On Adler's Individual Psychology

Alfred Adler was the founder of Individual Psychology. His theory on personality lies on the concept of inferiority complex. According to him, our inferiority feelings are the source of our strivings. And that we compensate, or we try to overcome inferiority to strive for higher levels of development.

His theory also has put the importance of birth order in the formation of personality, the impact of neglect or pampering on child development, the notion of a "self perfecting" drive within human beings, and the idea that one must study and treat the patient as a "whole person."

He elaborated three other factors that made significant impact: "pampering", "neglect", as well as birth order. Adler emphasized one's birth order as having an influence on the Style of Life and the strengths and weaknesses in one's psychological make up. Birth Order referred to the placement of siblings within the family. Adler believed that the firstborn child would be loved and nurtured by the family until the arrival of a second child. This second child would cause the first born to suffer feelings of dethronement, no longer being the center of attention. According to Adler, first-born children are often oriented toward the past, locked in nostalgia and pessimistic about the future. They take unusual interest in maintaining order and authority. They also tend to become good organizers, conscientious, and scrupulous about detail. Also, they tend to be authoritarian and conservative in attitude. The second born child or the middle child, who never experienced powerful position, strives to catch up to and surpass the older sibling. They are more optimistic about the future and are likely to be competitive and ambitious. According to him, the youngest child are often high achievers in whatever work they undertake as adults, but if excessively pampered, retain helplessness and dependency. The only child, according to Adler, often matures early and manifest adult behaviors and attitude.

There wasn’t really a logical fashion in which Adler put through his theory on personality. There was no sequential order in which one person might undergo personality development. However, the birth ranking gives us an overview of how one person might possess some characteristics or traits in accordance with his or her rank. Also, unlike Freud’s psychosexual stages, Adler didn’t postulate definitive stages in which one person go through to explain our own behaviors and attitudes. 

His concepts are well-interrelated with each other because they follow through the same principal thought. For example, on his theory on inferiority feelings and compensation, the principal rule is that our feelings of inferiority motivate us to strive higher levels of development. If a person is unable to compensate for normal inferiority feelings, he then will have an inferiority complex. The same goes with superiority complex, which develops when a person overcompensates for normal inferiority feelings. It also goes with his theory on birth order, on “pampering” and “neglect.”

Thankfully enough, Adler used terms that are common to the English language. Though I think it wasn’t exactly the English term he had in mind, as he was Austrian. And I assume that it was only translated to English when he did his lectures in America. Still, I am thankful enough he didn’t use terms that would sound gibberish to me, that is, he didn’t invent his own words.

I would think that his terms or labels used for his concepts mean only the things that they intend to be meaning. I’m saying that they don’t have multiple meanings that could be confusing.

With regards to inferiority feelings and compensation, it may be true that there are people who are better than us in whatever we think we’re good at, I would still think that we are all special, and it shouldn’t make us less of a person. We are all good at something. People will not be better than ourselves if we don’t compare ourselves with them. I know it’s almost impossible not to compare ourselves with others, because I think it’s in our nature to do such, so I had to make an effort to remember not to compare myself to others, just like in the poem “Desiderata.” And I was thinking, there is no such thing as the most beautiful woman because if there was, people would covet the same face. If there was a standard beauty, then all the others who don’t follow are ugly. I had to laugh out loud, I could just imagine.

I think it’s most helpful in understanding my own and other people’s strivings to be good if I take a look at Adler’s theory on inferiority and compensation. And explain why some people would put up a façade of someone greater than themselves, and where is that inferiority come from.