The Importance of Feelings of Inferiority
Striving to achieve superiority is an important element of Adlerian theory. Adler believed that feelings of inferiority during the early childhood years have a huge impact on development. Nearly all children experience these feelings, perceiving themselves as smaller and less powerful than their parents and older siblings. The way young children are treated and how they cope with their feelings of inferiority are extremely important in shaping them. It is through mastering an issue, through the attainment of superiority, that one achieves a sense of accomplishment.
Family Constellation and Birth Order
Adler believed that through an examination of the family constellation, we can understand people's lifestyles. By understanding their outlooks on life, we can also understand the roles people have in their families. A family constellation includes the composition of the family, each person's roles, and the reciprocal transactions that a person has, during the early formative years, with siblings and parents. Each child comes to play a role in the family that is determined by the interactions and transactions within that family. Children are affected by both similarities to and differences from their families. Adler says that siblings who are most different from us actually influence us the most. That difference provides us with the opportunity to compare and contrast ourselves with each other, see new possibilities, and rethink the choices and roles we have taken on in our own lives.
Birth order is another aspect of families that has a profound impact on development. Adler broke the birth order down into five psychological positions.
Researchers have found links between birth order and some events that occur in life. For example, younger siblings are more likely to engage in riskier behavior than firstborns and middle children score higher in maladaptive perfectionism.
Birth order is another aspect of families that has a profound impact on development. Adler broke the birth order down into five psychological positions.
- Oldest children tend to be the most intelligent and achieving of the five groups. They tend to be dependable, well organized, and responsible.
- The second child feels the pressure to catch up and compete with the oldest child
- The middle child is often the second child and is likely to manifest many of the strengths of the second-born. Some middle children feel squeezed between older children who have already found their place and younger children who seem to receive more love and attention.
- Youngest children encounter three common pitfalls, 1) they may be pampered and spoiled by the rest of the family, 2) they may feel a need to go at top speed all the time to keep up with their older siblings, or 3) they may become discouraged about competing with their brothers and sisters.
- Only children have much in common with both firstborn and last-born children in that they seek achievement like firstborns and usually enjoy being the center of attention like the youngest.
Researchers have found links between birth order and some events that occur in life. For example, younger siblings are more likely to engage in riskier behavior than firstborns and middle children score higher in maladaptive perfectionism.
Lifestyle &Private Logic
Lifestyle is one of Adler's most fundamental concepts and encompasses four ideas: 1) the person's subjective view of the world, 2) goals, 3) behavioral strategies that the person uses to achieve goals and negotiate the life journey, 4) the outcomes or consequences of those behaviors. Lifestyle is the unique way each of us seeks to find our place in the world, to overcome feelings of inferiority, and to achieve our goals. Each person has an image of what life will be like when those goals have been reached. Adler called this "fictional finalism" and believed that this goal is firmly established between the ages of 6 and 8 and remains constant throughout a person's life (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014).
Private logic is another one of Adler's major constructs. Private logic provides a life pattern that begins in childhood and provides a compass by which to live. Because we are part of the larger social system and must learn to interact with that system, we develop our own set of rules to help us overcome our feelings of inferiority and achieve our goals. Private logic is unique to each person and sometimes is not logical. The goal in Adlerian therapy is to understand a person's private logic to help the person better understand where his beliefs get in the way of daily function, to lessen the faulty thinking of private logic, and to help people change its framework to see things in a more healthy way. Private logic is unique and feelings of superiority or fear of inferiority are meaningful only to the individual (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014).
Private logic is another one of Adler's major constructs. Private logic provides a life pattern that begins in childhood and provides a compass by which to live. Because we are part of the larger social system and must learn to interact with that system, we develop our own set of rules to help us overcome our feelings of inferiority and achieve our goals. Private logic is unique to each person and sometimes is not logical. The goal in Adlerian therapy is to understand a person's private logic to help the person better understand where his beliefs get in the way of daily function, to lessen the faulty thinking of private logic, and to help people change its framework to see things in a more healthy way. Private logic is unique and feelings of superiority or fear of inferiority are meaningful only to the individual (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014).
Goals, & Social Interest
Adler's idea of a well-functioning, healthy person was someone who is independent, emotionally and physically self-reliant, useful and productive, and able to cooperate with others for both personal and social benefit. Adler sought to help people realize that feelings of pain and inadequacy are caused not by others, but by their own fault logic and the behaviors and attitudes that stem from that logic.
Alder distinguished between well-adjusted and maladjusted individuals based on their goals and their lifestyles. People who are well adjusted have a private logic that reflects common sense as well as social interest. They perceive themselves as part of a community and appreciate individual differences. Those who are maladjusted focus only on their needs and fail to recognize the importance of their social context and the needs of others. Adler believed that people are social beings by nature and are interested in belonging to a group and desire to solve the problems within their society. People's social interest is best reflected in their accomplishment of what Adler viewed as the three life tasks: occupation, love, and social interest. Social interest can be assessed by how successfully people are able to negotiate relationships, the degree of closeness they maintain in those relationships, and their connectedness and contributions to society (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014).
Alder distinguished between well-adjusted and maladjusted individuals based on their goals and their lifestyles. People who are well adjusted have a private logic that reflects common sense as well as social interest. They perceive themselves as part of a community and appreciate individual differences. Those who are maladjusted focus only on their needs and fail to recognize the importance of their social context and the needs of others. Adler believed that people are social beings by nature and are interested in belonging to a group and desire to solve the problems within their society. People's social interest is best reflected in their accomplishment of what Adler viewed as the three life tasks: occupation, love, and social interest. Social interest can be assessed by how successfully people are able to negotiate relationships, the degree of closeness they maintain in those relationships, and their connectedness and contributions to society (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014).
Phenomenological Perspective
Adler's theory can be thought of as phenomenological which means that he focused on a person's inner reality and the way the person viewed the world. He placed an emphasis on a person's perception of reality, not what actually is or what others perceive. The internal and subjective were more important to Adler than the external and objective. (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014).
Treatment
Therapeutic Alliance - Adler emphasized the importance of a cooperative interaction that involves establishment of shared goals as well as mutual trust and respect. This is consistent with the aims of Adler's treatment. He sought to foster responsibility and social interest and saw the establishment of therapeutic relationship in which client and clinician collaborated to achieve goals they had created together as important in promoting client growth.
Stages of Treatment - four treatment phases can be identified in Adler's model
Interventions - the use of earliest recollections and analysis of family constellation and birth order are interventions commonly used in Adlerian therapy. Others include "catching oneself", "pushing the button", and "spitting in the client's soup".
Stages of Treatment - four treatment phases can be identified in Adler's model
- Establishment of a collaborative therapeutic relationship and a shared view of the treatment goals
- Assessment, analysis, and understanding of the person and the problem
- Encouragement of change through interpretation
- Reorientation by turning insight into action and focusing on assets rather than weaknessess
Interventions - the use of earliest recollections and analysis of family constellation and birth order are interventions commonly used in Adlerian therapy. Others include "catching oneself", "pushing the button", and "spitting in the client's soup".