Alfred Adler (1870-1937) was an Austrian psychiatrist who came up with the ideas found in Alderian Psychology, or otherwise known as Individual psychology. Alderian psychology brought forth new ideas to the world of psychology and focused on individuals’ social contexts and the way things like birth order, way of life, etc., play a part in an individual’s behavior and sense of self.
Adler was acquainted with Sigmund Freud, and often attended his seminars and learned a lot from him. However, he deviated from Freud’s iconic couch and instead used two chairs to try to create a feel of equality for him and his patients. He came up with a theory of three life tasks: love, occupation, and society. He believed that these three ideas coincide with
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On the contrary, when we feel discouraged, we will tend to act negatively in ways such as becoming competitive or giving up. He believed that human behavior patterns were strongly influenced by feelings of acceptance and encouragement by others. This theory entirely makes sense, in the way that if you think about it, we act like this almost every day. When we feel like people appreciate us and acknowledge the things we do, we generally feel more optimistic and confident. According to Henry Stein, an Alderian psychologist, Alderian psychology has seven main concepts1: Unity of the individual (thoughts and emotions correlating with life patterns), goal orientation (how realistic one’s goals are and the intentions of such goals), self-determination and uniqueness (how our goals are influenced), social context (how we as humans play a part in society), feelings of community (feeling of acceptance in social settings), mental health (overall feeling of mental wellbeing), and treatment. One of the main ideas throughout Alderian psychology is a person’s ability to cope with feelings of inferiority towards people around them. He wrote a book titled Über den nervösen Charakter (The Neurotic Character) in which he explained that he believed that personality could be explained teleologically (by showing the purpose). Adler …show more content…
As for myself, I’m an only child and according to Adler, only children tend to feel more at ease around adults, be more mature, and do well in intellectual activities. I think that’s a pretty accurate description for myself. I think that the birth order theory can be a useful tool for people like teachers or school counselors to maybe help give an idea why certain children act the way they do.
Alfred Adler’s name usually isn’t very well known outside the realms of psychology, but he actually contributed a lot more than we think. His work later influenced other psychologists such as Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. He essentially made a name for himself by bringing forth the idea that people have the ability to change their state of well-being, change their lives, and also be in control of their own mental health. He also has a few schools named after him, one being the Adler Graduate School, and another the Adler School of Professional
With a nod to a psychodynamic approach that recognizes the influence of past events—and more importantly, how those events are interpreted—Adlerian theory postulates that most problems are social in nature, with the dynamic among the family being one of the
The relationship between personality and resilience has become a topic of interest due to the prevalent concept that some people are less vulnerable to the impacts of stress and recover faster from stress. Personality is regarded as a crucial factor that affects the behavioral aspects of humans in their social and personal life. The personality of an individual represents different patterns of behaviors that are relatively predictable and stable. In this perspective, personality can be seen as an expression of distinction from one person to the other and allows for the enables in the prediction of relative behaviors in various situations. Personality type is regarded as a psychological method of classifying various types of people. Personality
Alder is the founder of the Individual Psychology Therapy. This theory is developed from Freud’s psychodynamic theory and is considered one of the three major contributors to psychodynamic therapies. The beginning of the 20th century, the Adlerian therapy is a type of psychoanalysis known as the Individual Psychology therapy (IP), broke free from the Freudian school as a result rejecting Freud’s driven view of human nature. Adlerians have a calculated view of human nature. The terms Individual Psychology and Adlerian Psychology are interchangeable throughout this paper. Many other individuals have contributed to the Individual Psychology Theory. Alfred Adler’s development of the Individual Psychology therapy is a theory composed of personality and maladjustments (Watts, 2015). The medical model orientation to
Adler’s view of human nature is optimistic, in that he believed that all individuals are driven (motivated) to assist other individuals, that they display compassion towards their fellow man. This drive is unconscious and it is part of the individual’s personality (Carducci, 2009). His theory is based on social interest thus it can be applied to most domains of an individual’s life, as human beings are social creatures. According to Adler, an individual does not only strive for perfection for their own gain, but they also strive for perfection in order to successfully contribute to society (Carducci, 2009). Individual psychology is practical within the family and educational system (within schools), and will be discussed in more detail in section B of the assignment (Carducci, 2009). Individual psychology focuses on mental health, rather than on mental illness. Individual psychology shaped what we know today as group counselling, parent education, and family systems therapy. Individual psychology also contributed to community mental health (it showed how important social interest are). Individual therapy is brief, flexible and it is integrative (Gregoire & Jungers, 2007). Individual psychology can easily be combined with other therapies as individual psychology influenced most therapies that developed after it. Individual psychology can be almost applied to all aspects of the individual’s life, as individual psychology main focus is on the individual’s social interest and their contribution towards society (Seligman & Reichenberg,
As a future counselor, I have enjoyed learning about the different techniques and theories of counseling. Understanding each approach is important but I believe that the counselors self knowledge of her or his own values, worldviews and life philosophy is just as important for the counselor to do the job effectively. Each theory that we learned about, I could see being helpful to different people, their circumstance and individual problem. I can see myself using different parts of each in my future career. Currently, I more drawn to the Adlerian theory. I understand and agree when Adler believed that people do have the ability to monitor and control the direction of their lives.The unconscious shapes personality,
Massey, R. F. (1986). Erik Erikson: New-Adlerian. Individual Psychology: The Journal of Adlerian Theory, Research & Practice, 42(1), 65. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Jungian psychology, also referred to as analytical psychology, is a branch of psychology founded by Carl Jung. Carl Jung was an early supporter of Freud because of their shared interest in the unconscious. In fact, Freud admired Jung and saw a lot of potential in him. In 1910, the International Psychoanalytical Association was formed and Jung became president at the request of Freud. However, in 1912, Jung publicly criticized Freud’s theory of the Oedipus Complex and his emphasis on phases of infantile sexuality. The following year this led to an irrevocable dispute between them, which in the end led Jung to develop his own version of psychoanalytic theory.
Stein, H. T. and Edwards, M. E. Classical Adlerian theory and practice. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/hstein/theoprac.htm, Aug. 21, 1998: 1-19.
Adler’s concept of superiority striving is also demonstrated here after viewing her grades from first year as demoralizing. A bit of an inferiority complex seems to have developed thoughout the semesters, due to her feeling incompetent and sometimes is exaggerated so that she thinks it’s almost impossible for her to achieve anything. Freud’s perspective might see this instead as a defense mechanism of sublimation. Turning negative urges into socially acceptable motivations. Even as her heart feels heavy and she feels inadequate, she turns this into motivations to do better and energy to work more. For example, after a midterm the normal college student might go and relax a little, but she’ll probably overanalyze it and think about the number of possible questions she got wrong and instead of letting herself rest, she’ll immediately start working on an assignment or essay or studying for another midterm and even ignore eating because she won’t feel like she deserves rest or relaxation.
Jung became an assistant at the Burgholzli Mental hospital, a famous medical hospital in Zurich. He studied under, and was influenced by Eugen Bleuler, a famous psychiatrist who defined schizophrenia. Jung was also influenced by Freud, with whom he later became good friends. Their relationship ended when Jung wrote a book called "Symbols of Transformation." Jung disagreed with Freud's fundamental idea that a symbol is a disguised representation of a repressed wish (Heaney, 1994). After splitting up with Freud, Jung had a 2 year period of non-productivity, but then he came out with his "Psychological Types," a famous work. He went on several trips to learn about primitive societies and archetypes. His explorations included trips to Africa, New Mexico to study Pueblo Indians, and to India and Ceylon to study eastern philosophy. He studied religious and occult beliefs like I Ching, a Chinese method of fortune telling. Alchemy became one of his interests during his journeys. His book, "Psychology and Alchemy," published in 1944, is among his most important writings. In this study, he told about the human mind. One of his methods was word association. This is when a person is given a series of words and asked to respond to them. Abnormal response or hesitation can mean that the person has a complex about that word. His basic belief was in complex or analytical psychology. The goal is psychosynthesis, or the unification and differentiation of the psyche (mind). He believed that the mind started out as a whole and should stay that way. That answered structural, dynamic, developmental questions. Jung is best known for his theory of "The three levels of the mind" (Aurelio, 1995).
Alfred Adler, an Austrian psychiatrist and former disciple of Freud, acknowledge environmental influences such as social class, geographic origin and relationship with parents as factors in the development of personality. But it was birth order and relationship with siblings that was the single most reliable predictor of human nature (Udall).
Carl Jung was a well-known and influential psychologist of the 20th century. He founded many psychological ideas such as extroverted and introverted personalities, archetypes, and the collective unconscious. Jung’s main focus, within his studies, was psychology but he also incorporated other subjects such as religion, mythology, and alchemy. He developed a rapid interest in alchemy late in life, after having a vivid dream about a library of archaic books. He eventually came to have a library like this as his own. After intensive research, Carl Jung adapted the notion that alchemy was a metaphor for the psychological processes rather than being an actual alchemical experiment. Some of his developed ideas included the thought that the contents of the alchemists’ psyche became unconsciously projected on the materials. Jung was able to align alchemical symbols with his theories in psychology, creating further and in depth ideas. He also believed that the alchemical language, which was used during experiments or later to describe them, was an expression of the psychological processes. Formulating his own perspective on the ideas of alchemy was the turning point in Carl Jung’s career, leading to a substantial change in his approach to psychology in that he was able to match alchemical symbols with his theory of individuation.
Alfred Adler directed his attention to searching for immediate results to the issues of the patient. The assumption of Adler’s individual psychology is that social factors and goals for the future are the motivating factors in human behavior. It was Adler’s position that people needed to have a sense or a feeling of belonging and that belonging was tied to their social ties (Ferguson, 2010). Individual psychology also makes the assumption that individuals are conscious of their thoughts and feelings and are personally responsible for how they respond or behave in a given situation (Overholser, 2013). Alfred Adler contributions to the theory of personality centered on the importance of society. Adler felt that as humans, individuals are all connected together and through that
Through his psychiatrist work with brain-damaged soldiers, Fritz Perls (Husband to Laura Pearls), established that an approach which would treat patient as functional ‘whole’ would be more effective. He therefore diverted from his traditional psychoanalytic practices, to develop gestalt which he believed would be less discrete. Apart from Sigmund Freud, Reich works on self-understanding and the process of personality change heavily influenced his theories and concepts. Differential thinking as presented by philosopher Friedlander, also played notable and influential role. Fritz nonetheless did...
Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality was the first and main influence for the development of Psychodynamic perspectives. Freud discussed about instincts, anxiety, and defense mechanism, levels of personality, structure of personality and psycho sexual developments of a child. Freud believed, the childhood experiences will affect to lead the future life. Freud’s psychotherapy is called psychoanalysis. After Freud’s personality theory was developed by neo Freudians like Carl Jung and Alfred Adler, Anna Freud. Carl Jung focused on the ego, the personal unconscious and collective unconscious, extraversion and introversion and archetypes. Alfred Adler presented the ideas on Superiority complex Inferiority complex social interest, psychological types, faulty life styles and the Birth order.