PSYCHOLOGY 150 CASE STUDIES

MARCH 20, 2019

ORANDA, Clarisa May

SALAZAR, Jose Gabriel

SANTILLAN, Joshua

TAGOC, Vincent

YANG, Jayne Eunice

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CASE 4: CARL JUNG

1. What is Mark’s attitude, according to Jungian theory? Provide evidence for your answer.
According to Jungian theory, Mark possesses an attitude of an extraverted individual
because his behavior is oriented toward the real world. It can be seen that Mark is very outgoing
and happy as described by his friends, which are characteristics of an extravert person. When he
attempted to describe his liking with his job, his face transformed and lighted up which are
manifestations that his attitude is oriented to the external or real world. It can also be seen that
Mark is heavily influenced by his surroundings rather than the inner world. When he hears the
alarm sounds, his adrenaline rushes; when he sees the brightness of fire and feels the heat he
functions automatically. As a kid he would make continuous noise claiming that it was just too
quiet. It is also said that he is a pragmatic individual. He is also well rooted in the realities of
everyday life as he gets to see the dangers of fire in his job and even spends his time giving talks
to elementary school children about fire hazards and fire safety. He also says that occasionally
breathing in smoke makes him aware of his mortality and makes him appreciate life. These are
the attitudes of Mark that make him an extraverted individual.

2. What is Mark’s superior function according to Jungian theory? Provide evidence for your
answer.
Mark’s superior function is sensing because he is very much dependent on the physical
stimuli he is receiving on his surroundings and transmitting them into consciousness. Like when
he HEARS the sound of the alarm, he gets an adrenaline rush and his body springs to life; when
he SEES the brightness of the fire, he will function automatically; when he is on call, he does not
feel fear but caution. When the children see him as a brave man, he will feel good and enjoys his
status as a firefighter because of the different physical stimuli gathered by his senses. When he
was younger, he also enjoyed making music which he can hear out of things like sticks, pots and
pans because it was stimulating to him. As stated, Mark likes the FEEL of working with tools and
the SMELL of newly cut wood.
3. According to Jung’s theory, what archetype has Mark been influenced by? How do you know
this? How does it influence his behavior? Is Mark aware of its influence? Explain.
Mark has been influenced by the hero archetype. This archetype is represented as a
powerful person, sometimes part god, who fights against great odds to conquer or vanquish evil
but heroic deeds can be performed only by someone who is vulnerable and has a weakness. Mark
is influenced by this behavior because when he was younger, he always sought out games that
were exciting and stimulating for him. He found this stimulation and excitement in games wherein
he was the super hero which is why he would take different forms of being a hero in his childhood
games. It influences his behavior because due to these feelings of excitement in playing the role
of a hero, he decided as a teenager that as an adult, he would be in a job where he would be able
to be of service and play out the role of a hero. Mark is aware of its influence because as children,
we all play different games which may not always have an effect on how we are and what we
become as adults, but Mark did not forget what he enjoyed and found exciting, and how being a
hero in the games he played as a child made him feel. He identified with being a hero, as he also
had a weakness which is his mortality, something that he was always aware of when he was at his
job. It is stated that the sight and feel of the blaze and the rawness of his lungs from occasionally
breathing in smoke made him aware of his mortality and made him appreciate life more. His
parents were also aware of this weakness and disapproved of his career choice as they were afraid
he was going to get hurt or killed.

4. At what stage is Mark presently, according to Jung's theory? Specify sub-stage, if appropriate.
What types of events should be occurring at this stage?
Mark is currently on his Youth stage considering that he is 28 years of age and still has no
partner and family. As a young person, he also strives to gain psychic and physical independence
from his parents as despite his parents’ concerns, he still chose to get into his choice of career
and moved out of their house so that he could go into the fire-training academy. It is evident that
he has an increased in activity and his consciousness is still growing. He is very dedicated to his
job and sees excitement on the occupation he is doing. Even if his job does not pay him well, he
would consider it as thrilling and rewarding, he is not yet conscious about the impending decline.
We can see that he is avoiding financial problems, the enjoyment he is feeling in terms of the
status associated his jobs outweighs the financial needs that he needs to be fulfilling.

5. At what stage, in Jungian theory, was Mark when he was pretending to be a superhero? Specify
sub-stage if appropriate.
Mark was on his Childhood stage specifically dualistic phase when he was pretending to
be a superhero. It was seen that during this stage, Mark's attitude started to emerge. He would
be making constant noise by talking or singing or trying to make music with sticks pots and pans
because it was just too quiet for him. He is now aware of his existence as an individual as
manifested by the play he is engaged in. He would be the sheriff, the police officer or the captain
who will be the superhero while his little sister would be the bank robber, pirate or the bad guy.
 ____________________________________________________________________________

CASE 8: ADLER

1. What is the motivation behind Toshimi’s career choice, according to Adler’s theory?
Toshimi was born a frail and sickly child, resulting to her parents’ tendency to become
overprotective, which in turn has contributed to her poor athletic abilities in childhood, a time
when play and cooperation reach their peak importance. Although she had friends, she would
always get chosen last in activities which involved physical activity. In one of her earliest
memories, she would always be left out of baseball games due to the captains’ perceptions of
her—slow and clumsy. She returned home feeling embarrassed then turned on the television. She
was enraptured by what she saw—ballet dancers in the midst of their graceful performance.
Instead of wallowing in her sorrow, she vowed to work hard in order to be like those ballet dancers
she saw on TV. It took a series of trials, especially difficult for one who is handicapped with a late
start and a poorly-toned physique. Eventually, her talent for ballet and choreography started to
bloom. After another series of trials and despite the odds stacked up against her, she turned out
into a successful, reputable ballet teacher.

Toshimi had been faced by what Adler termed as organ inferiority. He stated that people
begin as small, weak, and inferior beings. These organ inferiorities may result to subjective
feelings of inferiority, resulting to a desire to overcome these inferiorities by striving for
superiority or success. In Toshimi’s case, her desire to overcome her inferiority of having poor
athletic ability has resulted to a stronger drive to achieve a particular goal, that is, to become
adept in some form of physical activity. Instead of accepting the situation, she used her creative
power to look at her situation in a different perspective, with hopes of turning the tides for the
better. Stemming from her early childhood memory, her self-challenge and motivation to strive
for greatness in the field of a physical art has led to the creation of her style of life, which is the
way of life she has chosen to live in response to her inferiority.

2. According to Adlerian theory, what was Toshimi’s goal? What was Toshimi’s unique style of
life that could be used to achieve this goal? How do you know this?
Toshimi wishes to compensate for her inferiority by turning her weakness into strength.
She was lagging behind her peers when it came to physical activities, so she wanted to equal or
even surpass them in a certain aspect of that field. She set a huge goal of becoming a ballet dancer,
which initially seemed impossible due to her poor physical ability. However, thanks to her strong-
willed creative power, she was able to turn her initially fictional goal into one of reality. Adler has
stated that each person is an architect of their style of life. Each on has the power to shape their
behavior and create their own personality; and these in turn affect the final goal and sub-goals
of a person.

Toshimi had a healthy, socially useful style of life. Despite the handicap she was placed
with, she used her creative power to alter her situation, climbing through sub-goals step-by-step
until she is able to attain her final goal of becoming a ballet professional.
 3. Did Toshimi have a high or low level of social interest? What does this imply about her
personality and adjustment? What is the cause of this level of social interest?
Toshimi has a high social interest. When she moved in to live with her fellow ballet dance
peers in training camp, she at first had difficulty adjusting from being a pampered child to one
who needs to be independent. After some time, she was able to adjust well, even acting a big
sister role to her younger peers.

She is able to adjust and adapt well to her surroundings, consistent with her strong-willed
creative power. She has a socially-useful personality type, as shown when she willingly acted the
big sister role to her younger peers, showing concern for them and giving them advice. Her
interests lie not only in making herself superior, but also in helping others attain their own goals.
She is socially matured, equipped with a healthy, high level of social interest. Instead of allowing
her only-child, pampered background to affect her social interest, she was able to improve her
social interest by interacting with other children, helping her gain a better sense of cooperation
and concern for the well-being of others.

4. What did Adler say about birth order that would apply to Toshimi’s life?
Toshimi was born an only child, one whom Adler believes is in a unique position of
competing against parents, and more likely one who is pampered. Rather than competing with
parents, she had overprotective parents due to her sickly nature. She was given whatever she
wanted like a silver platter. If this lifestyle continued, she may develop a lack of social interest.
She may become parasitic towards others and have an exaggerated sense of superiority.
However, because of the nature of her training camp, she learned to live independently, separate
from the overprotective nature of her parents. She was able to experience living with children
younger than her, learning to act as the responsible sibling and showing concern for their well-
being. In Adler’s terms, Toshimi has become socially mature.

Theory Comparison Questions

1. What other theory, besides Adler’s, could explain Toshimi’s career choice?
Toshimi is now a ballet teacher and dance choreographer. Her career choice was the best
choice to strike the balance between garnering recognition or standing out and coping with her
physical weakness. Toshimi was encouraged by her parents to accept that she is frail and needed
to do easy tasks. As an only child, she was probably overprotected, indulged and discouraged to
engage in sporty activities. According to Karen Horney, this excess inhibition by her caregivers
may have caused her to develop basic anxiety. Horney defines basic anxiety as the feeling of being
helpless, feeling of being small, insignificant, and isolated.

Toshimi showed determination and pushed herself in order to overcome her

shortcomings physically. Horney’s theory explains that the outside world is filled with hostility and
competition and the childhood experience of her caregivers determine her perception of the
social reality. Karen Horney identifies neurotic needs that act as defenses against basic anxiety. In
 Toshimi’s case, her neurotic trend leans towards moving away from people, or working to
become as independent as possible.

Neurotic needs that she displays are need for social recognition, need for self-sufficiency,
and need for ambition and achievement. Horney explains that having neurotic needs does not
automatically equate to having a neurosis but an excessive use of them. A healthy level could be
had as long as it is enough to cope with the anxiety. When she Toshimi started ballet, her
contemporaries saw her as the older sister and always looked up to her. Toshimi later became a
renowned ballet teacher and owns her own school. In addition, her students are now performing
in prestigious competitions around the country.

Both Adler and Horney stress the importance of overcoming the shortcomings that we
innately possess, but Horney emphasized more on childhood experiences being the most
important driver of our personality development.

2. How do Adler’s thoughts on parenting compare with Erikson’s? Would Adler consider
Toshimi’s parents as having good parenting skills? What about Erikson?
The case indicated that Toshimi’s parents have become overprotective of her, even
preferring that she disengage from strenuous activities, because of her sickly history during early
childhood. Thus, we shall look at Adler and Erikson’s view on overprotective parents.

Adler places emphasis on the risks associated with overprotective parents. His theory
states that overindulged children may grow up lacking confidence in their abilities because they
become used to having everything done for them. The child may also become overly dependent
on others, even parasitic, due to their lack of self-confidence to do things on their own. With
failure of adjustment, these children may develop a leaning-getting type of personality, becoming
indecisive, overly sensitive, impatient, and easily discouraged.

On the other hand, Erikson places more emphasis on fulfilling a child’s needs on a
particular stage, following the epigenetic principle. He stated that it is crucial for parents to
balance their reaction on a young child. In the toddler stage, a child faces the crisis of autonomy
versus shame and doubt. Here, it is important that the parents do not unnecessarily criticize a
child who is still adjusting and trying to learn activities of daily living; otherwise, they might
develop feelings of shame or doubt, resulting to a lack of confidence which may be carried over
in the future. While it is important to be tolerant of a child’s mistakes, too much tolerance can
result to dependence, lack of autonomy, and lack of confidence to do things on their own. Parents
must encourage their children to do things on their own so that they develop skills necessary in
the social world. In the stage of initiative versus guilt, young children become acquainted with
more skills, discovering and developing their talents; and they begin making little goals which they
wish to achieve. A buildup of their competencies and confidence to do these activities can carry
them over to the stage of school age, with the crisis of industry versus inferiority, where they
engage in healthy competition among their peers, which is a crucial stage of growth and
realizations. Overprotective parents prevent such buildup of strengths, resulting to feelings of
inhibition, inferiority, and low self-confidence.
 Generally, both psychologists consider overprotective parenting as a bad method of
parenting, potentially inhibiting maturational growth of children. However, Toshimi’s parents
allowed Toshimi to socially mature by allowing her to try something new and challenging.
Furthermore, they even gave their full support and encouragement to Toshimi’s dreams, despite
the initial hesitation. To some extent, both psychologists probably consider Toshimi’s parents as
good, supportive parents.

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CASE 9: HORNEY

1. Which of Horney’s trends (or basic adjustment) is Samara demonstrating?

Samara is demonstrating Horney’s neurotic trend of compliance or moving towards
people. This is evidenced by her need to constantly have someone by her side. She also relies too
much on her significant other to make decisions for her, even with the littlest of things such as
deciding where to eat.

According to Karen Horney, being situated in a hostile world in our perception, heightens
our feelings of neediness and we tend to overvalue love. This neurotic trend stems from basic
anxiety, wherein our needs (safety needs and satisfaction needs) as a child were not met.

2. Which of Horney’s neurotic needs does Samara demonstrate?

Samara demonstrates the neurotic need for affection and approval. Samara often wants
her efforts to be commended by her significant other; she was extremely upset when her
boyfriend was not able to eat her prepared dinner and called him unappreciative. She also puts
too much effort in pleasing her partner and often disregards her own feelings and her own needs.
She is also said to “resent” time being alone and often jumps from one romantic relationship to
the next. She often pushes her partner to get married to her as soon as possible to secure their
relationship.

Samara also demonstrates the neurotic need for having a powerful partner. She does
not assert her own thoughts and often submits to the decision of her partner. Her lack of self-
confidence demands that her partner be the one to make every decision for her.

Samara also has the neurotic need to restrict life within narrow borders. Samara feels
that her own needs would merely bother the other person. As a result, her partners were always
clueless about what she wants and feels that she does not want them to get to know her. Samara
says that she just wants to be “undemanding” and put the needs of the other person ahead of
hers to become unselfish.
3. According to Horney’s theory, what is the cause of Samara’s neurotic behavior?
Neuroses results from basic anxiety caused by interpersonal relationships. While there
was no explicit correlation of Samara’s neurosis to any event, it could be related to her tendency
to take on a dependent role and her desire for love. It was stated that she grew up in a Mideastern
household where the role of the woman is to be someone’s wife and mother. She was also
described as being a person who only wants someone to love her, and believes that if you have
love then you have everything. Her basic anxiety can range from having a family that was
indifferent to her, or to being raised in an environment where all her choices have already been
picked out for her.

4. Is Samara’s self-image an accurate one? How could Horney’s theory explain the discrepancy
between Samara’s idealized versus real image of herself?
Samara does not have an accurate self-image. From the article we can deduce that she is
insecure and relies heavily on other people to build her up. There is a discrepancy in Samara’s
idealized self compared to the real image of herself. Her idealized self was created to overcome
her feelings of inferiority and is made to look like she possesses all the good qualities of an ideal
girlfriend. This is why she can be seen doing everything she can to make her boyfriend happy and
content with her, even to the point of putting her boyfriend’s needs above her own. While that
may look good on paper, it is actually the reason why she never thinks she is doing anything
wrong. In reality, Samara’s real self is the reason for her self-criticism and hate which drives her
need to always be loved. She views herself as her ideal self and this is what controls her behavior
and actions.
Clarisa May S. Oranda March 20, 2019

2014-59753 Psych 150- TFC

SOME ADDITIONAL PERSONAL ANSWERS:

CASE 4: JUNG

1. What is Mark’s attitude according to Jungian theory? Why do you believe so?

According to the Jungian theory, an attitude is a predisposition to act or react in a characteristic direction
and that every person has both an introverted and an extraverted attitude but one might be conscious
and the other might be unconscious. In Mark’s case, he had an extraverted attitude. He was described by
his friends as outgoing and happy, loving life and living it to the fullest. The Jungian theory says that
extraversion is the attitude that is distinguished by the turning outward of psychic energy. The person is
influenced by his/her surroundings than by their inner world. We can see this as Mark is very much
influenced by and in touch with the real world, especially with the nature of his job. His job requires him
to be alert and 100% present in the real world as he would go through life-threatening experiences. I’m
assuming that maybe sometimes being a fireman can take a toll on someone especially because it’s not
always that one gets to save everyone. In order to continue being a hero and saving people, one has to
be more influenced by the surroundings and the reality of danger than by the inner workings of their
minds. He is said to not be much of an introspective person but he is a realistic and pragmatic individual.
He knows how real the danger is when it comes to fire and he even gives talks to school children about
fire hazards, fire safety, how fires start, grow, and what to do when a fire breaks out. He’s always been
really stimulated and influenced by his surroundings ever since he was a kid. He talks about always seeking
out stimulating experiences, he was always making noise and music with sticks, pots and pans. He was
also very much into exciting games where he played roles such as police officers and captains. He managed
to keep this up until he got older as he says that when he hears the sound of the alarm, he gets a rush of
adrenaline and immediately feels his body spring to life. The brightness of the fire and the heat from the
flames makes him function automatically but it also makes him aware of his mortality and teaches him to
appreciate life more. These are the qualities that show how Mark has an extraverted attitude according
to the Jung’s theory.

2. What is Mark’s superior function according to Jungian theory? Why do you believe so?

Mark’s superior function would have to be sensing. He makes use of his senses a lot and relies on physical
stimuli that he receives and transmits them to perceptual consciousness. His job is dependent on how
well he makes use of this physical stimuli. His job requires him to be alert, especially when he hears the
sound of the alarm and when he sees how bright the fire is. It makes him function automatically which is
necessary with the job that he has as even the slightest hesitation, lack of focus or doubt could make him
and the people he is saving, be in even more danger or even cause death. Even as a child, he was always
making use of his senses because he liked hearing noise and music and making it using his sticks, pots,
and pans. Aside from that, he also likes the feel of working with tools and the smell of newly cut wood.
3. According to Jung’s theory, what archetype has Mark been influenced by? How do you know this?
How does it influence his behavior? Is Mark aware of its influence? Why?

The archetype that Mark has been influenced by is the hero archetype, which is represented by a powerful
person, even sometimes part god, fighting against great odds to conquer or vanquish evil but these heroic
deeds can only be performed by someone vulnerable, someone with a weakness or a tragic flaw. This
archetype influences Mark’s behavior because we can clearly see that starting from childhood, he was
always interested in games that involved him being the hero of the story, playing roles such as police
officer, or captain, anyone who saves people. He was initially just looking for things and games that excited
him and these types of games were what interested him the most. From then on, he knew that as an
adult, he would go into a job that was a “service” occupation. He was very aware of how much being a
hero in childhood games influenced how and what he wanted to be as an adult. To him, playing the role
of the hero and saving people was very stimulating. He went into the police academy because he wanted
to someday be of service and help people but it wasn’t enough for him. He needed a job that was both
helpful, would make him feel like a hero but also challenge him, stimulate and excite him. He also gives
talks to children about fire hazards and fire safety. This makes him feel brave and feel good when the
children look up to him and see a hero but despite all that, he obviously still has a weakness, which he
was very aware of. The hero had to have a tragic flaw and his was mortality. He is a good fireman who is
able to perform dangerous and life-threatening tasks in order to save people but he is only human. He
talks about how seeing and feeling the blaze and the rawness of his lungs from occasionally breathing in
smoke make him feel. It makes him more aware of his mortality and makes him appreciate life more. It
definitely also makes him feel caution and makes him feel alive. His parents were definitely also aware of
this and they did not approve of his decisions. They did not like the idea of him moving out of their house
to go to the fire-training academy and they did not approve of his career choice. They knew that it was
dangerous and could injure or worse, kill him and they were afraid of that happening.

4. At what stage is Mark presently, according to Jung’s theory? Specify sub-stage, if appropriate. What
types of events should be occurring at this stage?

Mark is at the stage of youth. He is 28 years old and as a young person, we can see that he strives to gain
psychic and physical independence from his parents. He decided to move out of their house despite his
parent’s disapproval and he stuck with his decisions. Although he is not yet married and has not started
having his own family, he is still making a place in the world which he strives for in his job. According to
Jung, youth should be the time where one has increased activity, maturing sexuality, growing
consciousness and recognition that the problem-free era of childhood is gone forever. We can see these
events sort of starting to happen in his life. There’s definitely increased activity and he is aware that he is
not a child anymore and although playing the hero still excites him, this time he is saving actual people
and also exercising caution. He likes the stimulation but he is not reckless about it. This brings us to one
of the problems people have in facing youth. Some people have a natural tendency to cling to the narrow
consciousness of childhood and they end up avoiding present day problems. We can see that Mark has
already overcome that and despite his attraction to excitement and challenging tasks, he is not
deliberately trying to die while being in service. He is still careful and definitely focuses more on the
present day problems and the bigger picture of the heroic deeds he used to enjoy as a child, that this was
not a game anymore but a part of reality and a role he had to play in real life.
5. At what stage, in Jungian theory, was Mark when he was pretending to be a super hero? Specify sub-
stage if appropriate.

When Mark was pretending to be a superhero, he was in the childhood stage. The childhood stage has
three sub-stages: the anarchaic, the monarchic and the dualistic. Mark was already in the dualistic phase
of childhood when he was pretending to be a superhero. The dualistic phase is the time when the ego is
divided into the objective and subjective, and children now start to refer to themselves in the first person
and are aware of their existence as individuals. Mark was at this sub-stage when he was pretending to be
a superhero because when they were playing their games, he actively wanted to be the superhero. He
wasn’t just like “Oh, I could be the superhero now I guess.” He was aware that that was what he wanted
and he made his sister become the villain in the story. He knew that he was a separate individual from
her. He knew he wanted to do things that excited him, and he started making noise and music out of
anything but he connected more with playing the hero in the childhood games so he stuck with it and
always played that role.

CASE 8: ADLER

1. What is the motivation behind Toshimi’s career choice, according to Adler’s theory?

Toshimi was born prematurely and experienced a series of health complications when she was younger
and even almost died from a respiratory infection at one point, which resulted in her parents being
overprotective of her and always advising her to take it easy. They encouraged Toshimi to become frail
which resulted in her being out of shape and not physically active, making her the least obvious choice for
childhood games. She was liked by the children but never chosen for games that required a lot of activity
and athletic ability. This made her feel as though the other children were better than her. According to
Adler’s theory, people are born with weak, inferior bodies which leads us to feel inferior over others and
be consequently dependent on other people. As we can see in Toshimi’s case, these feelings of inferiority
and weakness resulting from organ inferiorities fueled her to strive for either superiority or success. After
being frustrated at not being chosen to be on anyone’s baseball team, she returns home and turns on the
television. Here she sees women and men in beautiful costumes performing physical feats such as
standing on their toes and performing graceful leaps. The longer she watched, the more she got
determined to be physically fit so that she would be able to perform those feats and finally be good at
something, some kind of physical activity that would make others respect her as an athlete. This made
her work harder in her chosen field and despite some setbacks such as not being able to have a successful
career in dance due to her body type, delay in taking lessons and discrimination, she still did not give up
on her dream and decided to give dance lessons to children also because she already sort of had an idea
about it as when she was at camp with the other dancers, she was older and behaved as the big sister,
giving them advice and all that.

2. According to Adlerian theory, what was Toshimi’s goal? What was Toshimi’s unique style of life
that could be used to achieve this goal? How do you know this?

Toshimi’s goal which is set as a form of compensation for the feelings of inferiority she felt due to her
physical weaknesses, was to overcome these weaknesses and be good at something physical such as ballet
so that she could finally experience being respected for her athleticism. She was determined to achieve
her goal which was to have a successful career in dance, particularly ballet. Adler states that each person
has the freedom to create his or her own style of life and thanks to their creative power, they are in control
of their own lives, making them responsible for determining their methods for achieving their final goal,
making sure that their final goal is achieved and it also contributes to the development of their social
interest. As humans, we are creative beings that react to our environment, act on it, and cause it to react
to us. Toshimi, as a reaction to her environment wherein she was not chosen to be part of a team, reacts
by trying to be good at something and channels her creative power towards ballet which then becomes
her environment. She acts on this environment and this goal and determinedly works toward being a
successful ballet dancer but it reacts back by discriminating her based on race and body type, making her
ineligible to be a successful dancer but she refuses to back down and uses her creative power to achieve
her dream in some other way. The unique style of life that she used to achieve this goal was a healthy,
socially useful style of life because it is said that these kinds of individuals express their social interest
through action. One could see how determined Toshimi was in achieving that goal as she started from
being very physically inactive, clumsy, awkward and had a hard time adjusting to the difficult physical
activity that was new to her. She struggled not just physically but she also had to adjust to certain things
such as when she had to live with the other dancers at camp. She had to get used to not having her way
all the time, and waiting for her turn to do different things such as brushing her teeth, getting food, using
the phone, talking and working with her teacher. She also had to adjust to being the oldest child and
behaving as the big sister but she actively faced these challenges head-on and uses this experience to
further motivate her to go into the art of teaching ballet to kids who were once like her. One can see how
she led a healthy, socially useful style of life.

3. Did Toshimi have a high or low level of social interest? What does this imply about her
personality and adjustment? What is the cause of this level of social interest?

Toshimi had a high level of social interest. She was more concerned with being one with the community
that she was a part of. This starts with and is caused by her adjusting and mingling with the other dancers
at camp. She had to adjust from being the sheltered, pampered child to someone independent, willing to
wait and more willing to do things for others than for others to do things for her. She found herself caring
for the other younger girls and assumed the role of the big sister. She cared more about advising the
younger girls, comforting them and the overall “social feeling” at camp. From this, she was able to apply
it to her future career as a teacher, and became a part of her personality overall. She was constantly
comforting, giving advice to her students, was patient and shared with them her experiences which gave
her a good reputation and made a lot of students enroll in her classes. It was also evident that she made
an impact not just on her students’ personal feelings but also on their careers as her patient way of
teaching has helped her students become accepted to train with prestigious ballet companies such as the
New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theater.

4. What did Adler say about birth order that would apply to Toshimi’s life?

Toshimi was born an only child. According to Adler, only children end up being in a position of competing
against his/her father and mother. They also often develop an exaggerated sense of superiority and an
inflated self-concept. Only children may also lack well-developed feelings of cooperation and social
interest, possess a parasitic attitude and expect other people to pamper and protect them. Toshimi was
definitely in danger of having all these happen to her, as she is an only child and also had very
overprotective parents. Thankfully, she wasn’t stuck in that situation and managed to escape the little,
sheltered bubble that her parents created for her. She was able to interact more with other people such
as her classmates, and other dancers at camp. She was able to see beyond herself and her own interests
and truly see what would benefit the community as a whole. She learned to forget about all the privileges
she had when she was being pampered by her parents and soon realized that her every whim was no
longer satisfied. She soon learned to be patient and to wait for her turn for various things. She learned to
be concerned about other people aside from herself and adjust to not always having her way or being
served by her parents. Through her experiences, she managed to avoid all the negative traits of being an
only child and grew up to be a socially mature individual.

Theory Comparison Questions

1. What other theory, besides Adler’s, could explain Toshimi’s career choice?

Since Toshimi was sick a lot when she was younger, her parents became very overprotective and would
discourage her from doing anything too physical and athletic. They would always tell her to take it easy.
Toshimi’s parents also overindulged her since they didn’t want to deny her of anything as when she was
born, she almost didn’t survive due to various complications with her health. This overprotectiveness and
overindulgence by her parents made Toshimi want to seek independence as she starts to strive towards
being successful in her goal to be a ballet dancer. Her career choice can be explained by Horney’s theory.
According to Horney’s theory, overprotectiveness and overindulgence by the parents due to their own
neurotic needs can cause the child to develop basic hostility toward the parents, which is repressed and
manifests as feelings of insecurity which is called basic anxiety. We can see this as due to her parents
always discouraging her from engaging in any type of physical activity, she ends up being insecure of her
athletic abilities. This basic anxiety is described as a feeling of being small, insignificant, isolated and
helpless which she definitely feels once her lack of athletic abilities starts to have an effect on her chances
of being chosen to be a part of any team for games. According to Horney, there are defenses against basic
anxiety and Toshimi’s dominant neurotic trend is to move away from people. This is a way to adapt to
one’s feelings of isolation. Toshimi felt isolated when she wasn’t chosen by her friends to take part in
games. This neurotic trend also manifests as one’s needs to be independent and self-sufficient. Some
people satisfy these needs in a healthy fashion which I think Toshimi was able to do as she did not
necessarily compulsive put emotional distance between herself and other people. Despite trying to be
independent and self-sufficient, especially in learning ballet, she still developed emotional connections
with other people. For normal individuals, this trend results in one being autonomous and serene which
we can see in Toshimi’s life. The neurotic needs under the neurotic trend of moving away from people are
the neurotic need for self-sufficiency and independence and the neurotic need for perfection and
prestige. As mentioned, Toshimi felt the need to be an independent and self-sufficient individual beyond
her parents’ overprotective tendencies as she felt that these were things she needed to do to achieve her
final goal. In achieving that final goal as well, she felt the need to strive for perfection as especially in an
art as graceful as ballet, one needs to be some sort of perfectionist to be successful. She also felt the need
for prestige as she initially wanted to be a successful ballet dancer possibly training under prestigious
ballet companies. Both Adler and Horney’s theories believe that in order to compensate for feelings of
inferiority and weakness, there are things that one must need to do or strive to do but the difference
between both theories is that Horney’s theories relies on the importance of childhood experiences in
shaping personality, while Adler believes that present behavior is shaped by the people’s view of the
future.
2. How do Adler’s thoughts on parenting compare with Erikson’s? Would Adler consider Toshimi’s
parents as having good parenting skills? What about Erikson?

According to the case study, Toshimi’s parents ended up becoming overprotective of her and shielded her
away from activities that they felt were harmful to her since she was sick a lot as a kid. Adler’s theory talks
about the implications of overprotectiveness and overindulgence on the children’s development of
personality. Adler focused more on birth order and the general hypotheses about firstborn children,
second born children, youngest children and only children. His theory also talks about how birth order has
an effect on how an individual turns out to be. He believes that only children end up competing against
their parents and often develop an exaggerated sense of superiority and an inflated self-concept. Only
children may expect to be pampered and protected, may lack in cooperation, social interest and can
become overly dependent on others to the point of being parasitic. Erikson on the other hand believed
that the ego develops throughout the various stages of life according to an epigenetic principle. One stage
emerges from and is built upon a previous stage. Erikson believes that in every psychosocial stage there
are conflicts and crises and from those, a basic strength must emerge. In the Infancy stage, parents must
have a sense of balance between providing care and food for babies and not providing because some ratio
of trust and mistrust is necessary for people to adapt. In early childhood, parents must also have a proper
ratio between giving the child autonomy or shame and doubt but the ratio should be in favor of autonomy.
In this stage, a child should then not be shamed or scolded for soiling their pants or making a mess. This
is so that children will not have too much shame and doubt in themselves which may result to a lack of
self-confidence. In the play age, where the conflict is initiative versus guilt, parents should let the child
exercise their creativity and adopt their initiatives in terms of games, fantasies, etc. but they should add
in a little bit of guilt to balance them out so they sort of have an idea on what is right and wrong. In the
school age stage, where industry versus inferiority is the conflict, parents should help their children
develop a sense of industry and achieve their goals, without avoiding feelings of inferiority so that they
also learn to do their best. In adolescence, identity versus identity confusion takes place, at this stage the
children are starting to explore and know themselves more so hopefully parents will become more
understanding of the exploring and the possible rebelling that happens at this stage but not to the point
of tolerating it too much. For Erikson, parenting is a mixture of having both the negative and positive
aspects of a series of conflicts but with just more emphasis on the positive aspects and the basic strengths
that one gains after a psychological stage is through. For both theorists, overprotective parenting is not a
good way to parent your child as it hinders their growth and maturity but Toshimi’s parents allowed her
to strive towards independence, gave her a sense of autonomy, and allowed her to really discover her
identity. Her parents may have been overprotective but they weren’t unreasonable and they didn’t stay
overprotective. They themselves also had growth and they allowed their child to grow. So it would make
sense to say that Erikson and Adler would consider Toshimi’s parents to have good parenting skills as they
were very supportive of Toshimi in her journey towards achieving her dreams.
 CASE 9: HORNEY

1. Which of Horney’s trends (or basic adjustment) is Samara demonstrating?

Out of the three trends, Samara is demonstrating the neurotic trend of compliance or moving toward
people. Samara is rarely “alone”, she constantly needs someone by her side and goes from a breakup to
another relationship very quickly. This neurotic trend is more of a need to protect oneself against feelings
of helplessness. It is said that those who adopt this trend and philosophy see themselves as loving,
generous, unselfish, humble and sensitive to other people’s feelings. We can see that Samara thinks of
herself as someone possessing these traits. She states that she is sensitive to the needs of others and
would never do what her friends do which is to criticize their husbands. She would never force her
husband to watch a movie or a play with her if he did not want to see it. She was willing to subordinate
herself to others and she was even letting the guys she dates decide where they would go on dates, what
to order for her and she would do whatever her boyfriend wanted to do.

2. Which of Horney’s neurotic needs does Samara demonstrate?

Samara demonstrates the neurotic trend of moving toward people. Under this trend are the following
neurotic needs: neurotic need for affection and approval, neurotic need for a powerful partner, and
neurotic need to restrict one’s life within narrow borders. These are neurotic needs that Samara
demonstrates. In Samara’s demonstration of the neurotic need for affection and approval, she tries to
seek affection and approval by constantly sucking up to her boyfriends and putting their needs above her
own. Samara says that she wants love but in searching for affection, she might have tried to purchase love
with self-effacing compliance. She wanted to please them, was always doing her best to make them
happy, and she wanted them to see her as a giving and unselfish person which is why she would try to live
up to those expectations and just follow whatever they wanted to do. Another neurotic need that Samara
demonstrates is the neurotic need for a powerful partner. We know that the neurotic trend of moving
toward people is just a form of protection against feelings of helplessness. In times of helplessness, one
looks for stability and power in someone else which is why Samara also tries to attach herself to a powerful
partner. She looks for a powerful partner and she gives her partners power over her. She also lacks self-
confidence and almost never makes her own decisions. She also lacks confidence such that she is scared
that her partner would find other women more attractive and then he’d leave her as she didn’t want to
be alone. She is almost never alone and moves from one partner to another because she dreads being
alone. Samara also demonstrates the neurotic need to restrict one’s life within narrow borders. She sees
herself as less important and is more concerned about the other person’s needs over her own. She would
listen to her partner’s stories when he was going through difficult times even when she also had problems
of her own. She never wanted to come off as a demanding girlfriend.

3. According to Horney’s theory, what is the cause of Samara’s neurotic behavior?

Horney’s theory emphasizes cultural influences as the primary bases for neurotic personality
development. Modern culture which is based on competition among individuals spawns basic hostility
which results in feelings of isolation which will then lead to heightened needs for affection, causing people
to be desperate for love and see it as a solution for all their problems. Samara grew up in a traditional
mideastern household where the woman’s role was to be a wife and a mother. These cultural expectations
drove Samara to try to establish relationships so that one day, she could get married and feel
accomplished as a woman. In some ways, marriage is sort of a competition, which candidates would get
the best partners and reach the finish line first. All she wants is for someone to love her and for her, if you
have love, you have everything. It was not stated what other instances in her childhood lead to her present
neurotic behavior and her parents could have either dominated, neglected, overprotected, rejected or
overindulged her for her to develop feelings of basic hostility, which when repressed can lead to feelings
of insecurity and a vague sense of apprehension, which is a condition we call basic anxiety. We do know
that her desperate need for love can develop neuroses leading to her low self-esteem, increased hostility,
basic anxiety, more competitiveness, and a continuous excessive need for love and affection.

4. Is Samara’s self-image an accurate one? How could Horney’s theory explain the discrepancy
between Samara’s idealized versus real image of herself?

Samara’s self-image is not an accurate one. She sees herself as loving, generous, and unselfish. She often
does not understand how and why men could not appreciate these qualities about her and she always
felt like they were very unappreciative of her. Horney’s theory explains the discrepancy between Samara’s
idealized versus real image. Samara’s idealized self-image is a solution to the growing sense of alienation
that she feels. Perhaps, she feels very isolated and helpless and ends up developing neuroses. She then
starts to see herself in a positive light, and the qualities which exist due to her neurotic needs has been
reintroduced to her system as something extravagantly positive. This extremely positive idealized self-
image then starts to solidify and then they start to truly believe that this aspect of themselves is true and
real and they start to incorporate this into the different aspects of their lives and in how they interact with
others. This is the first aspect of the idealized image called the neurotic search for glory. They then try to
mold their whole personality into their idealized self and start to actualize it by having a set of things that
they should or should not do. This can be seen in Samara’s life when she says that she would never criticize
her partner and that she would not force her partner to do anything that she wanted to do but he did not
but she would let him decide where to go, what to eat, and what to do. She strives to be the most unselfish
version of herself that she can be. She then uses this idealized self-image to shame others such as when
she makes her partners feel like they’re unappreciative of her. The second aspect of the idealized image
is neurotic claims. In searching for glory, neurotics start to build a fantasy world that is not in sync with
the real world. They start thinking that they’re special and entitled to be treated in accordance with their
idealized self-image. Once others fail to treat them in the manner which they think they deserve to be
treated with, the third aspect of an idealized image which is their neurotic pride start to hurt. This can be
seen in Samara as she truly wonders why she is not appreciated, why she is still single despite all the
qualities that she possesses and all the things she does. For example, she got mad and frustrated because
one of her ex-partners decided to go out with a buddy who was just in town for one night, instead of
staying with her to eat the dinner that he didn’t even know she was making. It was unreasonable to be
mad about feeling unappreciated as he wasn’t even made aware that she was going to cook something
for him. From her point of view, she possesses all these great qualities but these are the same qualities
that her partners see in a bad light. The reality is that her real image especially to her partners is someone
pushy, possessive, mousy and her submissiveness was annoying. It made her previous partner not even
able to get to know her as she always did what the partner wanted to do and did not express any personal
opinions or make any decisions, which made him not want a relationship with her. Samara needs to start
to distinguish what her real image is so she can cope with her relationships better and perhaps actually
settle down someday.