Scribd
Upload
374 views2 pages

Four Goals of Misbehavior

Misbehavior in children serves four main goals: attention, power, revenge, and displaying inadequacy. The article discusses each of these goals in detail. Attention-seeking behaviors occur when children feel overlooked. Power-motivated behaviors happen when children feel a lack of control. Revenge behaviors stem from children's inability to properly understand and communicate their emotions. Behaviors displaying inadequacy are a passive way for children to avoid feelings of being unworthy. Psychologist Alfred Adler believed all behaviors have purpose, and his protégé Rudolph Dreikurs identified these four psychological goals of children's misbehavior.

Uploaded by

Guille monster
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
374 views2 pages

Four Goals of Misbehavior

Misbehavior in children serves four main goals: attention, power, revenge, and displaying inadequacy. The article discusses each of these goals in detail. Attention-seeking behaviors occur when children feel overlooked. Power-motivated behaviors happen when children feel a lack of control. Revenge behaviors stem from children's inability to properly understand and communicate their emotions. Behaviors displaying inadequacy are a passive way for children to avoid feelings of being unworthy. Psychologist Alfred Adler believed all behaviors have purpose, and his protégé Rudolph Dreikurs identified these four psychological goals of children's misbehavior.

Uploaded by

Guille monster
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Note: The following information is reprinted from an article written by Kylie Rymanowicz, Michigan State

University, August 18, 2015

Goals of misbehavior
Misbehavior is a method of communication, a child’s way of reaching out. The behavior might be
negative or undesired, but the reasons behind it are not. It’s important to remember that there’s a
difference between how your child behaves and their character. What they do is not who they are.

Research has identified four main goals of misbehavior from children: attention, power, revenge and
display of inadequacy.

Goals of misbehavior – Part 1: Attention


The first goal of misbehavior is attention. When children seek attention through their behaviors, they
are feeling overlooked or insignificant. To avoid these feelings of hurt, they behave in ways to make sure
they get noticed. They throw their toys, hit their brother, scream or generally make life difficult.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/goals_of_misbehavior_part_1_attention

Goals of misbehavior – Part 2: Power


The second goal of misbehavior in children is power. This misbehavior usually pops up when children
feel like they have very little control over what is happening around them. To make up for feeling
powerless, children use their behavior to either demand control or simply take it. Examples of these
behaviors include ignoring a request, pushing the limits or boundaries or outbursts of anger

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/goals_of_misbehavior_part_2_power

Goals of misbehavior – Part 3: Revenge


Children lack detailed understanding of their emotions and what they mean. Combine that with
undeveloped communication and social skills and children aren’t left with many options to manage
feelings of hurt. So instead of addressing them, they throw their hurt on others. These revenge
behaviors will come across as personal attacks, whether direct or indirect. Children might hurt others
unprovoked with words or actions, damage belongings and act with an all-around unpleasantness. In
these instances of revenge-motivated behavior, parents and caregivers often feel hurt, angry, wondering
why the child wants to hurt them.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/goals_of_misbehavior_part_3_revenge
Goals of misbehavior – Part 4: Inadequacy
Everyone feels down once in a while. Sometimes acting out is, well, a little less active. Children might
misbehave in these situations passively, by engaging withdrawal or avoidance behaviors, like refusing to
complete a requested task or participate in an event. To cope with these feelings, many children show a
hesitancy to try or engage because they don’t feel like they are good enough. When children experience
these feelings, they might feel unworthy or inferior to others. In order to avoid these uncomfortable
feelings and the vulnerability that comes with them, children often act out by displaying withdrawal
behaviors, a pessimistic attitude or by putting themselves down. Children may not have the words or
tools necessary to communicate or address these feelings and because no parent or caregiver wants to
watch their child feel this way, these situations often make parents feel helpless or discouraged.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/goals_of_misbehavior_part_4_inadequacy

Other explanations of misbehavior


Alfred Adler believed that all human behavior is purposeful. People don’t act randomly; they engage in
behaviors designed to help them accomplish specific goals. Adler believed that although individuals may
not be perfectly aware of the link between their behaviors and their goals, the link is there, nonetheless.

Rudolph Dreikurs, one of Adler’s protégés, developed this theory of children’s misbehavior. Over the
years, Dreikurs’ ideas have been extremely useful to many parents and parenting educators. It’s also
useful to consider these ideas when trying to understand adult behaviors.

Adler’s followers applied his principles to everyday situations. Rudolph Dreikurs posited that children are
motivated to grow and develop. They’re naturally oriented toward feeling useful and a sense of
belonging. However, when children don’t feel useful and don’t feel they belong—less-positive goals take
over. In his book The Challenge of Parenthood, Dreikurs (1948) identified the four main psychological
goals of children’s misbehavior, explained above.

Source: https://johnsommersflanagan.com/2017/06/10/why-children-misbehave-the-adlerian-
perspective/

You might also like