Psychoanalysis 1.1 PDF

**What is a paradigm?** - A set of ideas, a way of looking at something, a lens, a framework through which we interpret reality. - A generally accepted perspective, position or view of a particular discipline at a given time. - A universally recognisable scientific achievement that,...

**What is a paradigm?** - A set of ideas, a way of looking at something, a lens, a framework through which we interpret reality. - A generally accepted perspective, position or view of a particular discipline at a given time. - A universally recognisable scientific achievement that, for a time, provides model problems and solutions to a community of practitioners - Scientists accept the dominant paradigm until anomalies appear and new theories emerge, a paradigm shift. Different paradigms in psychology provide different ways of understanding behaviour. What is a paradigm shift? - A scientific revolution occurs when: - The new paradigm better explains the observations and offers a model that is closer to objective, external reality. - The new paradigm is incommensurable with the old. Psychology does not have one accepted paradigm but several competing schools. It is a complex discipline with many branches that reflect the complexity of an organism. The three paradigms of psychology that we will focus on in this course are: 1\. psychoanalysis 2\. behaviourism 3\. humanistic-existential **Psychoanalysis** The founding father of psychoanalysis is Sigmund Freud. - He emphasises the unconscious processes. - Deterministic theory: your childhood experiences determine your future. - He emphasises that instincts and drives are motivators of behaviour. - His idea of treatment focused on treating patients by bringing their unconscious thoughts to the conscious. Psychoanalysis evolved in waves: - First wave: Drive psychology (Freud) - Second wave: Ego psychology (a. freud, Rapoport, Kernberg) - Third wave British schools - object relation theory and self psychology. what is personality? a complex pattern of deeply embedded. long lasting psychological characteristics. these characteristics are largely non-conscious and not easily altered. they express themselves automatically in almost every facet of functioning. they are intrinsic, pervasive traits emerging from a complicated matrix of biological dispositions and experimental learnings. they comprise the individuals distinctive pattern of feeling, thinking, coping and behaving. 3 focal points of personality; 1. structure 2. dynamics 3. development personality helps us understand the person, formulate theories, and treat. 5 human domains: physical emotional cognitive ritual behavioural the psychodynamic paradigm - focuses on the patient resolving conscious and unconscious feelings. structural theory: - id - ego - superego **Topographical theory:** - conscious, - preconscious (ego and superego) - unconscious (Id) - ID: - ID is driven by instinct and pleasure - immediate gratification - present from birth - animalistic and childish desires - operates on the pleasure principle, to gain pleasure and avoid pain - exists in the unconscious mind. - Ego: controls and reasons - mature, adaptive behaviour Superego: driven by right and wrong - moral, ethical values. all of us have the three of them, but to different degrees, and the three are in constant conflict with each other. instinct - ID two main instincts - death and life - thanatos and eros life - eros: procreation, social operation and survival death - Thanatos: aggression, risky behaviour and reliving trauma instincts have 4 qualities: - a source - an aim - an object - a force has the aim: of tension reduction and regression to a calm state. no tension by satisfying instinctual needs. the id will do anything to avoid pain and get pleasure. how can we channel instincts to die? - in violent and aggressive acts against others - into acceptable experiences - inwards towards ourselves - indirect and vicarious ways - through observations sociable acceptable ways of satisfying libido: - steady relationship and marriage - art - cinema and TV **the ID** - no logic or reason - no rules - not moral - not evaluative/no concept of danger or consequences - chaotic - no sense of time and space. how does the ID achieve satisfaction? - reflex action: spontaneous, uninhibited response. - acting without thinking: yelling, losing control, getting sexually aroused, kicking, making a fist - withdrawal reflex primary process (catechting) : it could be a real object/person or fantasy. the id does not discriminate between real and fantasy. out emotions and desires influence our behaviour throughout the process of cathexis: 1. investment of psychic energy - libido - into objects, ideas or people. what we invest in represents our emotional and motivational forces therefore, emotions and desires are the driving forces behind where this energy is invested 2. positive and negative cathexis: emotions and desires can be both positively and negatively cathected: 1. positive cathexis: you invest emotional energy in a way that is pleasurable 2. negative cathexis occurs when you invest emotional energy into something threatening or dangerous. 3. influence on behaviour: ex. a person in love may engage in actions to be close to their loved ones while in the case of a strong negative cathexis a person's beahvours are aimed to avoid or defend against perceived threats 4. Unconscious motivations: many emotional investments occur at an unconscious level. people may not always be aware of why they are driven to certain behaviours or why they experience certain emotions. 5. conflict and resolution: emotions and desires can sometimes lead to internal conflicts when there are competing cathexes. ex an individual may have a desire to fulfill a career but also a fear of failing. this conflict can result in complex behaviours.key features of the id and primary process: - the id is unconscious and primitive: - it operates entirely at the unconscious level - is present from birth - is not bound by logic reality or morality - it is concerned solely with seeking immediate gratification of basic desires and needs - pleasure principle: the id operates according to the pleasure principle, seeking to maximise pleasure and minimise discomfort or pain. it relentlessly pursues the satisfaction of instinctual drives such as hunger thirst... - primary process thinking: characterised by irrationality, with fulfilment, and the ability to temporarily resolve conflicts between conflicting desires or wishes. it is primarily concerned with the satisfaction of desires in a way that is immediate and uninhibited - is symbolic and illogical: involves forming mental representations of objects or events that can fulfil a desire, even if these representations are not necessarily realistic or practical. this is often seen in dreams, where the id's primary process of thinking is more apparent. - lack of time and reality constraints: it seeks gratification without considering practicality or consequences. the id is in constant tension with the ego and superego. the ego tries to mediate between the id's impulsive desires and constraints of reality while the superego represents moral and societal values, imposing restrictions on the id's behaviour. Freud's mode of the id, ego, and superego has been influential in understanding human behaviour and motivation, particularly in the context of psychoanalysis. **the ego** - the director - it guides the id and satisfies it in socially acceptable ways - mediates between the id and superego - avoids the guilt, anxiety, and punishment of the superego by applying defence mechanisms. - uses reasoning. it steals energy from the id to engage in reality testing. it considers reality, therefore guided by the reality principle. secondary process: drive → tension → cathexis → reality testing - weakens cathexis bond through identification → gratification/postponement/partial gratification **superego** - formed around age 4-7 - at first through identification - energy comes from the id - need for approval and pleasing people and authority 2 aspects of superego: 1. internal policeman (prohibitions) 2. ego ideal (from parental ideals) uses guilt and punishment to gain power and control over the personality. makes us follow it in order not to feel bad or hate ourselves. characteristics of a harsh superego: - guilt over standing up to parents - persons who have a deep sense of duty towards parents - parents are always right even when abusive - persons who cannot say no - workaholics - excessive anxiety because a person cannot resolve conflict because the superego is very strong - depression and heart palpitations. - the superego when meditated: - helps us study and achieve - helps to have meaningful and lasting relationships - helps to be a good parents - helps you to be a contributing member of society Three functions of the superego: - inhibit ID - all work no play - forces ego to act morally not rationally - forces a person towards absolute perfection a very weak superego = psychopathic personality type of parenting received influences how strong each aspect of personality is: - very strong parenting leads to a strong superego - very undisciplined parenting --- strong id in both cases, the ego has to struggle to gain control parenting, which cuts down and erodes faith in self, creating a weak ego -- gullible and open to abuse. id: physical follows pleasure principle ego: cognitive reality principle superego: ethical, personal identity and adherence to identity. a healthy ego is very important for psychological health. the ego has to be strong enough to get energy from the id or has to exert energy successfully against the excesses of the superego, or else we become very inhibited, over-controlled, according to Freud, a healthy person is able to love and work - able to move out of self-absorption, connect with others, and be productive. **the topographical theory of personality** topographical theory: different systems of the mind: 3 mental systems: - conscious - preconscious - unconscious freud's conceptualisation of the human mind can be viewed as a mental iceberg the conscious - the part of the mind that is aware of itself the preconscious - what we bring to our attention through effort - recalling memories, knowledge the unconscious - what the mind does not know that it knows - what I am not aware of - access is very difficult - a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges and memories that were either never conscious of, or perceived as too unpleasant and unacceptable - the id → repression is the process of pushing experiences/feelings/memories out of the conscious awareness by burying them into the abyss of the unconscious. we repress whatever threatens our sense of security, parts of ourselves and experiences that we perceive as disturbing and unpleasant. repressed material may emerge: - under circumstances where our ability to repress material is weakened - when we no longer feel threatened by repressed material repression and psychologists: psychologists need to explore their unconscious and their past,,, how? - growth psychotherapy - supervision just as patients' unconscious thoughts, feelings and experiences, so do the unconscious material within psychologists, and this can affect how we appraise a case and our position with the patient. → no one is immune to the effects of the unconscious. how do we access repressed material? - introspection -- in-depth exploration of past experiences with a non-defensive stance - free association - saying the first thing that comes to mind without giving it a thought. - dreams - not too threatening dreams about repressed thoughts and memories: if the dream is too threatening, we wake up. - divided into two: the manifest content and the latent content (hidden meaning) - the second purpose of the dream is wish fulfilment or satisfaction for the ID - different types of dreams: ordinary dreams, anxiety dreams, reoccurring dreams, healing, prophetic, lucid, epic, and false awakening dreams. - 5 psychological mechanisms operating dreams: - condensation - combining all ideas, thoughts or feelings into one object - displacement - distinguish the true meaning of the dream. an unconscious mechanism by which the emotional tone/essential aspects of a dream are shifted onto the manifest content rather than the latent one. ex we turn the object of anger into something else. - dramatization - abstract thoughts and wishes are dramatized (put into a story) - symbolisation - latent content in a dream is converted into symbols - secondary elaborisation - makes the dream coherent and meaningful, and tries to give a reasonable meaning to the dream. - resistance - the way we react when unconscious defences are threatened by an outside source. - prarapraxes - projection **the parapraxes** - small 'accidents' in daily life that reveal our unconscious - they reveal what we are trying to repress - ex. Freudian slip, mistakes and forgetting, losing objects, joking and humour, and false perceptions. **projection** - how we react to something ambiguous, how we fill in the blanks reveals our unconscious. - it is safe because it is not projective testing - psychologists use this as a way into the unconscious. a way of revealing the unconscious without being aware you are doing it. - three types of projective techniques: - completion: sentence completion test - association: an animal that symbolises you, are you more like your mother or father... Rorschach test (set of ink blocks in which one states what they are seeing). - construction: TAT (thematic apperception test) defence mechanisms and psychosexual stages of development according to Freud, our personality develops as we learn of new ways to reduce tension: defence mechanisms help us to reduce tensions. two processes that support personality development: 1. identification - the internalisation of behaviours observed in others 2. displacement - transferring negative feelings from one thing to another both are defence mechanisms. displacements that produce social and cultural achievements are known as sublimation - a defence mechanism: channelling our energy into something constructive, for example. studying or sports. - defence mechanisms are mental processes that have as their goal the reduction of anxiety - they protect us from feeling overwhelmed/ source of threat - they occur on an unconscious level and deny reality - functional aspect: an infant's ego would be too weak to cope with the inner tension - dysfunctional: prolonged and excessive use, might hinder the ego from gaining sufficient strength for it to grow ie. ego remains weak - ultimately the goal is to develop a strong ego that can cope with threats. **types of defence mechanisms** repression: - act of forcing awareness of memories, thoughts and ideas that arouse anxiety. - residues of repressed material may come up in a disguised form ex. dreams, slip of tongue etc. - when repression is not effective enough, other defence mechanisms are deployed. **projection:** - attributing to others what you do not accept about yourself - transforming neurotic/moral anxiety to anxiety external to us - may also enable a person to express threatening impulses under the guise of self-defence. reaction formation: - when we adopt attitudes and behaviours that are opposite to our true thoughts and feelings. hiding thoughts and feelings that arouse anxiety - ex. killing someone with kindness. **regression:** - reverting to immature patterns of behaviour pertaining to an earlier stage of development - is when retreat under stress to an earlier stage of development during which others were available to help - we do this to get help in facing a challenging event - ex. after a fight with her husband she returns to her parents' home where she is allowed to be babied. **Denial:** - blocking external events from awareness - ex. a person denies facts suggesting partner is being unfaithful. rationalisation - reasoning out justifying things - distorting truth that we do not like through the use of logic/reason - I could have won the are but my running shoes were hurting me - not acknowledging our responsibility **the stages of personality development** - The first few years are considered decisive in the formation of a personality - Freud believed that the essence of personality developed in the first 12 years of life. - from birth up to 5-6 years we go through the following stages: - oral - anal - phallic - from 6-12: latency stage - impulses tend to be repressed - the genital stage at 12 years: reactivation of impulses, a person moves into maturity. **the oral stage** - 0-1 year - characterised by feelings of dependency -- the baby relies totally on others for survival - care and protection - developmental task: moving from infantile dependency toward self-sufficiency based on the core event ie. feeding in the first year of life - the baby's experience of feeding leads to prototypes for later character traits - oral stage fixation: passive, gullible, immature and manipulative personality. - infant is practically all ID and cannot initially distinguish between self and the environment. - infant is controlled by biological impulses and is selfish - the focus of pleasurable sensations/sexual impulses during this stage is the mouth. - pleasurable sensations occur as the infant incorporates food and water/milk - the theme in the first year of life is eating, an activity that stimulates the lips, mouth and throat. - when teeth appear, biting and chewing are added - these two modes of activity - incorporating and biting food are the prototypes for later character traits - oral incorporating: acquiring knowledge or collecting things - oral aggression: heavy use of sarcasm or argumentativeness **the anal stage** - 1-2 years - core theme: the child learns that he or she cannot rely on the parents and some things are to be done independently - developmental task: learning to exercise control over our body and impulses - postpone the pleasure of relieving anal tension - parental attitudes: helps child distinguish between wrong and right actions through rewards and punishment. - pleasurable sensations are focused on the anal cavity - the chief pleasure of the child involves the retention or expulsion of the faeces - ego processes are being differentiated from the ID and the child begins to assert his or her independence. this does not however involve rational decision making in which the child weighs the conflicting evidence and comes to reasonable conclusions. - it is a negativistic independence where the child rejects out of hand, whatever is being offered by the parents. it is the time when 'no; is the go-to response of the child. - toilet training is a central activity. Children can resist parental demands to control faeces and urine by acting in socially unacceptable ways. they may refuse to expel feces despite their parent's insistence or they may wet their pants frequently - Depending on the parental attitudes and methods, this training may have far-reaching effects. ex. if parents are overly strict, the child may rebel and hold back its faeces, becoming constipated. later in life, this I characterised by stinginess and stubbornness (anal retentiveness), or the child may vent its rage by expelling faeces at inappropriate times - core theme: Children learn that they cannot rely or depend on the parents and some things are to be done independently - developmental task: learning to exercise control over our body and impulses - postpone pleasure of relieving anal tension - parental attitudes: helps child distinguish between wrong and right actions through rewards and punishment. **phallic stage** - 2-5/6 years - sexual tension is focused on the genital area - both boys and girls derive pleasure from self-manipulation - for boys, the sexual tension in this stage involves a longing for sexual contact with the mother. they seek affection and love from the mother. - the child is increasingly aware that there is a sexual relationship between his parents and that the father is his rival. but the father is bigger and stronger physically and the boy is fearful that the will be punished for his desires - specifically that his penis will be cut off. - child alleviates this castration anxiety through identification with the father's - developmental task: mastering competitive urges and acquiring gender role-related behaviours. - core theme: Oedipus complex: castration anxiety - Castration anxiety: forces boys to repress both desires for his mother and hostility toward his father by identification with his rival - father and repression of sexual feelings turned into affection for his mother - Electra complex: penis envy - the girl's belief that she has already been castrated leads her into the Electra complex. - the girl blames her mother for not having a penis - resentment towards her mother - girl chooses her father as a sexual object because he has a penis she wants and hopes to share it with him. - resolved through: repression of sexual feelings toward her father, and displacement of sexual feelings - the superego is an outgrowth of the resolution of the Oedipus complex as the child takes on the values of his parents and their attitudes toward society. - boys' superego tends to be stronger than that of females, according to fFeud. - the conflict process of females is very different freud argued that girls try to compensate for the deficiency of a penis by emulating boys and by masturbating their 'stunted penis' - the clitoris. - for girls, although the mother is their first love object, they come to resent her for bringing them into this world without a penis and begin to love the father because they have the desired object. they then identify with the mother as a means of vicariously obtaining the desired object. - Freud believed that girls have a weak superego and little sense of objectivity and justice. Freud was heavily criticised in some cultures, the resentment of the boy towards the father is based on the father's powerful position in the family and not on sexual jealousy feminist protest Freud's chauvinistic outlook toward women - an attitude common to the strongly patriarchal society in which he lived. Viennese women at the time were second-class citizens. Karen Horney: what normal women envy is the status of men and the psychological and physical rewards associated with it. **latency stage** - 5/6- 12 years - sexual development is assumed to be at a standstill ie repression of the child's sexual longings ( stems from the fear of parental retaliation) - a person's characteristic way of behaving is established during the first five years of life and radical personality change is an extremely difficult - developmental task: investing energy in pursuits unrelated to sexual pleasure ex. school, friendships, hobbies etc. - the child develops the capacity of sublimation - to consolidate gender-role identity. **genital stage** - 12+ years - with the advent of puberty, sexual tension increases dramatically - previously the aims of the sexual instincts have been predominantly autoerotic but now the goal is to mate with an appropriate sex object - this depends on the amount of libidinal energy available to the person if there are no severe traumatic experiences in early childhood, with corresponding libido fixations, an adequate adjustment to the developmental task of this phase is possible. - For Freud, the normal person can love and work: - what happens in the early stages will influence the capacity of a person to love and work - to love, one must be secure in one's identity, generous, caring, compromising, and trusting.. to be able to work one must be responsible, ambitious, motivated etc. - develop the capacity to love others for altruistic motives - giving not just receiving - as we participate in group activities, prepare for work, relationships and raise a family, we become transformed from pleasure-seeking self-centred infants into reality-oriented socialised adults. - developmental task: total self-interest → concern for others (mature sexuality blended with intimacy) how we go through each stage is important - parents must allow balanced gratification at each stage - if we experience trauma or excessive gratification at each stage we invest a lot of energy in that stage and can become stuck. **fixations: ID energy trapped in a stage** develops persistent behaviours that are typical of the stage that affects us. ex of fixations: smoking, gum chewing, nail-biting, orderliness obsessiveness, rigidity, vanity, exhibitionism... **fixations: oral character** - oral character: persons who are fixated on the oral stages have problems later in life that are related primarily to receiving or taking things from the external world - oral receptive character (the result of overindulgence) person becomes habituated at receiving support and encouragement from others and thus is excessively dependent on others for gratification - such people tend to be too trusting, accepting and gullible. they admire strength and leadership in others but make little attempt to fend for themselves. - their gratification is derived from what others do for them and not from what they accomplish. - oral aggressive character -- an under-indulgent person learns to exploit others and may develop sadistic attitudes. tend to envy others and try the use manipulative strategies to dominate them. **fixations: anal character** - anal eroticism -- if the parents are highly punitive and demanding, children may decide to defiantly keep their prized possessions from their parents - later character traits include stubbornness, defiance and resistance to control by others (anal retentive) - overly conscious, rigid, fiercely independent, and persistent in the performance of even the most trivial duties. frugal and stingy about possession and money - the trait of orderliness is reflected in their need to live by routine. meticulous, perfectionistic and a sticklers for precision. **fixations: The phallic character** - stems from the inadequate resolution of the Oedipus/Electra complex - in males it is a reaction of severe castration anxiety - they behave in a reckless, resolute and self-assured manner. overstimulating of the penis is reflected in excessive vanity and exhibitionism. such males prove that they are real men by repeated conquests of women - for women, the primary motive is penis envy. Consequently, they are continuously striving for superiority over men. such women are considered to be castrating females. **fixations: genital character** - the ideal type. such people are sexually mature - their libidinal energies are no longer jammed up because they have found appropriate love objects. - in Freud's view, the key to happiness is the ability to love and be loved. sexual love is one aspect of intimacy that provides us with happiness and joy. although intimacy is central to happiness it makes us vulnerable to rejection and to the eventual loss of a loved one. Freud believed that love needs to be pursued nonetheless. - genital characters are also capable of sublimating their id impulses by expressing them in the form of creative and productive work. **Adler** Whilst Sigmund Freud believed: - behaviour is motivated by internal biological drives -- sex and aggression - inner focus - people do not have a choice in shaping their personality - present behaviour is caused by past - emphasis on the unconscious process - Freud split the personality into components: id, ego and superego - relationship with the same-sex parent is of primary importance Alfred Adler believed: - motivation: behaviour is motivated by social influence and striving for superiority - people are responsible for who they are - present behaviour is shaped by the future -- goal-oriented - and striving for superiority - people are aware of what they are doing and why - we have power over ourselves - Adler thought the individual should be studied as a whole - holism - outer focus: influence of wider relationships with significant others: parents, siblings, teachers peers and what we learn as a result. 1. outer, social focus: intra-psychic life vs relational and social life 2. perception of what is healthy: Freud's idea of health is to be able to love and work. Adler adds social interest and striving for superiority. the importance of balancing our self-interest with the interest of others. 3. View of the unconscious: The conscious is larger and more important than the unconscious. we have more power over ourselves. 4. the creative self: the self is active and constructive not reactive and paralysed by conflict. self actively seeks experiences to help itself to grow and develop, if they are not to be found, it created the, ex. Frankl in concentration camp - this ability in some people because of environments they grow up in ex. a girl is taken out of school to care for a sick mother, never develops a career. 5. motivation: what motivates us is not only instincts but also overcoming our insecurities and inferiorities. **alder's theory** key terms and concepts: → lifestyle - referred to as the central core of a person's life and the largest concept in individual psychology. it represents the sum of an individual's basic approach to life, the unified and self-consistent pattern of beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, relationships and actions which make up the total person. → social interest - a form of empathy, a concern towards the food of others, driven by the need to belong and feel loved. → inferiority and superiority: influenced by Adler's personal life: sickly boy and nearly died as a child. natural consequence of life where as children we feel inferior to adults - perception of ourselves as weak, and adults as strong. this feeling is internalised and carried forward in life to become an inferiority complex. inferiority leads to over-compensation and a striving toward superiority. → family constellation: it is where everything begins: a child's ordinal position in the family determines their individuality, personality and style of life. the individual's social setting and one's subjective perception of it will impinge on how the personality of that person develops. **characteristics of personality:** - purpose: - self-determined - behaviour is purposeful and goal-oriented - behaviour is motivated by striving for superiority, quest for belonging and feeling loved. - unity of personality - holism; - integrated - decides as a whole and not as a result of the struggle between the Id, ego and superego - subjectivity: - individuals differ in their goals and how they try to achieve them - private logic: - our private intelligence which we develop through experience and guides our behaviour **what influences personality development?** 1. family of origin: the very first social reality. through the family, we learn to respect authority figures. 2. early experiences 3. private logic - one's interpretations and perceptions of reality - our very own conclusions. social interest - gemeinschaftgeful - an innate capacity for social interest influenced by an innate need for affection that drives us toward relationships - balancing our needs with the needs of others - enables us to strive for superiority in a healthy, non-competitive way ex. waiting for our turn in a queue, not unloading your worries on your friend if they are crying, stopping to help someone who fell in the street, being sensitive to what it costs your parents to drive you everywhere, giving and taking, and sharing. - although it is innate, parents must nurture it to grow. - the greater the social interest, the sounder the person's mental health - if not developed, the child will be unable to live successfully in society. often perceived as selfish people, feared, isolated and not trusted. **striving for superiority** - an innate drive and strong will - a will to power - to grow and overcome our inferiority feelings - feelings of inferiority derived from 3 sources: the past, self-criticism and challenges - superiority over our own weakness and inabilities not over others - low social interest - mistakes help us grow - fictional goal: personal goals constituting a self-ideal and compensatory created by ourselves to relieve ourselves from the primary inferiority feeling. - compensation: a natural and healthy reaction to inferiority: efforts to overcome real or imagined inferiority by trying to improve one's own abilities. if a person is unable to compensate for normal feelings of inferiority they develop an inferiority complex. - inferiority is normal and productive - it motivates us to further develop - secondary inferiority -- the exaggerated feeling of inferiority. these feelings in the adult may be harmful and comprise the inferiority complex - inferiority complex: when someone is always striving to find a situation in which they excel - an overwhelming drive characterised by overcompensation - denying having the weakness - present due to one's overwhelming feeling of inferirirty. can result in mental illness if the person seeks superiority by being either domineering over others or overly dependent on others for success. - overt inferiority: one can portray oneself as inferior but within one may harbour feelings of superiority ex. deep down in a better than all of them. compensation and overcompensation superiority complex: when a person needs to prove that he is superior to he truly is. superior behaviour compensates for inferiority feelings. born out of inferiority. ex. an arrogant and entitled person who grew up feeling unimportant and invisible. - superiority over our own weaknesses **family constellation** Adler believed that birth order and one's subjective experience within a family have a significant and predictable impact on the child\'s personality and their feeling of inferiority. **→ firstborn:** start off with a high amount of personal power. typical traits include: - egocentric - when supported they tend to develop qualities of nurturance and responsibility - desire to lead or protect - more confirmative - cautious: taking calculated risks - more likely to be neurotic: insecure, feats unexpected reversal of fortune and more prone to suffer from anxiety - fear of being surpassed - sets high standards and ambitious - when dethroned, they strive to retain 1st position, which may affect self-confidence. **→ second born:** since birth is in the shadow of their older siblings - has to live up to the pace of the older sibling - needs to establish a separative individuality - incessantly striving for superiority - if encouraged and supported, he/she will be better adjusted. **→ youngest/third born:** operates from a constant state of inferiority - constantly trying to prove themselves due to the perceived inferiority relative to the rest of the family. there are two types: - the more successful type - excels and surpasses every member of the family - the second type - unspoken expectations to remain a child; may be too dependent lack necessary self-confidence - becomes evasive and avoidant toward the rest of the family. - if the age gap is big, the experience might be similar to an only child - with a third born, and issues of fairness and justice emerge for the middle child. the middle child becomes a good negotiator. **→ the only child:** unfortunate due to their being the sole object of their parents' attention. - more likely to become dependent and reliant on others - pampering may lead to maladjustment - may also come to see the world as a hostile place due to their parents' constant vigilance - and may possess some characteristics of the first or the youngest. family constellations are important but there are other considerations to take in: - alliances - gender arrangement ex. a girl after 4 boys - age gaps - significant family events (ex., illnesses within the family, including postnatal depression, miscarriages before or after the child, infertility, death of a family member, marital separation...) - assigned sibling roles - sibling rivalry **lifestyle** - everybody strives for superiority, pursues goals and fights inferiority differently. - our style of life is the way we choose to pursue these goals (guided through private logic) - a lifestyle is determined by: - our fictional goals - goals we set for ourselves to feel that we've overcome the sense of inferiority - the influence of the environment ex. parent you admire and wish to imitate, economic insecurity, poverty, aggressive siblings, mentally ill relative - subjective experience of environmental factors - private logic: a kind of private intelligence: a road map developed in the first 6 years of life where we learn subjectively how we need to behave to feel loved, experience a sense of belonging and overcome feelings of inferiority **types of lifestyles:** 1. active constructive: a person who is committed to forming a good family 2. active destructive: a hostile, backstabbing, lazy employee or chronically unfaithful husband or wife 3. passive constructive: laid-back person who gets on well with clients or a parent who does not contribute at home but is war, 4. passive destructive: a worker who complains constantly, a parent who neglects children and meets their own needs all day.