Adlerian Personality Theories
Introductory paragraph: there are many theories used to study and explore personality development. In this assignment you will have the opportunity to apply Adlerian personality theories and concepts to a real-world situation.
This Assignment will measure your understanding of several Adlerian personality theories.
This week you will complete a 2-3-page expository paper exploring the role of Adler’s Birth Order theory, relating it to a scenario. Then you will discuss an Adlerian concept to show how it is present in the given scenario.
Scenario: A seven-year old male child has been brought to your office due to acting out in the home. The child is disobeying, having temper tantrums, and hitting his siblings. The family has recently adopted two female children who are 4 and 10 years old. Complete an essay addressing the following elements:
Summarize the scenario, focusing on the 7-year-old child.
Explain the child and the situation relating it to Adler’s concept of birth order.
Describe an Adlerian concept and discuss how it may be impacting the situation (e.g. inferiority complex, superiority complex, aggression, social interest).
Your assignment should be a 2-3-page expository essay, not including the title and reference pages, and should include the following elements:
Title page: Provide your name, title of assignment, course and section number, and date.
Body: Answer all the questions in complete sentences and paragraphs.
Your responses should reflect professional writing standards, using proper tone and language. The writing and writing style should be correct and accurate, and reflect knowledge of skills and practice in the human service profession.
Reference page: Sources listed in APA format.
Include a minimum of two peer-reviewed sources from Purdue Global Library in addition to your textbook to support your paper.
Use Arial or Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced and left aligned.
Use standard 1" margins on all sides.
Use APA formatting and citation style.
Adlerian Personality Theories
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Adlerian Personality Theories
Birth order theory is a personality theory coined by Alfred Adler in the twentieth century. The theory states that the order in which a child was born impacts their personality. In his theory, Adler illustrates how the family environment and dynamics shape a child’s thoughts and behaviors during their formative years (Bleske-Rechek & Kelley, 2014). He classifies birth order into five categories: only child, first child, second child, middle child, and young child (Gilmore, 2016). In each category, children exhibit certain personalities learned from their social environment.
Summary of the Scenario
The seven-year-old male child demonstrates aggression by being disobedient, having temper tantrums, and hitting his siblings. He is trying to be manipulative to get his way. The boy behaves like a ‘tiny’ adult based on how he treats his siblings. He sees them as inferior and thinks he should be the one to take control of everything. From an individual viewpoint, this child is authoritative and seems full of himself. Such a child cannot easily cooperate with his peers. In fact, he does not relate well with the siblings.
Explanation
This child is unruly, aggressive, self-centered, and manipulative. He feels like he is the eldest and should have control over his siblings. In this scenario, the situation relating to Adler’s concept of birth order is aggression. Based on the boy’s behavior, it is clear that he is in the ‘only child’ category of Adler’s theory of birth order. Adler stated that children in this category tend to get much more attention from adults than a child with siblings. Most of their early interactions involve those significantly older than them. These interactions give them much confidence...