TIES TO ADLER”S TASKS OF LIFE
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status. Can an individual have trust, intimacy, caring, and compassion towards others in their
family or community?
Social
Another vital component of Adlerian theory is social interest and it falls into the social
life task. “Social interest is a feeling of belonging to others and not being ‘outside’” (Oberst &
Stewart, 2003, p. 19). The overall social task involves “satisfying relationships with others”
(Carlson et al., 2005, p. 13). Without interaction with others, the social task is often left
unfulfilled and a huge hole. When determining if the task is at a satisfactory level, the answers
to these questions are important: “What do you do for fun? Who is your closest friend? Why?
How do you relate to your community? If you could change anything about your social life, what
would you change?” (Carlson et al., 2005, p. 109).
Summary
“Adler believed all behavior is goal directed. People continue to strive for the future and
what they believe is important or significant. If we can understand an individual’s goals, then it
becomes possible to predict his or her behavior and responses to situations” (Carlson, 1985, p.
13). Our behavior is based on our striving to improve on our tasks of life.
“Despite the myriad of different values each life-influencing variable may assume, all
people must find a way to meet the inescapable requirements of life to develop a career or
vocational path, to relate intimately with a spouse or partner, and to interface
meaningfully and productively with others in a variety of social contexts.” (Oberst &
Stewart, 2003, p. 169)
The life tasks give insight into a person’s world and also areas that can or could be
worked on. If an individual feels inferior, there is often a life task that needs to be addressed.
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“If an individual can be a good friend to all others, and contribute to them by useful work, by a
happy marriage, he will never feel inferior to others or defeated by them” (Mansager & Gold,
2000, p. 165).
Communication
Social Style
As previously mentioned humans are social beings and are constantly interacting with
each other. The social style assessment was based off of research around behavioral psychology,
patterns of behavior, interpersonal functioning, and social relationships. This research was done
in the early 1960’s and was continued and revised in 2001-2003 (Mulqueen, 2012, p. 4). The
difference between the social style inventory and other assessments is the social style is based on
the perception of how others see the individual instead of how the individual views him/herself.
Each individual has a unique “social style” and after taking the assessment, the results are broken
down into four different types: driving (strong willed and more emotionally controlled),
expressive (outgoing and more dramatic), amiable (easy going and supportive), and analytical
(serious and more exacting). A more generalized description is: “thought person” (analytical),
“action person” (driver), “people person” (amiable), and the “front person” (expressive) (Bolton
& Bolton, 2009, p. 37).
When utilizing this self-assessment it is important to truly understand each type and to
remember that everyone has a “dominant” type but flexes in and out of the others at any given
time. A quick glance at this assessment breaks it down into two categories: more or less
assertive and more or less responsive. The “driver” style is a more than average assertiveness
level and less than average responsiveness and they are described as “fast-paced, speak rapidly,
walk swiftly, decide quickly, and work efficiently. They are get-it-done people. They do not
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agonize over decisions. They are the most results-focused of all the styles” (Bolton & Bolton,
2009, pp. 44-45).
The “expressive” style is more than average assertiveness and more than average
responsiveness. Expressives “tend to be visionaries, they push people to look beyond the mere
mundane and practical in order to undertake bold and imaginative goals, they can be impulsive,
feelings play a great role, and they are very animated with their body language when they speak”
(Bolton & Bolton, 2009, pp. 48-51).
The “amiable” style is less than average assertiveness and more than average
responsiveness. These people are “very people-oriented, friendly, easy-going, and their
relationships are more personal. They are especially sensitive to other people’s feelings.
Amiables like to work with others and are very generous with their time. Because they are so
opposed to conflict, they will often say what others want to hear just to avoid conflict” (Bolton &
Bolton, 2009, pp. 54-58).
The “analytical” style is less than average assertiveness and less than average
responsiveness. They are “the most perfectionistic, value exactness, prefer quality over quantity,
want things to be right. They are often very hard on themselves and others and do not act
impulsively. The analyticals are the most introverted and are private people and do not show
their emotions. During conflict, analyticals are detached and try to use a rational approach”
(Bolton & Bolton, 2009, pp. 59-62).
Summary
It can be very important to know social style, especially in the work place because in a
survey about social style, results indicated that having differences in style can result in negative
results; 88% of respondents reported communication breakdowns, 76% had difficult
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