A Contribution to the Theory and Measurement of Adlerian Personality Priorities

Abstract:This article presents some advanced psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Adlerian Personality Priorities Assessment (APPA) together with a study of validity using instruments to measure belongingness, life satisfaction, adult attachment, and a projective technique to assess Adlerian Personality Priorities (the Top Card Activity). The 22-item version of the Spanish APPA showed excellent psychometric properties, and invariance by gender and age; results also confirm and add on to prior studies showing that control is a more adaptive personality priority than superiority, pleasing, and comfort/avoidance. The combination of high control, high pleasing, and low comfort presented the best prediction of belongingness and life satisfaction. We discuss these results from an Adlerian theoretical background and affirm that priorities are both individual goals and unconscious mechanisms that are activated when the individual's condition of belongingness is thwarted.