ALFRED ADLER

BIOGRAPHY

 Adler was born just outside of Vienna on February 7, 1870. After graduating with a medical
degree in 1895 from the University of Vienna, he began his career as an ophthalmologist, but
soon switched to general practice in a less affluent area of Vienna near an amusement park and
circus.
 Working with people from the circus, Adler was inspired by the performers’ unusual strengths and
weaknesses. It has been suggested that Adler began to develop his insights on compensation
and inferiority during this time.
 Alfred Adler was a physician, psychotherapist, and the founder of Adlerian psychology,
sometimes called individual psychology. He is considered the first community psychologist,
because his work pioneered attention to community life, prevention, and population
health. Adlerian psychology emphasizes the human need and ability to create positive social
change and impact.
 In 1907 Adler was invited to meet with Sigmund Freud. Adler and Freud, along with Rudolf Reitler
and Wilhelm Stekel, began meeting weekly during “Wednesday Night Meetings” that eventually
grew to begin the psychoanalytic movement. Together, they formed the Vienna Psychoanalytic
Society, of which Adler was the first president.
 After serving as a doctor in the Austrian Army in World War I, Adler established a series of child
guidance clinics in Austria and embarked on extensive lecture tours in the United States and
Europe. To significant acclaim, he successfully promoted his psychological concepts emphasizing
social interest, or gemeinschaftsgefühl.
 After his Austrian clinics were closed due to his Jewish heritage, Adler emigrated to the United
States where he began a professorship at the Long Island College of Medicine. In 1937, while on
a lecture tour in Aberdeen, Scotland, with his student and Adler University founder Rudolf
Dreikers, Alfred Adler died of a heart attack. His body was cremated in Edinburgh, but the ashes
were never reclaimed. They were rediscovered in a casket at Warriston Crematorium and
returned to Vienna for burial in 2011.
 Died on May 28,1937

THEORY

 Striving for success or superiority

Adler (1956) proposed our behaviour is driven by only one motivating force – ‘striving
for success’ or superiority. In his early theory, he used the term striving for superiority to
describe psychologically unhealthy people who strive for personal superiority over
others, but he later proposed the term striving for success, i.e. psychologically healthy
people who are motivated by social interest, not just for themselves but for others
around them.
 Inferiority Complex
 Individual psychology assumes that we have physical weaknesses that activate feelings of
inferiority, and it is these feelings that drive us to superiority or success and enable us to
fulfil our potential

An inferiority complex can be expressed as shy and timid, insecure, indecisive and
submissive, reliance on others, even manipulating others to get support; the aim is to
cover up ones inferiority by pretending to be superior
 Subjective Perceptions
According to Adler (1956) we strive toward a final goal to achieve superiority or success.
Although the final goal is fictional it is still significant because it unifies personality and
makes our behaviour logical. We create our fictional goal, constructed by heredity and
environment, using our creative power, i.e. our ability to shape our behaviour and create
our own personality.
 Fictionalism
Our most important fiction is the goal of superiority or success, a goal we created early
in life and may not clearly understand.
Fictional final goal guides our style of life, gives unity to our personality.
 Unity and Self Consistency of Personality
He described a unified personality which can’t be separated, not a series of drives and
instincts, as proposed by Freud. He saw the unconscious and conscious as two
cooperating parts of one unified system. A united personality being closely linked to the
fictional final goal by which we organises our life to achieve a solution to a problem. I.e. a
person has goal and a solution to get there, developed in childhood and handed to the
adult as the major life task, all these parts work together self-consistently to achieve.
 Organ Dialect
Through organ dialect, the body’s organs “speak a language which is usually more
expressive and discloses the individual’s opinion more clearly than words are able to
do.”
 Social Interest
Social interest is how we identify with society, i.e. care in families, community etc. Adler
believed such social interest is not solely innate or solely learned, but a combination of
the two: Its nature is innate but needs to be nurtured to survive (Boeree 2006). Adler
(1927) felt it was the natural inferiority of individuals that directs their behaviour to form
groups (society) for protection, support, love etc. That is, social interest is necessary for
perpetuating the human race. Adler (1924) believed that we were social beings:
Gemeinschaftsgefühl
 Style of Life
Style of Life refers to an individual’s striving towards meaning and belonging. It is a
pattern of behaviour that begins early in life and forms a theme there-on. It is the result
 of inferiorities, perceived or actual, and results in the implementation of schemes e.g.
Adler’s final goal to overcome death propelled him to become a doctor.
 Creative Power
Adler believed that each person is empowered with the freedom to create his or her own
style of life. Ultimately, all people are responsible for who they are ad how they behave.
Their creative power places them in control of their lives, is responsible for their final
goal, determines their method of striving for that goal.

Dev concept EXTERNAL FACTORS OF MALADJUSTMENT

1. Exaggerated Physical Deficiencies
Congenital or the result of injury or disorder od disease, are not sufficient to lead to
maladjustment, they must be accompanied by accentuated feelings of inferiority.
2. Pampered Style of Life
Lies at the heart of most neuroses, They have weak social interest but a strong desire
to perpetuate the pampered, parasitic, relationship they originally had with one or
both of their parents.
3. Neglected Style of Life
Abused and mistreated children develop little social interest. They see society as
enemy, feel alienated and has strong sense of envy toward the success of others.

Defense Mech. SAFEGUARDING TENDECIES

1. Excuses
Expressed in the “yes but” or “if only”. These excuses protect a weak but artificially
inflated sense of self worth and deceive people into believing that they are more
superior than they really are.
2. Aggression
People are use aggression to safeguard their exaggerated superiority complex that is
to protect their fragile self esteem.

Types of Aggression
1. Depreciation
Is the tendency to undervalue other peoples achievement and to overvalue one’s
own.
2. Accusation
Is a form of an aggressive safeguarding device, is the tendency to blame others for
one’s failure and to seek revenge, thereby safeguarding one’s one tenous self-
esteem.
3. Self Accusation
 Marked by self torture and guilt, some people use self-torture, including
masochism, depression, and suicide as means of hurting people who are close to
them.
3.Withdrawal
Some people unconsciously escape life’s problems by setting up a distance between
themselves and those problems.
Types of Withdrawal
1. Moving Backward
Tendency to safeguard one’s fictional goal od superiority by psychologically reverting
to a more secure period of life.
2. Standing Still
Similar to moving backward but in general it is not as severe, People who stand still do
not move In any direction thus, they avoid all responsibility by ensuring themselves
against any threat of failure.
3. Hesitating
Their procastinations eventually give them the excuse “its not too late now.”
4. Constructing Obstacles
If they fail to hurdle the barrier to success, they can always resort to an excuse.

Concept of humanity

 Adler believed that people are basically self-determined and that they shape their personalities
from the meaning they give to their experiences. The building material of personality is
provided by heredity and environment, but the creative power shapes this material and puts it
to use. Adler frequently emphasized that the use that people make of their abilities is more
important than the quantity of those abilities. Heredity endows people with certain abilities
and environment gives them some opportunity to enhance those abilities, but we are
ultimately responsible for the use they make of these abilities.
 Adler also believed that people's interpretations of experiences are more important than the
experiences themselves. Neither the past nor the future determines present behavior. Instead,
people are motivated by their present perceptions of the past and their present expectations
of the future. These perceptions do not necessarily correspond with reality, and as Adler
(1956) stated, "meanings are not determined by situations, but we determine ourselves by
the meanings we give to situations"
 People are forward moving, motivated by future goals rather than by innate instincts or causal
forces. These future goals are often rigid and unrealistic, but people's personal freedom allows
them to reshape their goals and thereby change their lives. People create their personalities
and are capable of altering them by learning new attitudes. These attitudes encompass an
understanding that change can occur, that no other person or circumstance is responsible for
what a person is, and that personal goals must be subordinated to social interest.
  Adler believed that ultimately people are responsible for their own personalities. People's
creative power is capable of transforming feelings of inadequacy into either social interest or
into the self-centered goal of personal superiority. This capacity means that people remain
free to choose between psychological health and neuroticism. Adler regarded self-
centeredness as pathological and established social interest as the standard of psychological
maturity. Healthy people have a high level of social interest, but throughout their lives, they
remain free to accept or reject normality and to become what they will.

Critique
Adler's theory, like that of Freud produced many concepts that do not easily lend themselves to either
verification or falsification. For example, although research has consistently shown a relationship
between early childhood recollections and a person's present style of life (Clark, 2002), these results
do not verify Adler's notion that present style of life shapes one's early recollections. An alternate,
causal explanation is also possible; that is, early experiences may cause present style of life. Thus,
one of Adler's most important concepts—the assumption that present style of life determines early
memories rather than vice versa—is difficult either to verify or falsify.

How well does Adlerian theory organize knowledge into a meaningful framework? In general,
individual psychology is sufficiently broad to encompass possible explanations for much of what is
known about human behavior and development. Even seemingly self-defeating and inconsistent
behaviors can be fit into the framework of striving for superiority. Adler's practical view of life's
problems allows us to rate his theory high on its ability to make sense out of what we know about
human behavior.

The concept of creative power is a very appealing one. Probably most people prefer to believe that
they are composed of something more than the interactions of heredity and environment. Many
people intuitively feel that they have some agent (soul, ego, self, creative power) within them that
allows them to make choices and to create their style of life. As inviting as it is, however, the concept
of creative power is simply a fiction and cannot be scientifically studied. Due to lack of operational
definitions, therefore, we rate individual psychology low on internal consistency.
CARL JUNG

BIOGRAPHY

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung was born July 26, 1875, in Kesswil,
Switzerland. The only son of a Protestant clergyman, Jung was a quiet,
observant child who packed a certain loneliness in his single-child status.
However, perhaps as a result of that isolation, he spent hours observing the
roles of the adults around him, something that no doubt shaped his later
career and work.

Jung's childhood was further influenced by the complexities of his parents. His
father, Paul, developed a failing belief in the power of religion as he grew
older. Jung's mother, Emilie, was haunted by mental illness and, when her
boy was just three, left the family to live temporarily in a psychiatric hospital.

As was the case with his father and many other male relatives, it was
expected that Jung would enter the clergy. Instead, Jung, who began reading
philosophy extensively in his teens, bucked tradition and attended the
University of Basel. There, he was exposed to numerous fields of study,
including biology, paleontology, religion and archaeology, before finally
settling on medicine.

Jung graduated the University of Basel in 1900 and obtained his M.D. two
years later from the University of Zurich.

While attending the University of Zurich, Jung worked on the staff at Burgholzli
Asylum, where he came under the guidance of Eugene Bleuler, a pioneering
psychologist who laid the groundwork for what is now considered classical
studies of mental illness.

At the hospital, Jung observed how different words elicited emotional

responses from patients, which he believed represented subconscious
associations around immoral or sexual content. These observations led the
way for Jung to develop the term "complex" to describe the conditions.

THEORY

DEV.CONCEPT
DEFENSE MECH. ARCHETYPES
Archetypes
1. Persona
-Mask worn by actors in the early theatre.
2. Shadow
Archetype of darkness and repression, represents those qualities we do not wish to
acknowledge but attempt to hide from ourselves and others. \
3, Anima
Humans are psychologically bisexual and possess both masculine and feminine side.
Few men become well acquainted with their anima.
5. Great Mother
Pre existing concept of mother is always associated with both positive and negative
feelings.
6. Wise Old Man
Symbolizes human’s pre existing knowledge of the mysteries of life.
7. Hero
Represented in mythology and legends as a powerful person.
8. Self
The archetype of archetype because it pulls together the other archetypes and units
them in the process of “self realization”

Mandala- ultimate symbol of one self symbolized by a person’s ideas of perfection

completion and wholeness.

DYNAMIC OF PERSONALITY
Causality
Holds that present events have their origin in previous experiences.
Teleology
Holds that present event are motivated by goals aspirations for the future that direct a person’s
destiny.
Progression
Adaptation to the outside world that involves the forward flow of psychic energy inclines a
persons to react consistently to a given set of environmental conditions.
Regression
Adaptation to the inner world relies on a backward flow of psychic energy, backward step in the
successful attainment of a goal.

PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPES
1. Attitudes
Predisposition to act or react in a characteristics direction.

a. Introversion
During inward of psychic energy with an orientation toward the subjective.
b. Extraversion
Attitude distinguished by the turning outward of psychic energy so that a person is
oriented toward the objective and away from the sunjective.

2. Functions
a. Thinking
Logical, intellectual activity that procedures a chain of ideas.
1. Extraverted Thinking
People rely heavily on concrete thoughts but they may also used abstract ideas.
2. Introverted Thinking
People react to external stimuli, but their interpretation of an event is colored
more by the internal meaning they bring with them.
b. Feeling
Used to describe the process of evaluating an idea or event.
1. Extraverted Feeling
People used objected data widely accepted standards of judgement to make
evaluations.
2. Introverted Feeling
People based their judgement primarily on subjective perceptions rather than
objective.
c. Sensing
Functions that receives physical stimuli and transmits them to perceptual
consciousness is called sensation.
1. Extraverted Sensing
People perceive external stimuli objectively in much same way that these
stimulate exist in reality,
2. Introverted Sensing
 People are largely influenced by objective sensations of sight, sound. Taste,
touch.
d. Intuiting
Involves perception beyond the workings of consciousness.
1. Extraverted Intuitive
People are oriented toward facts in the external world.
2. Introverted Intuitive
People are guided by unconsciousness perception of facts that are basically
subjective ang have little or no resemblance to external reality.

Levels of Psyche
Conscious
- Images that are sensed by the ego.
- Ego is the center of consciousness
Personal Unconscious
- Embraces all repressed, forgotten, or sublimely perceived experiences of one particular
individual.
Complexes – is an emotionally toned conglomeration of associated ideas, largely personal,
but they are may also be partly derived from humanity’s collective experience.
Collective Unconscious
- Has roots in the ancestral past of the entire species.

DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY
Stages of Development

1. Childhood
The 'archaic stage' of infancy has sporadic consciousness; then during the
'monarchic stage' of the small child there is the beginning of logical and abstract
thinking, and the ego starts to develop.
a. Anarchic
Characterize by chaotic and sporadic consciousness.
b. Monarchic
Characterized by the development of the ego and by the beginning of
logical and verbal thinking.
 2. Youth & Early Years
From puberty until 35 - 40 there is maturing sexuality, growing consciousness,
and then a realization that the carefree days of childhood are gone forever.
People strive to gain independence, find a mate, and raise a family.
3. Middle Life
The realization that you will not live forever creates tension. If you desperately try
to cling to your youth, you will fail in the process of self-realization. At this stage,
you experience what Jung calls a 'metanoia' (change of mind) and there is a
tendency to more introverted and philosophical thinking. People often become
religious during this period or acquire a personal philosophy of life.
4. Old Age
Consciousness is reduced in the last years, at the same time there is there
acquisition of wisdom. Jung thought that death is the ultimate goal of life. By
realizing this, people will not face death with fear but with the feeling of a "job well
done" and perhaps the hope for rebirth.

CONCEPT OF HUMANITY
Conscious Vs. Unconscious
With the concept of the collective unconscious as the cornerstone of Jung's theory on personality, it
seems obvious that he leaned toward holding an unconscious view of human behavior and
personality. Jung however, did not lean too far.
Determinism Vs. Free Will
He emphasized his belief that there should be a balance between each of the three portions of an
individual's mind in order for the individual to live a healthy life
Causality Vs. Teleology
It is easy to see that previous experiences, especially in childhood, can have a lasting impact on an
adult life. The use of this causal viewpoint as a blanket approach to explaining behavior, though, was
not enough for Jung (Feist & Feist, 2009; Viney & King, 2003). Jung challenged this idea, according
to Feist and Feist (2009) and “criticized Freud for being one-sided in his emphasis on causality and
insisted that a causal view could not explain all motivation”

Optimistic Vs. Pessimistic

The last domain in the concept of humanity to be considered is whether Jung was optimistic in his
views of humanity or pessimistic. Feist and Feist (2009) believed that Jung was neither optimistic nor
pessimistic in his view of humanity. Since Jung was neither pessimistic nor optimistic, it could be
said that here he is again balanced in his views of human nature.

CRITIQUE

Jung’s ideas have not been as popular as Freud’s. This might be because he did
not write from the layman and as such his ideas were not a greatly disseminated
as Freud’s. It may also be because his ideas were a little more mystical and
obscure, and less clearly explained.
On the whole modern psychology has not viewed Jung’s theory of archetypes
kindly. Ernest Jones (Freud’s biographer) tells that Jung “descended into a
pseudo-philosophy out of which he never emerged” and to many his ideas look
more like New Age mystical speculation than a scientific contribution to
psychology.
However, while Jung’s research into ancient myths and legends, his interest in
astrology and fascination with Eastern religion can be seen in that light, it is also
worth remembering that the images he was writing about have, as a matter of
historical fact, exerted an enduring hold on the human mind.
Furthermore, Jung himself argues that the constant recurrence of symbols from
mythology in personal therapy and in the fantasies of psychotics support the idea
of an innate collective cultural residue. In line with evolutionary theory it may be
that Jung’s archetypes reflect predispositions that once had survival value.
However, Jung’s work has also contributed to mainstream psychology in at least
one significant respect. He was the first to distinguish the two major attitudes or
orientations of personality – extroversion and introversion. He also identified
four basic functions (thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuiting) which in a cross-
classification yield eight pure personality types.