No description available.

No description available.

This study examines in terms of Adlerian Life Style as revealed through Early Recollections, actual and perceived Birth Order, and Family Atmosphere the personality characteristics of adolescent males who have experienced some form of abuse and/or neglect. As part of the study, each subject participated in a structured, tape-recorded interview and each subject reported six early recollections, dreams, or made-up memories. Transcripts of these interviews were given to a panel of Adlerian psychologists who collectively analyzed and interpreted the subjects' information. They formulated a life style summary for each subject and combined common themes and personality characteristics to formulate a composite life style summary. Results indicate that Adlerian judges were able to identify several common life style themes and personality characteristics. The most commonly shared attributes were expecting bad things to happen, wanting to be special, and feeling out of control.

Alfred Adler's Individual Psychology emphasizes the uniqueness of individuals and describes the life style, or personality, as the unique and characteristic pattern of coping with and solving problems and interacting with other people. The purpose of this study was the development of a similar instrument that would quantitatively identify life styles in children.

The possibility of a relationship between Adlerian life style, as measured by the Life Style Personality Inventory (LSPI), and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was examined by this research. The goal of this study was to clarify the relationship between these instruments to broaden the applicability of both instruments for both research and clinical endeavors. Life style is a concept which is vital to therapeutic intervention from an Adlerian frame of reference. Assessment of life style typically involves lengthy therapist interviews. Both the LSPI and the MBTI are questionnaires designed to measure personality variables. The 117 subjects for this study were solicited from individuals seeking counseling from an urban community counseling center. The individuals served by this agency are primarily those diagnosed with Adjustment Disorders. The LSPI and the MBTI were administered individually to each subject. Means and standard deviations were computed for the seven LSPI themes and the MBTI total. Due to a lack of research support for Theme 4 by the LSPI author, the data for this theme were disregarded. The same research indicated a strong bipolar relationship for Themes 7 and 8 (Displaying Inadequacy and Social Interest), which prompted the inclusion of Theme 8 in subsequent data analysis. A correlation analysis was developed. Using the correlation matrix, a factor analysis program was run using the SPSS-X statistical package. The principal components analysis extracted three factors which were refined by a factor rotation using the varimax rotation option. To clarify Factor 3, further analysis was performed with the MBTI data divided by continuum and a second factor analysis was run. Four factors emerged from the data with Factors 1 and 2 remaining unchanged. Factor 1 (Emotional Focusing) and Factor 2 (Confrontation) were loaded with the LSPI themes. Factor 3 (Temperament) and Factor 4 (External-Internal) were loaded with the MBTI scores. This study found that no apparent relationship exists between the variables measured by the LSPI and the MBTI. Questions were raised regarding the descriptive versus pathology-assessing nature of the themes on LSPI. Further research is suggested to define the focus of this instrument.

This study utilized ethnomethodology to provide a description of the process and the effect of training counselors to incorporate the concepts and techniques of Individual Psychology into play therapy. Transcripts of the training program and of three individual interviews with the nine counselors who participated in the training were made. These transcripts and the journals in which the subjects were asked to chronicle their personal experiences and reactions to the training were qualitatively analyzed. This analysis indicated that most of the subjects reported that their attitudes toward play therapy, toward themselves as play therapists, and toward their play therapy clients had changed after their participation in the Adlerian play therapy training. The majority of subjects also reported that they perceived that their behavior in their play therapy sessions had changed, frequently in the direction of including more creative and active techniques. Qualitative analysis of the transcripts made from videotaped play therapy sessions by the researcher and an outside evaluator indicated that, while some of the counselors' behaviors seemed to have changed after the training, many of the counselors' behaviors did not appear to have been affected by their participation in the training. Possible explanations of the discrepancy between the counselors' perceptions of their behavior and the researcher's and outside evaluator's perceptions of the counselors' behaviors were discussed. Other areas considered as worthy of in-depth examination were: (a) possible influences on the changes in the counselors' attitudes toward play therapy, toward themselves as play therapists, and toward their play therapy clients; (b) several factors involved in training counselor education students; (c) elements which may have affected the counselors' receptivity to learning a new method of conducting play therapy; (d) implications for the future adaptation of the Adlerian play therapy training program; and (f) potential avenues for future research.

This study was designed to determine whether participation in an eight hour training program based on Adlerian theoretical principles would influence managerial attitudes. The effects of the training curriculum on three attitudinal dimensions were investigated: leadership style, acceptance of self and others and level of dogmatism. It was hypothesized that Adlerian training would increase the development of managerial human relations competence. Eighty-one managers participated in the study. The experimental group, comprised of 40 line managers, received eight hours of Adlerian training conducted in two one-half day sessions. The training was both didactic and experiential in content and contained modules on lifestyles/management styles, conflict resolution, effective communication strategies and understanding personality dynamics. The control group, comprised of 41 managers, did not receive training but participated in the pre-testing and post-testing process. Managers completed The Leadership Opinion Questionnaire, The Acceptance of Self and Others Questionnaire, and The Rokeach Dogmatism Scale, prior to the first training session and again two weeks after the final training session. A one-way analysis of covariance revealed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups on both the Consideration and Structure dimensions of the Leadership Opinion Questionnaire. This suggests that managers in the experimental group demonstrated a more participative and less authoritarian management style two weeks after training was completed. No significant differences were found between the two groups on managers' level of dogmatism or acceptance of self and others.

The effects of an Adlerian-based parent education program on parents' attitudes toward their children's behavior and techniques used in child rearing were examined in this study. Parents in one primary elementary school were invited by letter to participate in a parent education program.

There is scant research concerning youth development programmes specifically from Adler's (1968) Individual Psychology perspective. Current programmes seem to be void of critical issues that are important in the local context because of their having a strong bias towards the Western perspective. Thus, the present research project sought firstly to assist the Previously Disadvantaged Youth (PDY) to develop constructive lifestyles characterised by self-mastery, encouragement, creativity and social interest. Secondly, it aimed to obtain specific local African input that would help expand the current Personal Life Planning Programme (PLPP) to one that addresses the unique needs and circumstances confronting South African PDYs today. Finally, it attempted to test the validity, scope and merit of Adler's theoretical assertion, within the context of the previously disadvantaged communities in South Africa, that all humans are engaged in a lifelong striving for superiority to overcome perpetual feelings of inferiority and life tasks. The latter objectives were addressed through the implementation of the PLPP. The study, as well as the related PLPP, is strongly founded on Adler's Individual Psychology (Adler, 1968; Ansbacher & Ansbacher 1956; Corsini & Wedding, 2005; Meyer et al., 2003; Prochaska & Narcross cited in Osborn, 2001). The relevant data were collected from a sample of matriculants from the PDY population living in a black township near Pretoria. The information was collected by means of the PLPP workbook; semi structured interviews, as well as, audiovisual equipment. A combination of a "Pre-structured Case Outline" and the related "Sequential Analysis" (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p. 85) was adopted, with the researcher undertaking the entire data management process. In addition to confirming the applicability of Adler's theory within the PDY context, the findings suggest that the research objectives were significantly met, i.e. the participants reported and displayed marked lifestyle improvements along with specific life skills development needs related to their deprivation. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

Summary in German and English / This paper examines responsibility in the counselling field as practised in therapeutic counselling at the TS Institute in Neuendettelsau with the help of the applied individual psychology of Alfred Adler. Against the background of the historical development of poimenics and the correlational approach of Paul Tillich, it will prove that counselling can benefit from psychology. The main elements of the paper then deal with the question of whether the personal responsibility of the individual is suitable as the basis of individual psychology in Christian counselling. The definition of and thinking behind responsibility have changed: Behind the apparently ethical and noble pretence of bearing self-responsibility, ‘personal responsibility’, which requires interaction between oneself and the other, pales. Due to advancing individualism, people seem to feel overloaded and seek relief in determinative or ‘causalmechanistic’ thinking. In contrast, Adler largely distanced himself from determinism in his ‘applied psychology’. The basis of his thinking is evidenced in a conclusion on his philosophical research into Husserl and Vaihinger, as well as those he draws from the teaching of psychoanalysis and evolution. The theological debates surrounding the change in self-responsibility focus on the definitions of the ethics of conviction and responsibility introduced into the discussion by Max Weber. Whilst Adler did not intend to consciously integrate Christian thinking into his therapy, this study shows that, against the background of Genesis 2 and the theologians Bonhoeffer, Pannenberg and Brunner, it demonstrates a clear analogy with biblical- Christian thinking. Personal responsibility can therefore be regarded as suitable for the poimenics in applied individual psychology. This is demonstrated by examples of responsibility counselling in today’s penal system. / Diese Arbeit untersucht die Verantwortung in der Seelsorge, wie sie in der Therapeutischen Seelsorge des TS-Institutes Neuendettelsau mithilfe der angewandten Individualpsychologie Alfred Adlers praktiziert wird. Auf dem Hintergrund der geschichtlichen Entwicklung der Poimenik wird mithilfe des korrelationalen Ansatzes Paul Tillichs belegt, dass Seelsorge von der Psychologie profitieren kann. Die Hauptteile der Arbeit befassen sich dann mit der Frage, ob die Eigenverantwortung des Individuums als Basis der Individualpsychologie für die christliche Seelsorge geeignet ist. Begriff und Verständnis von Verantwortung haben sich gewandelt: Unter dem scheinbar ethisch edlen Vorwand „Selbstverantwortung“ zu tragen, verblasst die Eigenverantwortung, die wesenhaft einem Du die Antwort schuldet. Infolge fortschreitendem Individualismus scheint der Mensch sich überfordert zu fühlen und sich mithilfe determinierenden oder kausalmechanistischen Denkens zu entlasten. Im Kontrast dazu ist Adler in seiner Gebrauchspsychologie weitgehend vom Determinismus abgerückt. Die Grundlagen seines Denkens werden nachgewiesen in einer Konklusion seiner philosophischen Forschungen über Husserl und Vaihinger, seinen Schlüssen aus den Lehren der Psychoanalyse und der Evolution. Die Theologischen Auseinandersetzungen um die Veränderung eigenverantwortlichen Handelns fokussieren die von Max Weber in die Diskussion eingebrachten Begriffe der Gesinnungs- und Verantwortungsethik. Obwohl Adler nicht bewusst christliches Denken in seine Therapie integrieren wollte, wird auf diesem Hintergrund mit Genesis 2 und den Theologen Bonhoeffer, Pannenberg und Brunner ganzheitliche Verantwortung deutlich und eine Nähe zu biblisch-christlichem Denken aufgezeigt. Damit kann die Eigenverantwortung in der angewandten Individualpsychologie für die Poimenik als geeignet gelten. Dies wird an Beispielen der Verantwortungsseelsorge im aktuellen Vollzug dargestellt. / Practical Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)