Lifestyle, in vocational psychology dictionary

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Dictionary of Vocational Psychology

Lifestyle

A central construct in Adlerian theory (individual psychology). Lifestyle is the individual's style of perceiving, thinking, desiring, and acting that together create a unique personality configuration. The lifestyle is essentially the core schema of a person, in much the same way that a kernel program can serve as the core of a larger software system; it affects and is reflected by everything the individual does, thinks, and perceives. Aderians believe that this core personality system typically forms early in childhood and strives to protect itself from change in later years, even when the perceived adaptive requirements under which it formed may have changed.

Adler and his followers often describe the lifestyle in a single word (e.g., controlling, driving), but it does not have to be reduced to a single word. For example, one may characterize a lifestyle in the following sentence, by filling in the blanks: "I am _____, and the world is ____, therefore I must _____ in order to _____." The final blank is usually related to what the individual feels he must do or achieve. Because the lifestyle affects everything a person does, it affects his or her vocational choices, behavior, and experience. Watkins and Savickas (1990) provide a good overview of the application of lifestyle to career development.

Super (1980) also used the term lifestyle to refer to the set of life roles that together played out the life roles of work, love, and play. This usage itself is similar to that used by Adler, who discussed lifestyle as playing out through the life tasks of love (reproduction), work (survival), and friendship/social relations.

Websites of interest

Alfred Adler. From "Pioneers of Education," From Southern Adventist University.
http://educ.southern.edu/tour/ who/pioneers/adler.html

References

Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler