The Essentials Of Alfred Adler

’s Theory Of Personality Essay, Research Paper

Alfred Adler studied personality around the time of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung but developed very different

ideas (Cloninger, 1996). Although he changed his theory many times during his lifetime, he always believed people

had control over their lives and made choices concerning themselves. He named his theory Individual Psychology

because he felt each person was unique and no previous theory applied to all people. Adler?s theory is comprised

primarily of four aspects: striving towards superiority, the unity of personality, the development of personality, and

psychological health, which includes intervention.

Motivation of Actions

Adler believed the main goal of all people is to move to a better way of life, although he admits the ways to

achieve this goal varies among people (Cloninger, 1996). He first used the term inferiority complex as being

overcome by feelings of lack of worth. In other words, the person is not achieving their goal to moving positively

in life. People wish to move from feelings of inferiority to superiority. He wrote, “We all wish to overcome

difficulties. We all strive to reach a goal by the attainment of which we shall feel strong, superior, and complete”

(Ansbacher & Ansbacher, 1956). Superior and superiority, in his usage, has a slightly different meaning than what

is commonly thought. It is not necessarily feelings of superiority over others but more along the lines of

self-improvement, such as striving for one?s personal best. He eventually switched from superiority striving to

simply perfection striving. This was the final stage in the development of his theory. Alder also used the word

superiority complex. This complex occurred when a person tried to overcome their inferiority complex by

repressing their actual feelings. They are usually very arrogant and tend to exaggerate their achievements.

Along with the idea of trying to overcome inferiority, Adler claimed that every person had an idea about what their

perfect self would be like (Cloninger, 1996). He called this imagined goal the fictional finalism. Fictional finalism

gives clearer direction as to what decisions to make concerning oneself. Although people may have some idea

about their goal, they rarely fully comprehend it. Also, throughout one?s lifetime the goal may be altered. The

general direction, however, usually remains the same. Adler wrote, “. . .in every mental phenomenon we discover

anew the characteristic of pursuit of a goal, and all our powers, faculties, experiences, wishes and fears, defects

and capacities fall into line with this characteristic” (Ansbacher & Ansbacher, 1956). Adler believed that it was

impossible to understand a person without understanding that person?s fictional finalism.

Unity of Personality

The second aspect of Adler?s theory was the unity of personality (Cloninger, 1996). Psychologists before him,

including Freud, discussed how different parts of a person?s personality are at war with each other. Adler believed

the conscious and unconscious worked in union with one another towards the fictional finalism. Both had the same

goal. Adler claimed that each person has a unique style of life, which not only includes the common goal but also

how the goal is going to be achieved and the person?s concept of one?s self and the world. Styles of life can be

either positive or negative. Adler hated lumping large groups of people into broad categories but felt that

describing basic lifestyles would make the concept easier to understand. His types are only intended to be rough

estimates of the infinitely large number of personalities. Three of the four groups are negative styles of life. These

mistaken styles include the ruling types, the getting types and the avoiding types. The ruling types seek to control

others. They are not all terrible people; because high competitiveness goes along with control, many are high

achievers. They will, however, let others know of their accomplishments and tend to do so in a belittling manner.

Adler called this inclination the deprecation complex. The second type is the getting type. These people are very

dependent on others and take on a passive attitude towards life. Adler wrote that parents who pamper their

children encourage this lifestyle. The third type is the avoiding type. They try to avoid all of life?s problems to

avoid defeat. They are seen as cold and usually prefer to be isolated. This appearance however, usually masked a

superiority belief, albeit a fragile one. The final type is the only healthy lifestyle. It is the socially useful type. These

people believe in doing good for the sake of society. They also believe they have control over their lives. Adler

wrote, “[social interest] must be trained, and it can be trained only if one grows up in relation to others and feels a

part of the whole. One must sense that not only the comforts of life belong to one, but also the discomforts. One

must feel at home on this earth with a

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