PSYCH 150

CH. 1: INTRODUCTION
Sigmund Freud

Philosophical speculation + primitive scientific

methods

Listened to his patients

Base theories on scientific methods > clinical ones
What is Personality?

Originated from Latin persona Roman theatrical

masks, to project a role/false appearance

Empirical research to gather data on human

personality

Is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and

unique characteristics that give both consistency
and individuality to a persons behavior

Traits
o
contribute to individual differences
o
unique/common to some group/shared by
entire species
o
different patterns for each
What is a theory?
Theory Defined

Set of related assumptions to allow us to use logical

deductive reasoning to formulate testable
hypotheses

A set of assumptions
o
Single assumption cannot fill all reqs.

Related assumptions
o
Isolated: can neither generate meaningful
hypotheses or internal consistency

Assumptions
o
Components not proven facts (when validity
is
o
Accepted as if they were true

Logical deductive reasoning

o
Sufficient precision
o
Logical consistency
o
Faulty logic meaningless results

Testable
o
Hypo should be tested in some way
o
Need not be tested immediately (but must
suggest possibility)
Theory and Its Relatives

Philosophy
o
Theory is a much narrower term
o
Encompasses several brances
epistemology (nature of knowledge)
o
Do not deal with oughts, shoulds
o
Principles on how one should live their lives
not a theory
o
Not free of values, but built on sci. evidence
o
Obtained in unbiased fashion

Speculation
o
More than mere arm chair speculation
o
Empirically gathered data
o
Science (observation + classification +
verification)
o
Theories give meaning and organization
o
Speculation + empirical observation
(cornerstones)

Hypothesis
o
Theory is broader
o
Good theory many hypotheses
o
Educated guess (specific)
o
Deductive: general to specific (derive, test)
o
Inductive: specific to general (alter to
reflect)

Taxonomy

Classification of things acc. to nat.

relationships
o
^makes science grow
o
Can evolve into theories when generating
testable hypo and explain research findings
Why Different Theories?

Nature of theory: make speculations from part. POV

Objective but what and how about data up to them

Theories built on assumptions, subj. ind.

interpretation

Reflect authors backgrounds

Usefulness of a theory ability to generate research

+ explain
Theorists Personalities and their Theories

Psychology of Science look at personal traits of

scientists
o
Personalities, cognitive processes, devt,
social experience kind of science they
conduct + theories
o
Historical, social, psychological words
o
Quantitative vs. qualitative
o
Evaluate on scientific criteria
What makes a theory useful?

Has mutual, dynamic interaxn w/ research data

Generates research
o
Yields hypotheses data restructure

Is falsifiable
o
Avoid unobservable transformations
o
Can explain everything, explains nothing
o
Should suggest research that can either
support or disprove it

Organizes data
o
Isolated data meaningless
o
Integrating what is known + devt

Guides action

Is internally consistent
o
Components should be logically compatible
o
Limitations carefully defined
o
Operational definitions
o
X same term = two different things

Is parsimonious
Dimensions for a Concept of Humanity

Determinism vs. Free Choice

Pessimism vs. Optimism

Causality vs. Teleology

o
What happened in the past affects behavior
vs. outlook/directed towards future

Conscious vs. Unconscious determinants of behavior

Biological vs. Social Influences (Heredity vs. Env.)

Uniqueness vs. Similarities

Personality theory reflects personality of creator

Research in Personality Theory

Not all data from experiments; everyday

observations

Systematic, predictions consistent and accurate

Reliability yield consistent results

Validity instrument measures what is intended

o
Construct Validity instrument measuring
hypothetical construct; should relate to
observable behavior

Convergent validity same scores

on same measures (high
correlation)

Divergent validity low scores on

measurement of DIFF. constructs

Discriminant validity between two

people known to be different
o
Predictive validity test predicts future
behavior
o

CH. 2: SIGMUND FREUD PSYCHOANALYSIS

Overview of Psychoanalytic Theory

What made it so interesting?

o
Twin cornerstones: sex, aggression
o
Dedicated group of followers
o
Brilliant command of language

His understanding: patients, dreams, vast readings

Rely more on deductive reasoning

Observations subjectively

Not quantify data

Utilized case study a lot

Biography of Sigmund Freud

Favorite child: contributed to "life-long confidence

Filled with hostility for young bro wanted him

death

Guilt caused brothers death

Jew limited opportunities

Hypnotic tech hysteria (paralysis, improper fxning)

Breuer: catharsis talking out hysteria

Free association replaced hypnosis

Hysteria for women wandering womb

Anna O.

Childhood sexual exp. source of adult hysteria

Began to analyze own dreams

Hes his own best patient

Wants to achieve fame

Neuroses seduction by parent

Left seduction theory:

o
Not been able to treat a single patient
o
Fathers will be accused of sexual perversion
o
Unconscious mind not know fiction/reality
(Oedipus complex)
o
Did not reveal early childhood sexual exp

Colleagues jealous of him, wanted revenge etc.

World War I: aggression same level as sex drive

Repression

Female Oedipus complex

Sparse sexual life: condoms as unhealthy sexual

practice

Disdain for Americans: trivialize psychology

Levels of Mental Life
Unconscious

Drives, urges, instincts (beyond awareness)

^Motivate words, feelings, actions

Not aware of mental processes behind behaviors

Guardian/Censor blocking passage between

unconscious and preconscious prevents
undesirable anxiety producing memories to enter
awareness

When one gets past, disguised as nonthreatening,

even pleasant

Punishment + suppression anxiety repression

Experiences from early ancestors phylogenetic

endowment

Jung: primary emphasis vs. Freud: last resort

^explain Oedipus Complex and castration anxiety

Unconscious =/= inactive or dormant

Preconscious

Can become conscious quite readily/with some

difficulty

Two sources:
o
Conscious perception quick lang
o
Unconscious ideas slipping past censor
Conscious

Plays minor role

Two different directions:

o
Perceptual conscious system turned
toward outer world, external stimuli
o
Mental structure nonthreatening from
preconscious, well-disguised from
unconscious

In summary: unconsciousness as large entrance hall,

ideas wanting to get into reception hall
(preconscious) protected by guard, screen between
king (consciousness)and reception hall
Provinces of the Mind

Id it

Ego I

Superego over-I
The Id

Not-yet-owned component of personality

No contact with reality

Pleasure principle

Childhood wish impulses remain unchanged in id for

decades

Has no morality

Cant distinguish between good and evil

Primitive, chaotic, inaccessible to consciousness,

unchangeable, amoral, illogical

Operates through primary process

The Ego

Operates through secondary process

Only region in contact with reality

Source of comm with external world

Reality priniciple

Decision-making, executive

Id, ego, external world

^becomes anxious from all the work repression

defense mechanisms

Differentiates from id when infants learn to

distinguish themselves from the outer world

Complete control: prime of life of a psychologically

mature person

Young age: pleasure and pain since children have not

developed a conscience, ego-ideal
The Superego

Moralistic, idealistic principles

No contact with the outside world

Unrealistic in demands for perfection

Two subsystems:
o
Conscience experiences with punishments;
should not do
o
Ego-ideal rewards; should do

Well developed: control sexual and aggressive

impulses (thru repression)

Cannot produce repressions, orders ego

Divisions of the mind not sharp and well-defined

Ego, superego take turns controlling personality
(extreme fluctuations of mood self confidence,
self-deprecation)
Dynamics of Personality

People: motivated to seek pleasure, to reduce

tension and anxiety
Drives

Trieb (German)

Instinct

More accurate: drive, impulse

Motivational force, cannot be avoided through flight

Sex (Eros), aggression (Thanatos), originate in id,

controlled by ego

Libido sexual drive

Impetus amt of force it exerts

Source part of body in state of excitation

Aim to seek pleasure by removing excitation

Object means through aim is satisfied

Sex

Not limited to genital satisfaction

Mouth and anus besides genitals (erogenous zones)

All pleasurable activity sex drive

Primary narcissism self-centeredness, drive

invested in own ego

Secondary narcissism puberty, personal

appearance, other self-interests

Love (manifestation of Eros) invest libido on other

object/person

Love, narcissism closely related

o
Love has narcissistic tendencies (loving
someone who serves as ideal or model)

Sadism sexual pleasure by inflicting pain to others

Masochism pain to self

Aggression

From his unhappy experience during WWI

Beyond the pleasure principle

Aggression = Sex

Aim of destructive drive return to inorganic state

Need for barriers (reaction formations, repression

etc.)
Anxiety

Felt, affective, unpleasant state

Accompanied by phys sensation warning a person for

impending danger

Vague, hard to pinpoint

Ego can produce or feel anxiety

Neurotic Anxiety
o
Apprehension about unknown danger
o
Originates from id
o
Fear of punishment

Moral Anxiety
o
Ego vs superego
o
Realistic needs and dictates of superego
(produce anxiety)
o
Failure to behave consistently with morals

Realistic Anxiety
o
Related to fear
o
Nonspecific feeling
o
Does not involve a specific, fearful object

^Often exist in combination (ex. fear of water a real

dangerbecomes disproportionate realistic +
neurotic)

Anxiety ego-preserving mechanism

Also self regulating, precipitates repression

Repression reduces pain of anxiety

Defense Mechanism

Extreme: compulsive, repetitive, neurotic

Repression

Involved in everything else

Force threatening feelings to unconscious

Punished learn to be anxious

When they become unconscious?

o
Remain unchanged
o
Force way into unconscious (unaltered)
o
Become altered
Reaction Formation

Adopting a disguise directly opposite to original form

Displacement

Redirect unacceptable urges onto other

people/objects original impulse is then
disguised/concealed

Like reaction formation (pero hindi oa yung opposite

feeling unlike yung rxn frmxn)
Fixation

Prospect of taking next step too anxiety provoking

When one needs to psychologically grow up

Remain at present, more comfy psych stage

Permanent attachment of libido to more primitive

devt stage

Oral, anal phase

Regression

Revert back to earlier stage

Earlier, safer, more secure patterns of behavior

Invest libido onto more primitive, familiar objects

Usually temporary

Projection

Attributing unwanted impulse to an external object

(usually another person)

Seeing in others unacceptable feelings that actually

reside in ones own unconscious

Ikaw talaga may problema, pero sinasabi mo siya

may problema

Extreme: paranoia powerful delusion of jealousy

and persecution
Introjection

Incorporate positive qualities of another into own ego

Inflated sense of self-worth

Feelings of inferiority at minimum

Valuable characteristics onto themselves to feel

better
Sublimation

Helps both individual and social group

Repression of genital aim (Eros) by substituting

cultural/social aim

Converting urge to something productive

In summary
o
They are universal
o
All protect ego against anxiety
o
Everyone engages in defensive behavior to
some degree
o
Beneficial to individual, harmless to society
o
Sublimation: beneficial to both
Stages of Development
Infantile Period

Infantile sexuality???

Childrens interest in genitals

Delight in sexual pleasure

Sexual excitement

Childhood vs adult: autoerotic

Satisfied through other organs (mouth and anus)

Oral Phase
o
Life sustaining nour. through oral cavity
o
Pleasure through act of sucking
o
Emergence of teeth (defense) oral sadistic
o
Thumb sucking: first autoerotic experience

Anal Phase
o
Aggressive drive (first in oral sadism)
o
Anus emerges as sexually pleasurable zone
o
Satisfaction gained through aggressive
behavior
o
Early anal: destroying/losing objects, spiting
parents for toilet training
o
Late anal: poop as prize, praised: generous,
magnanimous adults, rejected: withhold
feces (pressure becomes both painful and
erotic)
o
Anal character: narcissistic, masochistic
pleasure

Keeping and possessing objects

Arranging them in excessively neat

and orderly fashion

Overly resistant to toilet training as

children

Anal triad: orderliness, stinginess,

obstinacy
o
Girls: anal eroticism penis envy

Phallic Phase
o
Genital becomes leading erogenous zone
o
Anatomy is destiny
o
Suppression of masturbation
o
Male Oedipus Complex

Be his father, have his mother

From Greek tragedy by Sophocles

(Oedipus king of thebes kills father,
destined to marry mother)

Feminine nature: affection for

father, hostility for mother

Affection hostility coexist

Castration complex castration

anxiety

Becomes aware of absence of penis

on girls

Will be punished for sexual

behaviors

Injury or shrinkage: phylogenetic

endowment (ancestors fear of
castration)

Dissolved Oedipus complex

incest only tender love
develop primitive superego
o
Female Oedipus Complex

Penis envy to be a boy, desire to

have a man

Find expression in giving birth to

baby boy

Seduced by mother (fantasy)

hostility

Blame mother for not giving her

penis

Electra Complex

Recognizing inferiority to boys,

rebel by:

Give up sexuality (both

fem and masc), be hostile
to mother

Cling to masculinity, hope

to be a man

Father as sexual choice

Simple fem. Oed. Comp. resolved

when masturbation is given up,
surrenders sexual desire for father,
be like mother

Girls superego usually weaker,

more flexible, less severe

In summary
o
Penis envy female Oedipus complex
o
Male Oedipus castration anxiety
o
Female more slowly and less completely
dissolved
o
Women as dark continent of psychology
o
Freud: no clinical or exp evidence man lang
o
What does a woman want?
Latency Period

brought out by punishment or discouragement

(sexual act in young children)

Repress sexual drive school, frienships, hobbies

Phylogenetic endowment: story about powerful, sons

killing him etc.

Complete suppression of sexual activity sexual

latency

Shame, guilt, morality

Sublimated libido social and cultural

accomplishments
Genital Period

Reawakening sexual aim

Give up autoeroticism towards other people

naman

Reproduction now possible

Vagina = penis

Boys see vagina as sought after

Sexual drive as complete organization

Eros remain unchanged repressed, sublimated,

expressed in masturbation
Maturity

Psychological maturity seldom happens

Opportunities to develop pathological

disorders/neurotic dispositions

Id no traces of shame or guilt

Superego no remnants of antagonism or incest

Ego-ideal realistic and congruent with ego
Repressions of healthy: sublimations
Mature: balance among structures of mind, ego
controlling
Applications of Psychoanalytic Theory

Freud was more concerned with theory building than

treating sick people
Early Therapeutic Technique

Highly suggestive procedure; told patients to expect

childhood sexual experiences
Later Therapeutic Technique

Primary goal: to uncover repressed memories thru

free association and dream analysis

Purpose of psychoanalysis: to strengthen ego,

independent of superego, where id was, the ego shall
be

Free association: verbalize every though that comes

to mind

Dream analysis

Transference strong sexual aggressive feelings, +/-,

patients develop toward their analyst

Earlier experiences usually with parents

Negative transference: hostility, must be overcome

to avoid resistant to treatment

Limitations
o
Not all old memories consciousness
o
Treatment not as effective with psychoses
(as compared to phobias, hysterias,
obsessions)
o
No major personality change, but more ideal
person
Dream Analysis

Manifest content more important latent content

Manifest surface meaning, conscious description

Latent unconscious material

Dreams as wish fulfillments

^Usually expressed in latent content

Exception: traumatic experience (repetition

compulsion)

Posttraumatic stress disorder (frightening dreams,

traumatic experiences)

Condensation manifest not as extensive as latent

Displacement replaced by something else, konti

lang relation

^Both thru use of symbols

Unpleasant feelings reversed in manifest

Steps:
o
Relate dream, all associations (revealed
unconscious wish)
o
Dream symbols discover unconscious
elements
o
Dreams royal road to (the knowledge of)
the unconscious

Anxiety dreams:
o
Nakedness origin: early childhood
experience, disapproval from adults
o
Death younger: destruction of younger
sibling, older: oedipal wish for death of
parent
o
Failing examination anticipating difficult
task, fail exam already passed, wish to be
free from worry over a difficult task

Finding wish fulfillment = great creativity

In summary, dreams motivated by wish fulfillments

Latent content from unconscious, childhood

experience

Manifest often from previous day

Freudian Slips

Slip of the tongue, pen etc.

Not chance accidents


Reveal unconscious intentions

Parapraxes Freudian slips

Unconscious intention dominant and interfering

Denial means something

Must remain from consciousness

Related Research

Karl Popper: criterion of falsifiability: freud not

falsifiable, not science

Mark Solms, most active

Freudian concepts support from modern

neuroscience
Unconscious Mental Processing

Two different forms of consciousness:

o
Core consciousness not being aware or
awake; brain stem
o
Extended consciousness being aware;
prefrontal cortex
Pleasure and the Id, Inhibition and the Ego

Pleasure seeking drives brain stem and limbic

system; dopanin

Neurotransmitters for perpetual pleasure-seeking Id:

o
Dopamine seeking/wanting (gimme!)
o
Opioid (endorphins) satisfaction (ahh!)

Damage frontal-limbic system: nothing regulates

id/impulse
Critique of Freud
Did Freud Understand Women, Gender and Sexuality?

Did not understand women

Theory strongly orient towards men

Product of his times (women as second-class citizens

in society)

Little girls are failed boys

Adult women = castrated men

Women all want same things, these things diff from

what men want
Was Freud a Scientist?

Psychoanalysis as a science?

Not claiming naman na it was a natural science

Other scholars believed he saw himself as a human

scientist, humanist or scholar

Theories not based on exp investigation

Patients not representative of people in general

Generate research: average

Falsifiable: nearly impossible, can also be explained

by other models

Organize knowledge: loose, flexible

Guide to action: low

Internal consistency: at a point in time, no specific

operations

Parsimony: not parsimonious

Concept of Humanity:

Determinism determined by past events/childhood

experiences, rooted in unconscious strivings

Pessimistic self-destruction, aggression; savage

beasts w/ natural tendency to exploit others

Causality high

Unconscious emphasis on unconscious motivation

Biological infantile fantasies and anxieties

Uniqueness& similarity middle position; evolution:

many similarities; experiences, esp, early childhood:
uniqueness
CH. 3: ALFRED ADLER INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY

Dispel notion that he had ever been a follower of

Freud
Overview of Individual Psychology

Optimistic view of people

Notion of social interest (feeling of oneness with

human kind)

Freud vs. Adler

o
Motivation (sex and aggression vs. striving
for superiority/success)

Little choice with who they are vs. people

largely responsible for who they are
o
Past experiences vs. view of future (on
present bh.)
o
Unconscious vs. psych healthy people aware
of what they are doing and why
Biography of Alfred Adler

Was weak and sickly

Death of younger brother motivation to be

physician

Parallel with Freud

Both middle/lower-middle class Viennese Jewish

parents

Freuds guilt on brothers death (he caused it daw)

vs. Adlers challenge to overcome death

Medicine offered perceived immortality?!

Social relationships

Freuds one to one vs. Adlers group situation

Interest in patient care vs. professors interest in

precise diagnoses

Organ Inferiority and Its Physical Compensation

physical deficiencies (not sex) as human motivation

Left Freud Society for Free Psychoanalytic Study

o
Nainis si Freud kasi para bang hindi open to
interpretation yung theory niya

Affected by events of WWI also

Freud: aggression = sex vs. Adler: social interest and

compassion as cornerstones of human motivation

Freud hated Americans, Adler admired their optimism

and open-mindedness

Married fiercely independent Russian woman

Likes music, also art and lit

Patients: high % lower and middle classes (unlike a

lot)

Optimistic attitude toward human condition

Intense competitiveness + friendly congeniality

Strong belief in gender equality

Introduction to Adlerian Theory

No tightly run organization

Not a gifted writer

Views only incorporated in later, more famous works

Theory:
o
People born weak, inferior bodies feelings
of inferiority
o
Social interest standard for psych health

Tenets:
o
Driving force behind behavior: striving for
success/superiority
o
Subjective perceptions shape behavior and
personality
o
Personality is unified and self-consistent
o
Value of all human activity = viewpoint of
social interest
o
Self-consistent personality style of life
o
Style of life molded by creative power
Striving for Success or Superiority

Unhealthy individuals personal superiority

Healthy success for all humanity

Masculine protest will to power/domination of

others

Each individual guided by final goal

Final Goal

Fictional, no objective existence

Though it unifies personality

Materials given by heredity and environment

What we do with materials creative power

Final goal by 4-5 years of age

Reduces pain of inferiority feelings

Neglected or pampered: largely unconscious final

goal
o

Loved and secure: largely conscious, clearly

understood

^success and social interest

Final goal known actions make sense, subgoal new

significance
The Striving Force as Compensation

Compensation for inferiority

Blessed with weak bodies innate tendency

toward completion or wholeness

Striving should be developed (potentiality, not

actuality)

Success as individualized concept

Heredity potentiality

Environment devt of social interest and corage

Personal superiority nonproductive

Striving for Personal Superiority

Inferiority complex feelings exaggerated

Little to no concern for others

For personal gain

Un/consciously hide self-centeredness

Striving for Success

Psychologically healthy motivated by social

interest, success of all humankind

Help others

See others not as opponents, but collaborators

towards social benefit

Success not at expense of others; natural tendency

to move towards completion/perfection

Personal worth = contributions to society

Social progress > personal credit

Subjective Perceptions
Fictionalism

Subjective, fictional final goal guides style of life

gives unity to our personality

People motivated not by what is true but by their

subjective perceptions of what is true

Teleology explaining behavior in terms of final

puropose/aim
Physical Inferiorities

Even after people attain good size, they act as if they

are weak and small, inferior

Blessed with organ inferiorities

Impetus toward perfection/completion

Compensate toward psychological health and useful

style of life

Overcompensate subdue/retreat from other people

Physical deficiencies DO NOT CAUSE style of life;

provide present motivation
Unity and Self-Consistency of Personality

Individual Psych each person as unique and

indivisible

Inconsistent behavior does not exist

Thoughts, feelings, actions one single goal

Organ Dialect

Person strives in a self-consistent fashion

Actions, functions parts of goal only

Deficient organ = direction of goal organ dialect

Ex. (arthritis = cant make me do manual work)

Conscious and Unconscious

Harmony between conscious, unconscious

Unconscious part of goal not clearly

formulated/understood; not helpful

Conscious understood and regarded as helpful in

striving for success

Avoid dichotomy two cooperating parts of unified

system
Social Interest

Gemeinshaftsgefuhl social feeling

Oneness with all humanity

Attitude of relatedness with humanity, empathy for

each mem

Origins

Cooperation for social advancement > personal gain

Natural condition of human species
Adhesive that binds society together
of Social Interest
Rooted in everyone, must be developed
Marriage and parenthood = for two
Mother: childs mature social interest, sense of
cooperation; love centered on childs well-being over
hers
o
^ Child > Father spoiled, pampered
o
^ Child > Father neglected, unloved

Father: caring attitude toward wife and others

o
Avoid emotional detachment, paternal
authoritarianism
o
Detachment: warped sense of social
interest, feeling of neglect, parasitic
attachment to mother
o
Tyrant Father: strive for power and personal
superiority
Importance of Social Interest

Sole criterion for human values

Only gauge in judging worth of person

Immature people: self-centered, personal superiority

Healthy: genuinely concerned about people

=/= charity, unselfishness

Exaggerated feelings of inferiority neurotic style of

life
Style of Life

flavor of a persons life

Goals, self-concept, feelings for others, attitude

toward world

Useful style of life: highest form of humanity

Struggle to solve: neighborly love, sexual love,

occupation

Social interest expressed through action

Creative Power

Each is empowered with freedom to create own style

of life

All are responsible for who they are

Places them in control of their lives

o
Method of striving
o
Contribution to devt of social interest

Creative power free individual

People > product of heredity and environment

Act on env, cause it to react

We are not compelled to grow in direction of social

interest; no inherently evil nature or good
Abnormal Development

Maladjustments underdeveloped social interest

Neurotics tend to:

o
Set goals too high
o
Live in own private world
o
Rigid, dogmatic style of life
o
Overconcerned with themselves, little care
for others

Private meaning
External Factors in Maladjustment

Exaggerated Physical Deficiencies

o
Congenital/result of injury accentuate
feelings of inferiority
o
Convinced that major problems can only be
solved in a selfish manner

Pampered Style of Life

o
Lies at the heart of most neuroses
o
Weak social interest
o
Parasitic relationship
o
Discouragement, indecisiveness,
oversensitivity etc.
o
Highly anxious
o
Entitled
o
Not loved as much lack of love by doing
too much, incapable

o
Neglected when separated from parent
Neglected Style of Life
o
Unloved and unwanted
o
Relative concept though
o
Develop little social interest
o
Little confidence, overestimate difficulties
o
Like pampered, but more suspicious, more
likely to be dangerous
Safeguarding Tendencies

To hide inflated self-image, protexn against anxiety

Compared to Defense Mechanisms

Freud: unconsciously operating to protect ego; Adler:

largely conscious to shield persons fragile selfesteem from public disgrace

Freud DM, common to everyone; Adler ST, neurotic

symptoms

Excuses
o
Yes but.. ; If only..
o
What they claim they want to do (sounds
good), follow with excuse
o
Believe they are more superior than they
really are

Aggression
o
To protect fragile self-esteem
o
Depreciation undervalue other peoples
achievements to overvalue ones own
o
Accusation blame others for ones failures
and to seek revenge
o
Self-accusation self-torture, guilt
(masochism, depression, suicide etc.)
o
Self accusation vs. depreciation but both
aimed toward gaining personal superiority

Withdrawal
o
Run away from difficulties
o
Safe-guarding through distance

Moving backward

Reverting to more secure period of

life

To maintain inflated goal of

superiority
o
Standing still

Avoid all responsibility, ensuring

against any threat of failure

Never do anything to prove they

cannot accomplish their goals

Doing nothing safeguard selfesteem protect against failure

o
Hesitating

Closely related to ^

Its too late now

Compulsive behavior

Self-defeating, but preserves

inflated sense of self-esteem
o
Constructing Obstacles

Least severe

Build straw house to show they can

knock it down

Overcome obstacle protect selfesteem and prestige

Failure resort to excuse

In summary, safeguarding techniques found in nearly

everyone; overly rigid self-defeating behavior

Personal superiority goals block from authentic

feelings of self-esteem
Masculine Protest

Psychic life of women = men

Male dominated society not natural

Cultural and social practices overemphasize

importance of being manly

Freud has strong masculine protest daw

Adler: womens wants = mens

Applications of Individual Psychology
o

Family Constellation

Birth order, gender of sibling, age spread between

First born: being only children for a time traumatic

dethronement
o
Self-centered style of life: hostility
o
> 3 y/o, hostility is unconscious

Second born: better situation for developing

cooperation and social interest
o
Shaped by other siblings attitude towards
them
o
Hostile highly competitive/overly
discouraged
o
Moderate competitiveness lang typically
o
Healthy desire to overtake older rival
o
Any authority can be challenged

Youngest children
o
Most pampered
o
Highly motivated to exceed older siblings

Only children
o
Competing.. against father and mother

Refer to table on p.91 for summary on birth order

Early Recollections

Did not consider memories to have causal effect

People reconstruct events to make them consistent

with a theme that runs throughout their lives

Early recollections valid indicator of a persons

style of life

Ex. Highly anxious patients project style of life by

recalling fearful, anxiety-producing events

Recollections SHAPED BY present style of life

Dreams

Most dreams are self-deceptions, not easily

understood
Psychotherapy

Psychopathology lack of courage

Exag feelings of inferiority

Underdeveloped social interest

Adlerian pt: enhance courage, lessen inferiority

feelings, encourage social interest

Patients hold on to existing, comfy view of

themselves

What people do with what they have > what they

have

Sexual love, friendship, occupation

When children receive therapy in public their

problems are community problems (awakens social
interest)
Critique of Adler

Concepts do not easily lend themselves to either

verification or falsification

Childhood recollections persons present

style of life

Generate research: above average (moderate to

high)

Organize knowledge: self-defeating, inconsistent

were made sense of high to make sense out of
what we know about human behavior

Guide to action: good?

Internally consistent: goal of superiority, creative

power no scientific definition; somewhat
philosophical low

Parsimony: average (awkward, unorganized

writings)
Concept of Humanity

Self-determined, they shape their personalities, give

meaning to their experiences
o
Heredity certain abilities
o
Environment Opportunity to enhance

Interpretations of experiences > exp themselves

Motivated by future goals (not past)

Free to change style of life anytime (even if final goal

is fixed)

Not all choices are conscious

Style of life = conscious + unconscious
People responsible for own personalities

Creative power: inadequacy social interest/selfcenteredness (pathological)

Social interest as standard of psychological maturity