ABSTRACT
Efforts to understand the adaptive purpose of emotional expression fit seamlessly into an Adlerian theoretical model. As a result, I rely heavily on Adler’s theory of Individual Psychology to guide the remainder of this presentation, albeit embellished by the evolutionary perspective and complementary components of the cognitive perspective. The great advantage of the Adlerian model is its holistic orientation. While the language used by Adlerian theorists and counselors is unique, the premises of the approach have been well validated, if not specifically by those couched in the theory, then indirectly by theorists relying on a different descriptive language unique to their theoretical orientation. As an example, one of the major premises of the Adlerian approach is the human striving for a sense and place of belonging among others and feelings of worth derived through interpersonal relationships. In a classic article by social psychologists Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary (1995), the need to belong was described as a “fundamental human motive” similar to such needs as nutrition and shelter, as examples. In addition, the idea of striving for a felt plus state and against a felt minus is inherent to the behavioral model, specifically as those ideas relate to positive and negative reinforcement.
