Running head: THE ADULT BULLY 1 The Adult Bully: Mistaken Beliefs, Private Logic, and Social Interest A Literature Review Presented to The Faculty of the Adler Graduate School _____________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for The Degree of Master of Arts in Adlerian Counseling and Psychotherapy ______________________ By Chandra R. Roth ______________________ Chair: Rachelle Reinisch, DMFT Reader: Meghan Williams, MA _____________________ June, 2018 THE ADULT BULLY 2 The Adult Bully: Mistaken Beliefs, Private Logic, and Social Interest Copyright © 2018 Chandra R. Roth All rights reserved THE ADULT BULLY 3 Abstract Bullying in schools is a prevalent concern among American parents and educators. Many outgrow adolescent behaviors, but adolescents become adults that bully employees, coworkers, or family members. If adolescent bullies do not receive proper interventions to correct aggressive behaviors, it can have an impact on relationships, careers, and physical and emotional health. Social interest projects could facilitate goodwill among coworkers. Exposure to the issues and concerns of others may move the adult bully from narcissistic motivations to a concern for others, community, and the world. Keywords: adult bully, bully-victim, workplace bullying, Adler, social interest THE ADULT BULLY 4 Acknowledgments I must thank all five of my parents for the endless support, encouragement, and occasional exasperation throughout this process. Thank you for being patient with me. Apparently, like so many things in my life, I had to do this in my own time. Thank you to my friend, Lori, for always believing in me no matter what the endeavor, and for being the truest and most loyal friend I could have ever hoped for. Countless thanks to my dear friend, Jen Boyd, for meeting me in the Writing Center and helping me see that I was actually making progress when I felt defeated. Thanks to Susie Barker for also scheduling study dates with me and attempting to motivate me with Starbucks. Thank you to friends and family for showing an interest, asking (and occasionally nagging) me about my project. Thanks to Marina Bluvshtein, my first professor at Adler. Thank you for your wonderful influence and for convincing me to attend ICASSI. I feel delighted to be a part of such a passionate, socially conscious, and cooperative community. Thank you to Dr. Rachelle Reinisch for sticking with me and not giving up on me even when I gave you several opportunities to do so. Thank you for following up, building my confidence, and most importantly for reading my drivel then beautifully crafting it into something scholarly. You are truly a “human prepossessing homosapien with a full-sized aortic pump!” (Crane, Kauffman, Klein, & Christensen, 2003, season 10, episode 5). THE ADULT BULLY 5 Dedication I would like to dedicate this paper to my clients, even though they will most likely never read it. Kiddos, I wish you were growing up in a better world. You make me want to do better. THE ADULT BULLY 6 Table of Contents Bullying........................................................................................................................................... 8 Victim ................................................................................................................................... 12 Bully-victim .......................................................................................................................... 13 Bully/pure bully .................................................................................................................... 13 Types of Bullying ......................................................................................................................... 14 Direct and Indirect Bullying ..................................................................................................... 14 Physical Abuse .......................................................................................................................... 15 Verbal Abuse ............................................................................................................................ 15 Social Bullying and Relational Aggression .............................................................................. 16 Cyberbullying ........................................................................................................................... 17 Dating Abuse/ Dating Violence ................................................................................................ 17 The Impact of Bullying ................................................................................................................. 18 The Adult Bully ............................................................................................................................ 20 Narcissistic Adult Bully ............................................................................................................ 20 Impulsive Adult Bully............................................................................................................... 20 Physical Bully ........................................................................................................................... 20 Verbal Adult Bully .................................................................................................................... 21 Secondary Adult Bully .............................................................................................................. 21 Workplace Bullying .................................................................................................................. 21 The Impact of Childhood Bullying ............................................................................................... 26 Social Interest and Empathy ..................................................................................................... 26 Work and Socioeconomic Status .............................................................................................. 26 Relationships ............................................................................................................................. 27 Mental Health and Self-Awareness .......................................................................................... 27 Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder ................................................................................ 28 Oppositional defiant disorder ................................................................................................ 28 Conduct disorder ................................................................................................................... 28 Depression............................................................................................................................. 29 Antisocial behavior ............................................................................................................... 29 Narcissism ............................................................................................................................. 29 Machiavellianism .................................................................................................................. 30 Psychopathy. ......................................................................................................................... 30 THE ADULT BULLY 7 Individual Psychology .................................................................................................................. 30 Inferiority/Mistaken Movement ................................................................................................ 31 Adler and Dreikurs ........................................................................................................................ 33 The Discouraged Child ................................................................................................................. 34 Four Mistaken Goals of Misbehavior ........................................................................................... 35 Natural and Logical Consequences ............................................................................................... 35 Crucial Cs.................................................................................................................................. 36 Social Interest............................................................................................................................ 38 Mother-child dyad ................................................................................................................. 40 Family ................................................................................................................................... 40 Community ........................................................................................................................... 40 Society................................................................................................................................... 40 Humanity............................................................................................................................... 41 Planetary ............................................................................................................................... 41 The cosmos ........................................................................................................................... 41 God/spirituality ....................................................................................................................