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Humanistic theories. Humanistic Theory Individual Psychology. Individual Psychology. Creator: Alfred Adler Theory: Individual Psychology
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Humanistic theories Humanistic Theory Individual Psychology
Individual Psychology Creator:Alfred Adler Theory: Individual Psychology “The striving for significance, this sense of yearning, always points out to us that all psychological phenomena contain a movement that starts from a feeling of inferiority and reaches upward. The theory of Individual Psychology of psychological compensation states that the stronger the feeling of inferiority, the higher the goal for personal power.” • Postulates: Single "drive" or motivating force behind all our behavior and experience. • He called the motivating force Striving for Perfection. • It is the desire we all have to fulfill our potentials, to come closer and closer to our ideal. • It is very similar to the more popular idea of self-actualization.
Individual Psychology Humanistic Approach • Follows established principles created by Abraham Maslow • Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Air and food, safety, security, community, success, self-actualization ____________________________________________________________ Freud’s Theory is a reductionistic one Alfred Adler’s theory is a holistic one: • Individual = un-divided • In order to understand a person we have to see the whole person and their environment, not just their brain. • Adler sees motivation as a matter of moving towards the future, rather than being driven, mechanistically, by the past. • We are drawn towards our goals, our purposes, our ideals.
Individual Psychology The Philosophy of “As If” Defined:Fictions that we use to direct, mold, and control our life, motivation, and direction. • Adler pointed out that we use these fictions in day to day living as well. • We behave as if we knew the world would be here tomorrow. • As if we were sure what good and bad are all about. • As if everything we see is as we see it.
Individual Psychology • Adler called this Fictional Finalism: • Example: • Many people behave as if there were a heaven or a hell in their personal future. • Of course, there may be a heaven or a hell, but most of us don't think of this as a proven fact. • That makes it a "fiction" in Adler's sense of the word. • Finalism refers to the teleology of it: The fiction lies in the future, and yet influences our behavior today. • Adler added that, at the center of each of our lifestyles, there sits one of these fictions, an important one about who we are and where we are going. • Even an atheist view can be represented as a fiction that regulates your life.
Individual Psychology Psychological Inferiorities: • Adler states that we are also motivated by our organic inferiorities. • We are in a perpetual state of compensation. • You can make the weaker organ stronger, strengthen another organ to compensate, or develop an inferiority complex. • Nonetheless our inferiorities according to Adler have a powerful influence on our behavior in life.