Someone’s Goal in Life

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3. Someone’s Goal in Life

Feist and Feist in the sixth edition of Theories of Personality explain the Adlerian theory related to someone’s goal in life. According to Adler, people struggle to achieve a final goal of either personal superiority, with little or no concern for others, or the goal of success for all human kind, which belongs to people who are psychologically health that able to help others without demanding a personal payoff. People who strive for success rather than personal superiority maintain a sense, of course, but they see daily problems from the view of society’s development rather than from a strictly personal vantage point Feist and Feist 70 - 72. The final goal has great significance because it unifies personality and makes all behavior comprehensible. Each person has the power to create a personalized fictional goal, which is constructed out of the raw materials provided by heredity and environment. Nevertheless, the goal is neither genetically nor environmentally determined. It is the product of creative power, that is, people’s ability to freely shape their behavior and create their own personality. In struggling for their final goal, people create and pursue many preliminary goals. These subgoals, consciously or not, give significance for an individual to achieve the final goal. The role of goal in someone’s life is to provide guidelines for motivation, shaping psychological development and giving it an aim Feist and Feist 70 - 72. As a creation of the individual, the goal may take any form. The goal more or less is determined by the deficiency of the individual. For example, a person with a weak body will not necessarily become a robust athlete but instead he may become an artist, an actor, or a writer. Success is an individualized concept and all people formulate their own definition of it. Although creative power is dominated by the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 14 forces of heredity and environment, it is ultimately responsible for people’s personality. Heredity establishes the potentiality, whereas environment contributes to the development of social interest and courage. The forces of nature and nurture can never impede a person of the power to set a unique goal or to choose unique style of reaching the goal Feist and Feist 72.

4. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs