Hubert Kairuki Memorial University Department of Behavioral Sciences

ALFRED ADLER; Individual Psychology

Facilitators:Dr. A. J Liwa

Prof . MasalakulangwaDr. Kate

Gail PohlmanDr. Gates

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TOPIC:DEVELOPMENT OF BEHAVIOUR ALFRED ADLER’S PSYCHOLOGY October 15th , 2014 Presenters: Dorcas Peter Thomas Jackson Edmund Issae

Alfred adler’s psychology based on psychodynamic

approach (theory)

What determines one’s behavior? Psychodynamic approach practitioners

believe that sexual and aggressive impulses(forces) buried deep within the unconscious mind influence the way people think, feel or behave.

PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH ASSUMPTIONS

Our behavior and feelings are powerfully

affected by unconscious motives. Our behavior and feelings as adults

(including psychological problems) are rooted in our childhood experiences.

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All behavior has a cause( usually unconscious),even slips of the tongue. Therefore all behavior is determined.

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Personality is shaped as two instinctual drives(the sexual & life instinct and aggressive drive & death instinct) are modified by different conflicts at different times in childhood(during psychosexual development)

Alfred adler

Birth February 7th ,1870 Death May 28th ,1937 Best known for:

1. Individual psychology2. The concept of inferiority complex3. President of the Vienna psychoanalytic

society,1910. Adler himself was the second in a family

of six children.

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Alfred Adler’s theory states that all of us are born with a sense of inferiority as evidenced by how weak and helpless a newborn is. By this Adler was able to explain that this inferiority is a crucial part of our personality, in the sense that it is the driving force that pushes us to strive in order to become superior.

Adler’s psychology: environmental/societal factors and

forces Adler shifted the grounds of psychological

determinacy from sex and libido (the Freudian standpoint) to environmental factors.

. According to him a person has to combat or confront three forces - (a) societal, (b) love-related, and (c) vocational forces. These confrontations determine the final nature of a personality.

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Adler also considers birth order as a major factor in the development of our personality. He believed that :

The first born children may feel inferior and may even develop inferiority complex once the younger siblings arrive.

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Middle born children have the greatest potential to be successful in life. These children would cause the first born to suffer feelings of dethronement, no longer being the centre of attention.

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Youngest children may also develop personality problems of inferiority just like the first born because they feel that they have no say to the older .

Youngest children would tend to be overindulged, leading to poor social empathy.

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Adler never produced any scientific support for his interpretations on birth order roles. Yet the value of the hypothesis was to extend the importance of siblings in marking the psychology of the individual beyond Freud's more limited emphasis on the Mother and Father.

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On Parent education and prevention

Adlerian’s emphasize the foundational importance of childhood in developing personality and any tendency towards various forms of psychopathology.

Adler proselytized against corporal punishment and cautioned parents to refrain from the twin evils of pampering and neglect.

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When children do not feel equal and are enacted upon (abused through pampering or neglect) they are likely to develop inferiority or superiority complexes .

Alderian typology

The Getting or Leaning They are sensitive people who have developed a shell around themselves which protects them, but they must rely on others to carry them through life's difficulties. They have low energy levels and so become dependent.

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When overwhelmed, they develop what we typically think of as neurotic symptoms: phobias, obsessions and compulsions, general anxiety, hysteria, amnesias, and so on, depending on individual details of their lifestyle.

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The Avoiding types are those that hate being defeated. They may be successful, but have not taken any risks getting there. They are likely to have low social contact in fear of rejection or defeat in any way

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The Ruling or Dominant type strive for power and are willing to manipulate situations and people, anything to get their way. People of this type are also prone to anti-social behavior

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The Socially Useful types are those who are very outgoing and very active. They have a lot of social contact and strive to make changes for the good

references

Psychology- The Science Of Mind And Behavior 6th ed by R. Gross

The Science Of Psychology- An Appreciative View.

www.simplypsychology.com Alfred Adler-Wikipedia Adler, A. (1956). The Individual Psychology of

Alfred Adler. H. L. Ansbacher and R. R. Ansbacher (Eds.). New York: Harper Torchbooks.

Bottome, Phyllis (1939). Alfred Adler - Apostle of Freedom. London: Faber and Faber. 3rd Ed. 1957.

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Adler, A., Uber Den Nervosen Charakter: Grundzuge Einer Vergleichenden Individual-Psychologie Und Psychotherapie, (3rd, revised edition, J F Bergmann Verlag, Munich 1922).

Adler, A., Praxis und Theorie der Individual-Psychologie: Vorträge zur Einführung in die Psychotherapie für Ärzte, Psychologen und Lehrer (Bergmann, 1st edn. Wiesbaden 1919, Munich 1920, 2nd edn. 1924, 3rd 1927, 4th 1930).

Adler, A., The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology, translated by P. Radin (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1925; revised edition 1929, & reprints).

Handlbauer, B. (1998). The Freud - Adler controversy. Oxford, UK: Oneworld.