Adler's 'The Neglect Of The Intellect Sloth'

It has been said that intelligence and/ or knowledge can be both a curse and a blessing. The book “Frankenstein” portrays this idea perfectly. Intelligence can be a wonderful gift that brings many great things, but at what cost? Would you seek all the knowledge in the world if you knew that it would bring you only pain and suffering? These two questions help qualify the validity of the statement that intelligence or knowledge can be both a curse and a blessing.

If it wasn’t for people acting against conformity and developing their interests in academics America wouldn’t be where it is in technical advancements. Fridman argues that for America’s success it’s necessary that, “the anti-intellectual values that pervade our society must be fought” to raise more citizens to be intellectual (Fridman 20-21). He urges for society’s values to be challenged in order for individuals to get more involved with educating themselves. Fridman points out, “There are very few countries in the world where anti-intellectualism runs as high in popular culture as it does in the U.S.”

It appears that in today’s society, intellectual beings, or “geeks” and “nerds” as they’re often referred to, are being pressured in everyday life events because they don’t quite seem to “fit in” even though they are the backbone of America’s economical and technological advances. Although these “nerds” play an important role in keeping America ahead in the scholarly and technological world, they’re rarely ever praised, for instead, they are bashed and labeled with derogatory terms for being too much of a “geek.” As for Leonid Fridman, he addresses America’s behavior towards “nerds” in his essay, “American Needs Its Nerds,” by using irony and antitheses to draw attention to anti-intellectualism values in America and uncover how society is stepping down on its “geeks” and “nerds.”

To begin conceptualizing Antwone’s feelings through an Adlerian lens, a counselor might try to spot inferiority feelings within the client. These feelings are always present and ultimately act as a motivating force behind an individual’s outward behavior. One could argue that Antwone’s inferiorities stem from the abuse he suffered at such a young age, which halted the average development most humans encounter. In order for an individual to overcome these inferiorities, they begin to act in compensative behaviors. Since Antwone’s traumas began in infancy, he never had any kind of stable environment and the one in which he was finally placed (the Tate’s) caused him to quickly feel inferior. Antwone may have ultimately developed an inferiority complex because he was never able to compensate his inferiority feelings as an infant. The inferiority complex that Antwone developed has prevented him from being able to cope with the demands of life –enabling him to use violence as a way to forget.

The internet is an excellent place to explore our mind and put our thoughts together; however, it also has a negative effect to our brains, and the more we use it the more it decrease our intelligence. In this essay “Does the Internet Make You Smarter or Dumber?” by Nicholas Carr, he argues about the immoral side of the internet. According to Carr, “When we’re constantly distracted and interrupted, as we tend to be online, our brains are unable to forge the strong and expansive neural connections that give depth and distinctiveness to our thinking” (22). Carr’s pint of view about the internet is that it does not make us smarter in any way; if anything it make us dense and slow. Scientific study have shown that most people who stayed on the internet quit a lot are more likely to damage their brains mentally. According to Carr, the internet is also a place to waste our time. Carr backed up his arguments with studies from scientists, researches and even books. In these essay, Carr’s appeals to logic and understanding is the strongest; whereas his appeals to ethos and his appeals to pathos are finite.

In chapter one of The Dumbest Generation, Mike Bauerlein makes several statements about our generation and comes to a conclusion that helps set the groundwork for the entire book. His analysis of today’s youth states that the current generation is lacking when it comes to intellectual knowledge. He provides evidence that states that today’s under-thirty population in the United States does not have adequate knowledge, and their lack of knowledge with affect them greatly in their adulthood years.

The main argument of essay Hidden Intellectualism by Gerald Graff begins with the difference between book smarts and street smarts. Graff explains that book smarts are in various forms and hide in people call street smarts, hence the hidden intellectualism. He also considered himself that in childhood he realized that he was intellectually gifted when he noticed that he was using reason and argumentative strategies while discussing sports with friends. Graff describes that through his arguing and reasoning, he was showing his intellectual side. He also gives another example of Michael Warner, a man who also realized his intellectual side through his arguing except instead of sports, he was arguing the Christian Pentecostal views of his parents.

Adlerian psychotherapists often ask their clients about early recollections. What are the assumptions of this technique and how does it facilitate the therapeutic process?

While many people in Chaim Potok’s the chosen demonstrate a great intellect, Reuven, Danny, and Mr. Malter are the most noteworthy people with regard to this trait. Several times throughout the book readers are continually shocked by their intellect. Reuven uses his intellect to solve mathematical problems. Danny’s photographic memory helps him memorize pages of the Talmud every day. Mr. Malter relies on his intellect to advise people, whether by recommending books to Danny or by giving his son advise. Potok’s characters display a wide manifest of intelligence from Reuven’s mathematical mind, Danny’s photographic memory, and Mr. Malter’s ability to convey practical advice.

Some readers of this essay will have become impatient by now; because they believe that the problem that perplexes me has been definitively solved by Immanuel Kant. It is certainly true that Kant held strong opinions on this matter. In an often-quoted passage, he reports a personal conversion from elitism: “I am myself a researcher by inclination. I feel the whole thirst for knowledge and the eager unrest to move further on into it, also satisfaction with each acquisition. There was a time when I thought this alone could constitute the honor of humanity and despised the know nothing rabble. Rousseau set me straight. This delusory superiority vanishes, I learn to honor men, and I would find myself more useless than a

Creating goals and striving to obtain those goals, Adler believed that human beings were social creatures by nature. Having healthy values that affect what goals individuals strive for, is what Adler thought was good mental health. Believing inferiority complexes affected self-esteem, it was the belief of Adler that an adverse effect would present in an individual's health and mental state. Dynamics of compensation and power go well beyond sexuality, and gender and politics are far more important than the libido. Adler was a socialist and a realist who emphasized the role of empathy in individuals.

Understand, interpret, direct. This statement is an oversimplification of sorts, but defines the essence of Adlerian psychotherapy. From this minimal overview of Adlerian theory, we can begin to elaborate and explore the intricacies of individual psychology. Adlerians are concerned with understanding the unique and private beliefs and strategies of the individual (private logic and mistaken notions) that we create in childhood, and which serve as a reference for attitudes, private views of self, others and the world, and behavior (lifestyle). Therapeutic work with clients involves short-term and intensive work to increase social interest, to encourage a greater sense of responsibility for behavior, and to support behavioral change.

In 1902, Alfred Adler was invited by Freud to become his group to discuss new ideas in psychology after seeing him publicly defend some of his own ideas. Adler was an active member as well as vocal using this group as a forum to develop and debate his emerging ideas of the human condition (Fall, Holden, & Marquis, 2004). Five years later, he developed his first theoretical work entitled, Organic Inferiority and Its Psychical Compensation. In the following years, Adler became the president of the International Psycho-analytic Society and began to openly disagree with Freud’s perspectives of

Freda Adler is a criminologist and an educator. She was a consultant to the United Nations on criminal justice matters since 1975. She published multiple novels on a variety of areas including female criminality, international issues in crime, piracy, drug abuse, and social control theories. On the other hand, Cesare Beccaria was an italian criminologist, jurist, philosopher and politician. He had a profound influence on the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was well remembered for his treatise “On Crimes and Punishments.”

Perhaps more important: somewhere in the book Adler mentions Great Books discussion groups. I looked into it and found that, during the 50s and early 60s there was a fad bordering on a movement, where groups of average people would actually convene to discuss readings from the classics of Western literature. Imagine! Next, I found out that an organization had been formed to support and propagate these groups, the Great Books Foundation, that it still exists, and that it publishes collections of readings from the Great Books for use by discussion groups.