children are constantly in the shadow of their older siblings.

If the second-born is encouraged and supported, he will be able to attain power as well, and he and the first-born will work together. Youngest children operate in a constant state of inferiority. They are constantly trying to prove themselves, due to their perceptions of inferiority relative to the rest of their family.

According to Adler, there are two types of youngest children. Another, more unfortunate type of youngest child does not excel because he lacks the necessary self-confidence. This child becomes evasive and avoidant towards the rest of the family. The following section is a summary of the six stages of Adlerian psychotherapy, which was developed by Stein and Edwards For the psychotherapy to be effective, it is essential that the therapist and the client commence with a healthy working relationship.

This bond is created by genuine warmth and compassion expressed by the therapist, in addition to the trust of the client in the relationship. The therapist must conduct a thorough assessment of the client in order to develop an effective therapeutic process. There is one central personality dynamic derived from the growth and forward movement of life itself. It is a future-oriented striving toward a goal of significance, superiority, or success.

In mental health, it is a realistic goal of socially useful significance or superiority over general difficulties. In mental disorders, it is an unrealistic goal of exaggerated significance or superiority over others. The early childhood feeling of inferiority, for which one aims to compensate, leads to the creation of a fictional final goal which subjectively seems to promise future security and success. The depth of the inferiority feeling usually determines the height of the goal which then becomes the "final cause" of behavior patterns.

A person's fictional goal may be influenced by hereditary and cultural factors, but it ultimately springs from the creative power of the individual, and is consequently unique. Usually, individuals are not fully aware of their goal. Through the analysis of birth order, repeated coping patterns, and earliest memories, the psychotherapist infers the goal as a working hypothesis.

As an indivisible whole, a system, the human being is also a part of larger wholes or systems -- the family, the community, all of humanity, our planet, and the cosmos. In these contexts, we meet the three important life tasks: occupation, love and sex, and our relationship with other people -- all social challenges.

Our way of responding to our first social system, the family constellation, may become the prototype of our world view and attitude toward life. Each human being has the capacity for learning to live in harmony with society.

This is an innate potential for social connectedness which has to be consciously developed. Reference work entry First Online: 22 April How to cite. Synonyms Adlerian psychology. This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access. Adler, A. Ansbacher Eds.

Google Scholar. Carlson, J.