Adler vs Essay

Submitted By albertalincoln
Words: 2428
Pages: 10

Adler vs. Freud Debate
Team A
Psy 405
August 10, 2015
Professor Mendieta
Adler vs. Freud Debate

Our debate will be based on the application of the Psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud and the Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler in describing different personality characteristics and interpersonal relations views of both men. Alfred Adler worked closely with Sigmund Freud and was actually the first president of Freud’s psychoanalytic society. Adler had genuinely respected Freud and his theories but did not agree with everything that Freud had said. Adler had based many of his ideas on a humanistic view of life, which means that people actively are seeking to improve themselves. The men eventually parted ways based on theoretical and personal differences.

Adler and Freud, please tell us why your application of Individual Personality Characteristics is more compatible to Psychodynamic Theory?

(Adler) Different things define personality but in this case, it is more relevant in today’s day and age. The theory of personality is that of the individual rather than that of people as a whole. Each person has his or her idea of the character, but that view in individual personality is one that makes the most sense. Thoughts, emotions, and behavior have a significant role in how people become who they are. Their goals of personality also differ from person to person. Goal orientation is one of the central viewpoints of the defining how a person becomes who they are. Whether it’s for their personal success, or they want to save the world.
This theory starts in childhood and develops over time to help create a person. Everyone has been a child at one point and at that time when they are trying to figure out what they want to do with their life, they will decide for either personal gain or for the benefit of society. This is where our firefighters, policemen, and military people come in. Those who choose to try to make the most money can be said that they are in for personal gain. Hereditary factors also play a part along with certain cultural factors but in the end it is up to the individual to decide what they want to do with their life and how they choose to be. Having that free will to be who they want to be is one of the most important things that anyone could have and it’s important because without free will, people will feel more obligated to do the things they don’t want to. Social factors also are important when it comes to people. These people who see themselves as social servants understand that as a whole, society needs to be one and work together to create a better place. Three factors can help establish a harmony with society, and those are occupation, love and sex, and relationships with other persons.
These three factors can influence the way everyone views life whether negatively or positively. It is also theorized that mental health has something to do with how people develop individuality. A mentally healthy person may want to do more to help society and contribute themselves to society more than someone who is not mentally healthy. This can stem from people like a child. All in all individual psychology has a more broad explanation of how people behave and how their personality becomes concrete. There are many factors that can have an effect but in the end it all comes down to two contributing factors. Someone who wants to contribute to society and those who wish to be successful for their personal gains all of which can stem from childhood.
(Freud ) Freud continued to refine his argument and in 1900, after a severe period of self-analysis, published The Interpretation of Dreams. He followed it in 1901 with The Psychopathology of Everyday Life and in 1905 with Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. The great reverence that was later given to Freud's theories was not in evidence for some years. Most of his contemporaries felt, like Breuer, that his emphasis on sexuality was either scandalous or