Question

How does Adler perceive the relationship between the mind and the body.

what do he see as the primary goal of humans?

when does Adler believe people hav formed the basis for their adult personality? What can someone do to change it after that?

what does Adler mean by his term style of life and how hoes this relate to personality?

Answer 1

Alfred Adler

Alfred Adler was an founder of the school of individual psychology, he is a Austrian medical doctor, and also a psychotherapist. Alfred Adler considered human beings as an individual whole, therefore he called his psychology "Individual Psychology".

Adler perceive the relationship between the mind and the body--------------- In his writing "Individual Psychology"  Adler considered human beings as an individual whole, he said Body and mind are co-operating as indivisible parts of one whole. The mind is like a motor, dragging with it all the potentialities which it can discover in the body, helping to bring the body into a position of safety and superiority to all difficulties. A man moves.There is meaning in his movement. He moves his eyes, his tongue, the muscles of his face. His face has an expression, a meaning. It is mind that puts meaning there. Now we can begin to see what psychology, or the science of mind. In every movement of the body, in every expression and symptom, we can see the impress of the mind's purpose.

The goal of security is common to all human beings; but some of them mistake the direction in which security lies and their concrete movements lead them. Here, of course, the chance of a mistake occurs; but without a quite definite goal and direction-setting there could be no movement at all. Striving for the final goal of security, the mind is always faced with the necessity of making the goal concrete, of calculating security lies in this particular point, it is reached by going in this particular direction.

By the end of the fifth year his personality has crystallised. The meaning he gives to life, the goal he pursues, his style of approach, and his emotional disposition are all fixed. They can be changed later; but they can be changed only if he becomes free from the mistake involved in his childhood crystallisation.

By the term style of life, he mean that it exert a continuous influence on the development of the body. It is true that a child crystallises its style of life very early, we should be able to discover, if we are experienced enough, the resulting physical expressions in later life. A courageous individual will show the effects of his attitude in his physique.

------------------------------------------------END-----------------------------------------------------