Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionII. Psychodynamic
Theories- Adler: Individual
Psychology
(^92) © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
a revolutionary attitude and feel that any authority can be challenged. Again, chil-
dren’s interpretations are more important than their chronological position.
Youngest children, Adler believed, are often the most pampered and, conse-
quently, run a high risk of being problem children. They are likely to have strong
feelings of inferiority and to lack a sense of independence. Nevertheless, they pos-
sess many advantages. They are often highly motivated to exceed older siblings and
to become the fastest runner, the best musician, the most skilled athlete, or the most
ambitious student.
Only children are in a unique position of competing, not against brothers and
sisters, but against father and mother. Living in an adult world, they often develop an
exaggerated sense of superiority and an inflated self-concept. Adler (1931) stated
that only children may lack well-developed feelings of cooperation and social inter-
est, possess a parasitic attitude, and expect other people to pamper and protect them.
Typical positive and negative traits of oldest, second, youngest, and only children are
shown in Table 3.2.
Early Recollections
To gain an understanding of patients’ personality, Adler would ask them to reveal
their early recollections(ERs). Although he believed that the recalled memories
yield clues for understanding patients’ style of life, he did not consider these mem-
ories to have a causal effect. Whether the recalled experiences correspond with ob-
jective reality or are complete fantasies is of no importance. People reconstruct the
86 Part II Psychodynamic Theories
Siblings may feel superior or inferior and may adopt different attitudes toward the world depending in
part on their order of birth.