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The Drive to Superiority

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Presentation on theme: "The Drive to Superiority"— Presentation transcript:

1 The Drive to Superiority
Inferiority Complex The Drive to Superiority As a young man, Teedy, as his family called him, had asthma, a small and reedy voice. He tended to catch colds and suffered from constant diarrhea and nausea. He started out in life as a small and thin boy who overcompensated by reading books and studying. He wanted to be active, despite the fact that he had to sleep sitting up. Regardless of his condition, he led his cousins on backyard expeditions for mice, squirrels and frogs. At thirteen years old, his father gave him a rifle. He found that he couldn’t hit anything with it. He was frustrated. Teedy was so nearsighted, he had to be told that some of the billboards he had seen had writing on them. As an adolescent, his doctor encouraged him to lift weights. He tackled it enthusiastically. Once he was sent off to the country because his asthma was out of control. He got into a fight with several other boys his own age. He was beaten badly. Teedy announced to his father that he needed to learn to box. By the time he entered Harvard, Our nearsighted, asthmatic but athletic young man had won several bouts. Our Teedie overcame his conditions: He became a New York Assemblyman, Nort Dakota Cowboy, Assistant Secretary to the Navy, New York Commissioner to the police, an Army Lieutenant colonel in the Spanish American War and the Youngest President of the United States!

2 Individual Psychology
A theory of human behavior emphasizing humans' social nature, strivings for mastery, and drive to overcome, by compensation, feelings of inferiority. Adler was born in the suburbs of Vienna. As a child, he developed rickets. He did not walk until 4 years old. He nearly died of pneumonia at 5 years old. At 5, he decided to become a physician. Originally, his studies took him to ophthalmology, but he switched to general practice. His practice was in the lower class part of Vienna. The office was near an area where Circus Side Show. In this area, he saw people with unusual physical characteristics: Vertically Challenged, Heavy and Light weight, physical differences. Freud saw people as several parts: What are these parts? Adler saw a person as the sum of the parts of the personality. He labeled his approach to this psychology Individual Psychology.

3 Compensation Striving for Perfection Perfection Ideals
Desire to fulfill our Potentials Perfection Ideals Adler theorized that people have a motivational Force, called Striving for Perfection Already, the words perfection and ideals have a connotation. One can never achieve perfection, right? Still we are taught to fulfill our goals, to keep our focus on an ideal person.

4 Gemeinschaftsgefühl Individuals Are Guided by what they Believe to be True About Themselves This Belief is an Image This Image Could be Totally Different than how Others Perceive them This Process Begins in Infancy to FINAL GOAL There is no literal translation for Gemeinschaftsgefühl . It can be loosely translated into self image, combined with social or community feeling. In Adlerian Psychology, or Individual Psychology, Every Person Strives for the Final Goal: This is a fictitious image that a person has of themselves.

5 Striving for Perfection
The Strongest Drive

6 FINAL GOAL Self Created Image of
Perfection or Completion Overcoming Begins With a Perception of not being able to Function as one would wish The final goal is a product of a persons own feelings.

7 Inferiority Begins at Infancy
The feelings of inferiority begins as soon as an infant discovers they cannot perform as they wish. Everyone suffers from inferiority of one kind or another. Adler Started his work exploring Organ Inferiority. This is based on the fact that everyone has weaker and stronger parts of their bodies and different degrees of athletic ability. Many people are told early on that they are no good at math. Anyone can do math with proper studying and training.

8 Inferiority Organ Inferiority Psychological Inferiority
There is always the one who is the last to be picked on a basketball team, etc. The very large guy in a paintball game? Some of us are told we are not smart, ugly or weak. Some of us have pimples or bad posture. Adler also believed in the general inferiority of children.

FIELD INFERIORITY SIGNIFICANCE Physical Organ Deficiencies, Physical Handicaps, Deformity, Ugliness, Weakness, Abnormal Height or Weight, Sickness, Severe Hunger or Thirst, Sexual Frustration Strength, Beauty, Athletic Ability, Good Health, Sensory Pleasure, Sexual Gratification, Physical Closeness Intellectual Ignorance, Illiteracy, Feeling Stupid, Lack of Skill, Difficulty in Learning, Boredom Knowledge, Understanding, Skill, Artistic Ability, Academic Success, Enjoyment of Music, Art, Drama, and Literature Psychological Negative Character Traits (Real or Imagined), Feeling or Acting Crazy, Disliked or Hated, Ashamed of Oneself, Feeling Bad or Guilty Positive Character traits, Proud of Oneself, Liked by Others, Admired by Others, Loved by Someone, Self-Actualizing Social Being Alone, Isolated, Being Excluded, Not Invited, Abandoned, Socially Awkward Contact With Others, Membership in Organizations, Identifying With Group, Socially Adept, Social Acceptance & Approval Economic Poverty, Financial Distress, Underpaid for Work, Loss of Job, Not Keeping Up With Norm, Losing Money Good Income, Paid Well for Work, Financial Security, Wealth, Getting a Raise in Salary, Winning the Lottery

10 ".....compensation is derived from whatever lifts him above his present inadequate state and makes him superior to all others. This brings the child to setting a goal, a fictitious goal of superiority which will transform his poverty into wealth, his subordination into dominance, his suffering into happiness and pleasure, his ignorance into omniscience, and his ineptness into creativity. This goal is set higher and will be adhered to more tenaciously the longer and more clearly the child perceives his insecurity, the more he suffers from physical or mental impediments, and the more intensely he feels being neglected." -- From "The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology", by Alfred Adler. "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 reach upward. The theory of Individual Psychology of psychological compensation states that the stronger the feeling of inferiority, the higher the goal for personal power." -- From "Progress in Individual Psychology", by Alfred Adler.

11 Many People Live their Entire Lives Striving to be Perfect
Compensation Many People Live their Entire Lives Striving to be Perfect Many people live their entire lives striving to be perfect. Since everyone has problems, shortcomings and inferiorities, our personalities account for how we Compensate or Overcome these Problems.

12 Response to Inferiority

13 Neurosis Life Sized problem Inferiority Complex Superiority Complex
Neurosis means a tendency becomes a life sized problem. First, a person who has too much of a tendency toward a complex may engage in tricky behavior. How about a person who has spent his life being spoiled or pampered? They do not learn to do things for themselves. Additionally, people generally do not like pampered people. A pampered person eventually gains a feeling of inadequacy.

14 Jeffrey Trail: Beaten with a Hammer David Madson: Shot at Close Range
Lee Miglin: Tortured, Tormented, Stabbed William Reese: Shot in the Head Gianni Versace: Shot in the Head Most of Andrew Cunanan's life is a rather large mystery. For example, according to Cunanan, his father was a strict disciplinarian and would often beat him to the point of bruising. However, according to his brothers, he was the "white sheep" of the family and severely pampered. His father told reporters from the Philippines that Andrew had never seen a day of violence at home. "That was never a part of his growing up years." At age thirteen, he had his first gay encounter, an experience he later bragged about. Some say that he was proud of his sexuality, while others tell that he was self-absorbed and loved to be the center of attention. This later trait is one we see all too often in people who later become violently antisocial. Looking back over the saga, a few things can be noted. For instance, Cunanan seems to have killed for one of two reasons - either he needed something from them (such as the truck from Chicago) or he needed to be them. They each seemed to represent members of the upper class, which Andrew tried so desperately to fit into. Gianni Versace's murder is a perfect example of this later motive, since Versace was a very successful homosexual, a celebrity, rich and famous - all of which were traits Andrew Cunanan wished so desperately that he could have himself. A few interesting parallels can also be made between Andrew Cunanan and Mark David Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon, simply because he wanted to be Lennon.

15 Pampered Person ..\ ..\

16 Dr. Michael Swango

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