Adlerian Theory Literature Review Essay

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Adlerian Theory

This report will explore Adlerian counseling psychology theory as it relates to professional student development. The Adlerian viewpoint will be compared and contrasted against the views of Cory, Halbur and Tan, all three of which offered some input on the subject from 2011 to 2013. A conclusive orientation will not be asserted in this report. However, there will be a heavy review of the Adlerian position as compared to the views of the others and the view of the author of this report. While many are skeptical of the Adlerian view that people are interconnected by nature and thus are predisposed to cooperation, the author of this report asserts that there are many other visionaries in science and psychology that have echoed this view and it would seem the Adlerian principles are alive and well when it comes to the development of student professional development.

Analysis

As a quick review of the Adlerian position, Alfred Adler basically asserted that all living things were connected via natural proclivities that demanded and encouraged cooperation. This overall theory has been related to other theories like chaos theory and autopoesis. The latter of those two terms refers to the autonomous, self-renewing and self-directing nature of all life forms. Adler had a viewpoint and worldview that was fairly or entirely antithetical to those that embraced the conflict and/or feminist view of sociology. Adler was different in that he had a very humanistic and optimistic view of life. He "offered a value-oriented psychology that envisioned human being as capable of profound cooperation in living together and striving for self-improvement" (Stein & Edwards, 2015).

Adler had direct interaction and inspiration from some of the heavyweights in the field of psychology. One of those heavyweights was no less than Sigmund Freud. Indeed, Adler and Freud worked together for the better part of a decade before parting ways. Post-parting, Freud labeled Adler a "heretic" but this demonization seemed to stem from the fact that Adler abandoned him as a colleague. Indeed, Adler did suffer for this happenstance as he resigned from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1911. However, Adler was generally unflappable in his beliefs. Corey describes that Adler stressed the unity of personality and he contended that people can only be understood and integrated as full and completely human beings. After Adler died in 1937, no less than Rudolf Dreikurs was a pivotal figure in bringing Adlerian psychology to the fore. Rudolf asserted that the principles of Adler could and should be applied to education. He also asserted that applications existed for individual therapy, group therapy and family counseling. This has obvious relation and applicability to the general idea that Adler's view of counseling psychology could and should be used as a tool and an implement to develop the minds of students in the professional sense (Corey, 2013).

Coming back to the Freud vs. Adler spat, it would seem that there was some major divergence between the two in terms of ideas and what they held to be true. Indeed, Adler had a rather different view of human nature than Freud and he was not afraid to speak of it. He asserted that Freud's basic theories were too narrowly focused on biological and instinctual determinations. IT would seem he did not dismiss them entirely but instead asserted that there is more to what a person does, why they do it and how they progress over time given certain stimuli and environmental influences. This would have obvious implications on the learning and educational environments. It is obvious to say that someone's tendencies to be shy, reserved or closed off to the world could negatively influence a person's experience as a student and a learner. However, Adler asserted that the yearning for cooperating and connection could help overcome these biological and mind-influenced proclitiies and thus allow for progress that would not normally happen without external influence and encouragement. Even if a human being is conditioned to shy away from a group setting, the proper manifestation of Adlerian psychology can break a person out of the pattern that they may be prone to from a psychological and/or biological point-of-view. What is really wondrous and odd about Freud and Adler is that they grew up in the same city, in the same era and went to the same school. However, their overall view of the educational and counseling psychology paradigms were entirely different. As noted above, Adler took a more positive and wide-ranging view while Freud stuck more with the assertion that humans and their behavior were very much a product of their biological and psychological impulses.

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In the grand scheme of things, it is safe to say that many people do indeed act on the impulses that Freud references. However, people can rise above and beyond that and can do so with the assistance and encouragement of the right people. When looking at things through an Adlerian lens, it is reasonably safe to say that the Adlerian approach will obviously encourage those that are predisposed to cooperation without being urged but will also attract people that want to connect with others but are shy or concerned about doing so for whatever reason (Corey, 2013).

Halbur notes that the Adlerian view of counseling psychology is also known as the individual psychology. It was certainly part of the earlier days and thought patterns of psychology, not unlike the viewpoints of Freud. However, the Adlerian method and way of psychology persists this very day in the form of things like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as well as narrative therapy. These are just two examples of how Adler's influence and assertions are very alive and well even though the man has been dead for the better part of a century. The points of Halbur can easily be related and translated to the Adler viewpoint. For example, Halbur lists off a total of ten ways to assist one's self when it comes to their theoretical orientation. One of those is finding one's self, which is a huge staple and part of the Adlerian viewpoint. When it comes to the Adler point that people are connected and desire to do so in a cooperative fashion, Halbur and Halbur says much the same thing when there is mention of allowing and enabling others to inspire and pull you up to a higher level of performance and thinking. Something else they suggested that would lend itself to the college and professional student development environment would be learning from the masters and reading the works of the visionaries and prominent theorists of what is being studied. Of course, if one was studying counseling psychology, Adler and Freud would almost certainly be among the people that are studied. The list goes beyond those two but they are obviously related to each other due to their prior association and the period of time and part of the world that they both inhabited (Halbur & Halbur, 2011).

One thing that becomes clear when looking at Adler is that he certainly practiced what he preached. Tan (2011) speaks of this when it is mentioned that Adler completely dropped everything to serve in the Austrian army during World War I. After returning from the war, he showed his commitment to the school system and how he thought his precepts and theory could help students. He showed a great amount of social interest in his country, the children in particular, when he opened up roughly thirty child guidance clinics in the Vienna school system. He taught his ideas and techniques of individual psychology. In keeping with what he truly believed and thought, he advocated for school reforms that involved treating people as entire and whole individuals as well as creating better child-rearing practices. He also actively spoke out against prejudices that were responsible for many of the conflicts that existed. He eventually branched out and started lecturing in other countries including the United States. His schedule was so packed and grueling that many of his cohorts urged him to "slow down" and take things a little easier. However, he dismissed those warnings. Indeed, when he died in 1938, he was in the midst of yet another lecture tour. In the end, he died of a heart attack. Tan also echoes the work of the other authors of this report when it is noted that Adler admitted straight away that the proclivities and habits of a person are very much ingrained and "written" in the first six years of life. Even so, he also stuck to his proverbial guns when he also said that "longing for social connectedness as crucial motivation for human behavior" (Tan, 2011). Obviously, if a person desires to be a professional student, this desire for connection and cooperation is going to help them greatly presuming that they enter into an environment where this is fostered and encouraged. This encouragement is important and even Adler admitted as such. Adler noted that it was entirely normal for people to feel "inferiority feelings" but….....

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