0390435333.pdf

Feist−Feist: Theories of

Personality, Seventh

Edition

II. Psychodynamic

Theories

3. Adler: Individual
   Psychology

© The McGraw−Hill^93

Companies, 2009

events to make them consistent with a theme or pattern that runs throughout their
lives.
Adler (1929/1969, 1931) insisted that early recollections are always consistent
with people’s present style of life and that their subjective account of these experi-
ences yields clues to understanding both their final goal and their present style of
life. One of Adler’s earliest recollections was of the great contrast between his
brother Sigmund’s good health and his own sickly condition. As an adult, Adler re-
ported that

One of my earliest recollections is of sitting on a beach... bandaged up on

account of rickets, with my healthier elder brother sitting opposite me. He could

run, jump, and move about quite effortlessly, while for me movement of any sort

was a strain.... Everyone went to great pains to help me. (Bottome, 1957, p. 30)

If Adler’s assumption that early recollections are a valid indicator of a person’s
style of life, then this memory should yield clues about Adler’s adult style of life.

Chapter 3 Adler: Individual Psychology 87

TABLE 3.2

Adler’s View of Some Possible Traits by Birth Order

Positive Traits Negative Traits

Oldest Child

Second Child

Highly anxious

Exaggerated feelings of power

Unconscious hostility

Fights for acceptance

Must always be “right,” whereas

others are always “wrong”

Highly critical of others

Uncooperative

Nurturing and protective of others

Good organizer

Highly motivated

Cooperative

Moderately competitive

Highly competitive

Easily discouraged

Realistically ambitious Pampered style of life

Dependent on others

Wants to excel in everything

Unrealistically ambitious

Socially mature Exaggerated feelings of superiority

Low feelings of cooperation

Inflated sense of self

Pampered style of life

Youngest Child

Only Child