Michael Smith only

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Alfred Adler § Joined Freud’s discussion group in 1902

ú Adler’s views were initially compatible with Freud’s

§ Adler’s views changed and he began to criticize Freud’s theories

§ In 1911, Adler and nine others broke away from Freud and formed “The Society for Individual Psychology”

§ Involvement in WWI helped develop the concept of social interest

§ Died: May 1937

Organ Inferiority and Compensation

Healthy Process: Compensation Self -Improvement

Unhealthy Process:

Compensation Inferiority Complex

Overcompensation: Converting a weakness into a strength

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkmvuV6PK20 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ8QCVyiv8Q

Feelings of Inferiority

§ Shift from organ inferiority to feelings of inferiority § Either real or imagined inferiority § Start our life becoming dependent on parents § Seek power to overcome their feeling of inferiority § Strive to become more masculine: Masculine

Protest § Act as stimulus for positive growth § Can create neurosis: Inferiority complex

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Striving for Superiority

• Fundamental fact of life • Innate to all humans • Could result to positive growth or inferiority

complex • Risk of developing superiority complex

Early Experience and LifeStyle

§ Early Experience: Perception of the major early events in our life shape our personality

§ Life Style: - appears early in life - the unique way in which we pursue our

goals.

§ Future goals: convenient fiction goals to make life more significant

Early Recollections

ú Personality created in first 4-5 years ú Earliest memories: reveal primary

interest in life ú Ex: 1st school memory: Attitudes toward

achievement, mastery and independenc e

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In-class Activity (20 min)

§ Write down what you remember from your life before age 5 (5-10 min)

§ Evaluate how these memories could have influenced you on who you are today and the goals (career, academic, personal) you would like to pursue in the future (5-10 min)

§ Share with another partner (5 min each)

Mistaken lifestyle

§ Not aimed at socially useful goals § Physical Inferiority § Parenting and childhood development

influences one’s personality ú Parental “overpampering and spoiling” ú Parental neglect

Social Interest

§ Social Interest: innate need to live in harmony and friendship

§ Major life problems: Occupational, societal and marriage tasks

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Personality Types § The 4 types of lifestyle: Ruling dominant Getting -leaning Avoiding Socially useful

Creative Self

§ Creative Self: we construe our personalities in an active way, from heredity and experiences.

In-Class Activity (30 min) § Create 4 groups based on your birth order (only child,

first born, second or middle born, youngest) § Based on your childhood experience, how the birth

order has impacted your childhood? § How the birth order has impacted your adult

personality? § Write down your answers:

ú Only child group reads and evaluates the answers of the 1st born group,

ú the 1st born group reads and evaluates the answers of the middle child,

ú the middle child reads and evaluates the answers of the youngest,

ú the youngest child reads and evaluates the answers of the only child

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Birth Order

§ 1st born - favored, center of attention, pseudo-parent, high achiever

§ Second - behaves as if in a race, often opposite to first child (rivalry)

§ Youngest - the baby (more pampered), creative, rebellious, revolutionary, avant-garde

§ Only - does not learn to share or cooperate with other children, learns to deal with adults

Birth Order impact on adult personality

§ First born: Oriented to past, role of leader, organized, scrupulous

§ Second born: Optimistic, competitive, ambitious

§ Youngest: High achievers or helpless and dependent

§ Only child: Difficulty when not center of attention, mature early

Encouragement: from parenting to therapy

§ Encouragement is the most powerful method available for changing a person’s beliefs

ú Helps build self-confidence and stimulates courage

ú Discouragement is the basic condition that prevents people (especially children) from functioning

ú Clients are encouraged to recognize that they have the power to choose and to act differently

ú https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBwKFbURbwg

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Dream Analysis

ú Reveal feelings about current problem and intended solution

ú Oriented to present and future, not past (e.g. fear of tomorrow’s exam)

Conclusion

§ Criticism ú Difficult to falsify ú Overly simplistic

§ Contributions ú Social variables ú Influential