Author Question: Explain and give an example of how a supervisor of the dominant type would handle a problem in an ... (Read 158 times)

sammy · **on:** Jun 21, 2018

Explain and give an example of how a supervisor of the dominant type would handle a problem in an office while contrasting this style of life with a supervisor who exemplifies the avoiding type. How would each basic style of life be different, and how would they be alike?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Explain the concept of fictional finalism.

What will be an ideal response?

EAN94 · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 21, 2018

Answer to Question 1

ANS: Students' answers will vary.
Adler proposed four basic styles of life for dealing with several universal problems: the dominant type, the getting type, the avoiding type, and the socially useful type.
The dominant type displays a dominant or ruling attitude with little social awareness. Such a person behaves without any regard for other people. The more extreme of this type attack others and become sadists, delinquents, or sociopaths. The less virulent become alcoholics, drug addicts, or suicides; they believe they hurt others by attacking themselves.
The avoiding type makes no attempt to face life's problems. By avoiding difficulties, the person avoids any possibility of failure.
For example, Bill, the dominant type supervisor, likes to tell his workers what to do by attacking their work ethic, while Carl, the avoiding type supervisor, ignores the problem in the office where the workers become non-productive.
Both types are not prepared to cope with the problems of everyday life. They are unable to cooperate with other people and the clash between their style of life and the real world results in abnormal behavior, which is manifested in neuroses and psychoses. They lack what Adler came to call social interest.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: Adler applied the term finalism to the idea that we have an ultimate goal, a final state of being, and a need to move toward it. The goals for which we strive, however, are potentialities, not actualities. Adler believed that our goals are fictional or imagined ideals that cannot be tested against reality. We live our lives around ideals such as the belief that all people are created equal or that all people are basically good. These beliefs influence the ways we perceive and interact with other people.
Adler formalized this concept as fictional finalism, the notion that fictional ideas guide our behavior as we strive toward a complete or whole state of being. We direct the course of our lives by many such fictions, but the most pervasive one is the ideal of perfection.