3 – Subjectivity; perceptual framework; apperceptive schema

“Subjectivity” is an ancient category in both philosophy and theology, from which psychology emerged as a seprate discipline in the mid 1800s. It was Adler who placed it at the center of how individuals perceive events in a persona way, and then act as if that perception is true. Things happen, we observe them and give them a meaning, and act on that interpretation. Personal opinion about an event is at least as important as the event itself.

A key statement about subjectivity is from Søren Kierkegaard, in his book Concluding Scientific Postscript. His three words, “Subjectivity is truth,” set the stage for modern existentialism. He meant, essentially, that what one believes to be true (whether it actually is true or not) becomes the basis for what we do.

Adler saw that people experience events within a highly personal framework. He called this their apperceptive schema (their framework of perception). It helps to think of it as a window through which one sees part of the world but which limits the parts that can be seen.

The result is that we give personal meanings to events. Those meanings become a system of beliefs (“this is the way things are”) and what we should do. These are not religious beliefs, but are based entirely on our own experiences and the meanings we give them.

So then...we take things personally. We assume that events apply to us in some way, and so we give them a personal meaning. We believe our perceptions are accurate and so they become our Personal Truth, the truth we act on.

We don’t act on our Personal Truth because it is factual (which may or may not be true). Instead, we create the truth we apply to an event for our own reasons And whether our reasoning is rational or mistaken, we act as if it is True.

Adler was the first psychologist to take personal viewpoint (subjectivity) into account in understanding personality, motivation, behavior, attitudes, relationships, etc. It is central to Individual Psychology, but was not popular when Adler suggested it, and is not universally accepted today. Then and now, there is a general view that personality and behavior are determined by genetics, environment, past events, or other outside sources. Even so, he said:

For me there is no doubt that everyone conducts himself in life from the very beginning of his action as if he had a definite opinion of his strength and his abilities, and a clear conception of the difficulty or ease of the problem at hand. In a word, I am convinced that a person’s behavior springs from his opinion. We should not be surprised at this, because our senses do not receive actual facts, but a subjective  image of them, a reflection of the external world. In considering the structure of a personality, the chief difficulty is that its unity, its particular style of life and goal, is not built upon objective reality but upon the subjective view the individual takes of the facts of life. Each person organizes himself according to his personal view of things, and some views are more sound, some less sound. (Emphasis added)

In this sense, then, we create our own reality and act as if that creation is real.
Werner Heisenberg suggested the Uncertainty Principle in quantum physics, that
observing a thing at the quantum or “extremely tiny” level, changes the thing’s
position or momentum. Adler’s introduction of subjectivity into the study of
personality and behavior had similar results. That is, when one observes an
event and gives it a personal meaning, one also alters the event itself. It is
no longer an objective thing, but has become the subjective basis for one’s
actions.

Next time: Inferiority feelings and superiority striving