Alfred Adler

1870 - 1937
About Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler was a physician, psychotherapist, and the founder of Adlerian psychology, sometimes called
individual psychology. He is considered the first community psychologist, because his work pioneered
attention to community life, prevention, and population health. Adlerian psychology emphasizes the
human need and ability to create positive social change and impact.
Adlers work stressed the importance of nurturing feelings of belonging and striving for superiority. He
held equality, civil rights, mutual respect, and the advancement of democracy as core values. He was one
of the first practitioners to provide family and group counseling and to use public education as a way to
address community health. He was among the first to write about the social determinants of health and of
mental health. His values and concepts drive our mission, work, and values at the Adler University today.

His Life
Adler was born just outside of Vienna on February 7, 1870. After graduating with a medical degree in
1895 from the University of Vienna, he began his career as an ophthalmologist, but soon switched to
general practice in a less affluent area of Vienna near an amusement park and circus. Working with
people from the circus, Adler was inspired by the performers unusual strengths and weaknesses. It has
been suggested that Adler began to develop his insights on compensation and inferiority during this time.
In 1907 Adler was invited to meet with Sigmund Freud. Adler and Freud, along with Rudolf Reitler and
Wilhelm Stekel, began meeting weekly during Wednesday Night Meetings that eventually grew to begin
the psychoanalytic movement. Together, they formed the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, of which Adler
was the first president.
Although Freud looked upon Adler as one of his first disciples, Adler never viewed himself that way, and
broke with Freud and Freudian psychoanalysis in 1911. Many of Adlers concepts and ideas were
separate from Freuds, particularly regarding the importance of the social realm. Adler used these ideas to
form individual psychology, and founded the Society of Individual Psychology in 1912.
After serving as a doctor in the Austrian Army in World War I, Adler established a series of child guidance
clinics in Austria and embarked on extensive lecture tours in the United States and Europe. To significant
acclaim, he successfully promoted his psychological concepts emphasizing social interest, or
gemeinschaftsgefhl.
After his Austrian clinics were closed due to his Jewish heritage, Adler emigrated to the United States
where he began a professorship at the Long Island College of Medicine. In 1937, while on a lecture tour
in Aberdeen, Scotland, with his student and Adler University founder Rudolph Dreikers, Alfred Adler died
of a heart attack. His body was cremated in Edinburgh, but the ashes were never reclaimed. They were
rediscovered in a casket at Warriston Crematorium and returned to Vienna for burial in 2011.

His Concepts and Impact

Adlers goal was to create a psychological movement that argued for the holistic view of an individual as
well as social equality. In this way, Adlers theory of personality and humanity significantly differed from

Freuds as well as significantly differing from much of todays mainstream psychology. Adler believed
that the social and community realm is equally as important to psychology as the internal realm of the
individual.
Adler was one of the first psychotherapists to disregard the symbolic couch in favor of two chairs, to
create a sense of equality between patient and clinician. Adler also focused greatly on family dynamics,
specifically parenting and family constellation, as a preventative means of addressing possible future
psychological problems. With a practical and goal-oriented approach, Alfred held a theory of three life
tasks occupation, society, and love that intermingle with one another. Success and health in each and
all life tasks is dependent on cooperation.
Perhaps Adlers most influential concept and the one that drives Adler University today is that of social
interest. Not to be confused as another form of extraversion, social interest should be viewed as an
individuals personal interest in furthering the welfare of others. Collaborating and cooperating with one
another as individuals and communities can progress to benefit society as a whole.
Although Adlers psychological theory was developed nearly a century ago, many of his concepts are still
brought to fruition through Adler University. His concepts based in social interest, social justice, equality,
and the importance of education guide the Adler Universitys commitment to social change from our
curriculum, practica, internships, programming and experiential offerings for students, faculty and alumni
to our hundreds of partnerships at work with local communities to improve community mental health.
Through this, Adler University fulfills its mission to continue the pioneering work of Alfred Adler by
graduating socially responsible practitioners, engaging communities, and advancing social justice.

Alfred Adler was born on February 7, 1870 in the suburbs of Vienna. He was the
second son and third child of a Jewish grain merchant and his wife. Alfred did not
walk until he was four because he suffered from rickets. At the age of five, he almost
died of pneumonia. These events are what motivated him to became a physician.
Growing up, Alfred was a very outgoing, popular, and involved scholar. Like most
teens, he was always trying to outdo his brother.
In 1895, Adler received his medical degree from University of Vienna. This is where
he met his wife Raissa Timofeyewna Epstein. She was an intellectual and social
activist from Russia. They married in 1897, had four children, and two would become
psychiatrists.
He began his medical career as an opthamologists, later switching to general practice.
He established his office across from an amusement park and circus in the lower class
part of Vienna. Most his clients were circus performers. He studied their unusual
strengths and weaknesses, and this gave him insights on his organ inferiority theory.
Later, Alfred turned to psychiatry and joined Freud's discussion groups in 1907. He
wrote papers on organic inferiority. He also wrote a paper concerning aggression
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instinct and Freud did not approve. In addition, Alfred wrote a paper on children's
feelings of inferiority. Which agreed with Freud's sexual notions. Freud named Adler
president of Viennese Analytic Society co-editor of organization newsletter. In 1912,
Adler and nine other members established The Society for Individual Psychology.
During WWI, Alfred was a physician for the Austrian Army at first he was on the
Russian front and then moved to the children's hospital. He saw firsthand the damage
war can do. After the war, he did various projects such as: clinics at a state school and
training of teachers.
In 1926, Alfred came to the United States to lecture, he accepted a visiting position at
Long Island College of medicine. He took his family and moved to the U.S. Austrian
psychiatrist, Alfred Adler died of a heart attack while doing a series of lectures at
Aberdeen University in Scotland.
Theory
Adler examined personality around the same time as Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud.
They worked on some theories together until Adler rejected Freud's emphasis on sex,
and maintained that personality difficulties are rooted in a feeling of inferiority
deriving from restrictions on the individual's need for self-assertion.
His best-known work is The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology (1923).
Adler had a tendency to change his theory on personality throughout his life but he
ultimately believed that people are focused on maintaining control over their lives. He
believed in single "drive" or motivating force behind our behavior, claiming that the
desire we have to fulfill our potentials becomes closer and closer to our ideals.
Alder calls this theory Individual Psychology because he felt each person was unique
and no previous theory applied to all people. Adler's theory included these four
aspects: the development of personality, striving towards superiority, psychological
health, and the unity of personality. Many psychologists excepted Alfred's popular
idea of self-actualization.
In studying personality, Alfred came up with the term inferiority complex. He
described this as feelings of lack of worth. He wrote, "We all wish to overcome
difficulties. We all strive to reach a goal by the attainment of which we shall feel
strong, superior, and complete" (Ansbacher & Ansbacher, 1956). Alder was known to
use the word superiority complex. This complex developed when a person tried to
conquer their inferiority complex by suppressing their existing feelings. He felt that

people were constantly trying overcome their feelings of inferiority to reach

superiority.
Along with the idea of trying to overcome inferiority, Adler claimed that every person
had an idea about what their perfect self would be like (Cloninger, 1996). He named
this image the fictional finalism. Fictional finalism applies clearer direction to
decisions that are to be made concerning oneself. Although individuals may have an
idea about their image, but they hardly ever understand it. Although the image may be
altered, the common direction throughout one's life stays the same. Adler wrote, ". .
.in every mental phenomenon we discover anew the characteristic of pursuit of a goal,
and all our powers, faculties, experiences, wishes and fears, defects and capacities fall
into line with this characteristic" (Ansbacher & Ansbacher, 1956).
Unlike Freud, Adler believed the conscious and unconscious worked in union with
one another towards the fictional finalism (Cloninger, 1996). Adler declared that each
individual has a incomparable way of life, some are negative and some are positive.
Adler did not like to take big groups of people an put them into general categories but
when describing basic lifestyles it was simpler to do so. He studied various types of
people and he came to this conclusion. There are the four main types of people, three
out of four are negative. The ruling type tries to control others. The getting type tends
to be very passive and goes along with others ideas, rarely inventive. The avoiding
types try to isolate themselves to avoid defeat, they are usually very cold. The socially
useful type, values having control over their lives and strive to do good things for the
sake of society.

The question of what drives uswhat great force underlies our motivation as individuals, propelling us
forward through all manner of trying circumstancewas a matter of longtime fascination for psychologist
Alfred Adler. He eventually came to call this motivating force the striving for perfection, a term which
encapsulates the desire we all have to fulfill our potential, to realize our idealsa process strikingly
similar to the more popular idea of self-actualization.
Self-actualization is perhaps the less problematic of the two terms, as one cannot process Adlers ideas
without immediately bumping up against the troublesome nature of the words perfection and ideal.
While the idea of striving to be the best version of ones self is an obviously positive goal, the concept of
perfection is, in psychology, often given a rather negative connotation. After all, perfection likely does not
exist, and therefore cannot be reached, meaning that efforts to do so are invariably frustrating and can
come full circle to create an extreme lack of motivation (i.e., giving up).
Indeed, Adler himself balked at using perfection to describe his single motivating force, beginning
instead with phrases like aggression drive (to describe the frustrated reaction we have when our basic

needs, such as the need to eat or be loved, are not being met)yet even this term had obvious negative
connotations; aggression is, after all, seldom seen as a good thing, and using the term assertiveness
may have served Adler better.
(Interestingly, Freud himself took exception to the term aggression drive, though not on the basis that it
was overly negative in connotation; instead, Freud felt that it would detract from the pivotal position of the
sex drive in psychoanalytic theory. Freud may have had a change of heart in later years, however, as his
idea of a death instinct bore a great deal of similarity to Adlers theory.)
Another, perhaps better, descriptor used by Adler to refer to basic motivation was compensation, which in
this case was meant to denote the process of striving to overcome ones inherent limitations. Adler
postulated that since we all have various issues and shortcomings as people, our personalities develop
largely through the ways in which we do (or do not) compensate for or overcome these inherent
challenges. Adler later rejected this idea in part (though it still played an important role in his theory; more
on that later), as he decided it was inaccurate to suggest ones problems are the cause for who one
eventually becomes.
Adler also toyed, early on, with the idea of masculine protest, upon observing the obvious differences in
the cultural expectations placed on boys and girls, and the fact that boys wished, often desperately, to be
thought of as strong, aggressive, and in control. Adler eschewed the bias that suggested mens
assertiveness and success in the world arose from some inexplicable innate superiority. Instead, he saw
this phenomenon as a result of the fact that boys are encouraged to be assertive in life, and girls are
discouraged from the very same thing.
Lastly, before settling on the phrase striving for perfection, Adler called his theory the striving for
superioritymost likely a homage to Friederich Nietzsche, whose philosophies Adler was known to
admire. Nietzsche, of course, considered the will to power the basic motive of human life. Adler later
amended this phrase, using it more to refer to unhealthy or neurotic striving, likely due to the way it
suggests the act of comparing ones self to others, of attempting to become superior to ones fellows.

Teleology
The idea of holism, as written about by Jan Smuts, the South African philosopher and statesman, was
known to have influenced Adler greatly. Smuts posited that, in order to understand people, we have to
take them as summations rather than as parts, as unified wholes existing within the context of their
environments (both physical and social).
To reflect this notion, Adler decided to call his approach to psychology individual psychology, owing to
the exact meaning of the word individual: un-divided. He also generally avoided the traditional concept
of personality, steering clear of chopping it up into internal traits, structures, dynamics, conflicts, etc., and
choosing instead talk about peoples style of life (or lifestyle, as we would call it today; the unique ways
in which one handles problems and interpersonal relations).

Here again Adler differed a great deal from Freud, who felt that the things that happened in the past (e.g.
early childhood trauma), shaped the nature of people in the present. Adler was essentially forward
looking, seeing motivation as a matter of moving toward the future, rather than a product of our
pasts driving us with only our limited awareness as to how and why. This idea that we are drawn towards
our goals, our purposes, our ideals is known as teleology.
Teleology was remarkable in the way it removed necessity from the equation; we are not merely living life
in a cause and effect manner (if X happened, then Y must happen later) or on a set course toward an
immobile goal; we have choice, and things can change along the way as we pursue our ideals.

Fictions and fictional finalism

Adler was also influenced by philosopher Hans Vaihinger, who believed that while mankind would never
discover the ultimate truth, for practical purposes, we need to create partial truths, frames of reference
we use as if they were indeed true. Vaihinger dubbed these partial truths fictions.
Both Vaihinger and Adler believed that people use these fictions actively in their daily lives, such as using
the absolute belief in good and evil to guide social decisions, and believing that everything is as we see it.
Adler referred to this as fictional finalism and believed that each individual has one such dominating
fiction which is central to his or her lifestyle.

Inferiority
Once Adler had fleshed out his theory on what motivates us as beings, there remained one question to be
answered: If we are all being pulled toward perfection, fulfillment, and self-actualization, why does a
sizeable portion of the population end up miserably unfulfilled and far from perfect, far from
realizing their selves and ideals?
Adler believed that some people become mired in their inferiority; he felt that we are all born with a
sense of inferiority (as children are, of course, smaller and both physically and intellectually weaker than
adults), which is often added to by various psychological inferiorities later (being told we are dumb,
unattractive, bad at sports, etc.) Most children manage these inferiorities by dreaming of becoming adults
(the earliest form of striving for perfection), and by either mastering what they are bad at or compensating
by becoming especially adept at something else, but for some children, the uphill climb toward developing
self-esteem proves insurmountable. These children develop an inferiority complex, which proves
overwhelming over time.
To envision how an inferiority complex can mount until it becomes overwhelming, imagine the way many
children flounder when it comes to math: At first they fall slightly behind, and get discouraged. Usually,
they struggle onward, muddling through high school with barely-passing grades until they get into
calculus, whereupon the appearance of integrals and differential equations overwhelms them to the point
they finally give up on math altogether.

Now, apply that process to a childs life as a whole; a feeling of general inferiority seeds doubt which
fosters a neurosis, and the youngster becomes shy and timid, insecure, indecisive, cowardly, etc. Unable
to meet his or her needs through direct, empowering action (not having the confidence to initiate such),
the individual often grows up to be passive-aggressive and manipulative, relying unduly on the affirmation
of others to carry them along. This, of course, only gives away more of their power, makes their selfesteem easier to cripple, and so on.
Of course, not all children dealing with a strong sense of inferiority become shy and timid and selfeffacing; some develop a superiority complex, in a dramatic act of overcompensation. These young
people often become the classic image of the playground bully, chasing away their own sense of
inferiority by making others feel smaller and weaker, but may also become greedy for attention, drawn to
the thrill of criminal activity or drug use, or heavily biased in their views (becoming bigoted towards others
of a certain gender or race, for example).

Psychological types
While Adler did not spend a lot of time on neurosis, he did identify a small handful of personality types
that he distinguished based on the different levels of energy he felt they manifested. These types to Adler
were by no means absolutes, it should be noted; Adler, the devout individualist, saw them only as
heuristic devices (useful fictions).
The first type is the ruling type. These people are characterized early on by a tendency to be generally
aggressive and dominant over others, possessing an intense energy that overwhelms anything or
anybody who gets in their way. These people are not always bullies or sadists, however; some turn the
energy inward and harm themselves, such as is the case with alcoholics, drug addicts, and those who
commit suicide.
The second type is the leaning type. Individuals of this type are sensitive, and while they may put a shell
up around themselves to protect themselves, they end up relying on others to carry them through lifes
challenges. They lack energy, in essence, and depend on the energy of others. They are also prone to
phobias, anxieties, obsessions and compulsions, general anxiety, dissociation, etc.
The third type is the avoiding type. People of this type have such low energy they recoil within
themselves to conserve it, avoiding life as a whole, and other people in particular. In extreme cases, these
people develop psychosisthe end result of entirely retreating into ones self.
Adler also believed in a fourth type: the socially useful type. People of this type are basically healthy
individuals, possessed of adequate, but not overbearing, social interest and energy. They are able to give
to others effectively as they are not so consumed by a sense of inferiority that they cannot look properly
outside of themselves.

Conclusion
Adlers theories may lack the excitement of Freuds and Jungs, being devoid of sexuality or mythology,
but they are nonetheless practical, influential, and highly applicable. Other more famous names, such
asMaslow and Carl Rogers, were fans of Adlers work, and various students of personality theories have
espoused the idea that the theorists called Neo-Freudians (such as Horney, Fromm, and Sullivan)
probably ought to have been called Neo-Adlerians instead.

Personal Life
Born in Vienna, Austria, to Hungarian parents, Alfred Adler was the third child and the second son in a
family of seven children. He was a frail boy, developing rickets during his early years, before being struck
by a near-fatal bout of pneumonia at age 5. These serious health conditions, coupled with his rivalry with
his older brother, led to feelings of inferiority throughout his childhood. Adler believed that these early life
experiences were the major factors which drove him to become an excellent physician. He went on to
attend the University of Vienna Medical School and received his degree in 1895. Adler began his foray
into the medical profession in the field of ophthalmology.
Adler and his wife fled Austria in 1932, after the rise of Hitler, and moved to New York where they
remained until his death in 1937. Adlers influence is still evident in the many branches of psychology that
reflect his theories. Adlerian psychology maintains that regardless of their childhood experiences, people
possess the power to transform their lives, their mental health, and their overall well-being.

Professional Life
Alongside Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, Adler helped to pioneer depth psychology, which emphasizes
the importance of unconscious processes. He is widely considered to be one of the most important
figures in psychology.
Adler's relationship with the renowned psychiatrist Sigmund Freud began in 1902, when he was invited to
join what would later become the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. Though often referred to as a disciple of
Freud, Adler was, in fact, a very strong-willed colleagueagreeing with Freud on some issues and
disagreeing with him on others. Although his influence in the society was impactful, Adlers views on
sociology and psychology differed radically from Freuds, and by 1911, the mens differences in approach
and opinion were irreconcilable. While Freud castigated Adler for his emphasis on conscious processes,

Adler denounced Freud for his overemphasis on sexuality. Soon, intense social pressure from Freuds
most loyal followers resulted in Adlers resignation as the president of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society
and the editor of the societys journal.
Adler developed his own approach and his School of Individual Psychology was established in 1912 and
was based on the belief that peoples relationships to their society were an integral part of their
individuality. The foundation of Adlers theory revolved around a persons pursuit of superiority. Adler
believed that each person entered the world with a definitive inferiority complex and spent a lifetime trying
to overcome it. This theory became known as striving for superiority, and Adlers school focused on
exploring this motivating force in the development of human behavior.
Although the growth of individual psychology was somewhat hindered by Adler's military service in World
War I, his work did result in achieving worldwide recognition during his lifetime. Today, his theory and
methods are widely applied in the fields of education, parenting, psychotherapy, and counseling.

Contribution to Psychology
Adlerian psychology, as it is known today, continues to pursue the study of overcompensation due to
inferiority. A central premise of Adlerian psychology is that the unconscious works to convert feelings of
inferiority into feelings of superiority. Adlers model suggests that behaviors, thoughts, and processing
mechanisms are well entrenched in a person by the age of five and that the relationships the child forms
in early life, along with social and environmental forces, are directly responsible for the development of
those traits. He also conducted research into the role that birth order plays in the development of
the psyche.
Adler was one of the first psychiatrists to introduce mental health into the realm of education. He
advocated for prevention strategies designed to ward off the risks of mental illness and inappropriate
coping skills, and in this regard, contributed greatly to the field of social work.
Working within the schools, Adler assisted professionals in the practice of treating and counseling
students. During that time, Adler conducted an intimate therapy session in front of a small group of people
that was designed to treat parents, children, and teachers. This impromptu session is one of the earliest
records of family or community therapy. Adler went on to change the face of psychology by innovating the
use of therapy in the treatment of many sectors of the population that had been significantly underserved.
His methods became an integral part of criminal therapy, social work, child development, and education.

Adler combined theories of psychodynamics and teleology in his work. Teleology is the study of final
causes and the ways in which things are designed toward these causes. As part of this belief, he
emphasized that psychological processes are guided by an unknown, goal-oriented force.
Adler developed a theory of personality, but did not believe in personality types and argued that his theory
was tentative. His personality types included:

Getting or leaning types, who willingly and happily take from others without giving anything in
return. This personality type is correlated with a low activity level.

Avoiding types, who despise failure and defeat, and who are often hesitant to take risks. They
tend to have few social relationships.

Ruling or dominant types who are on a perpetual quest for power and willing
to manipulate people in order to get it. This type tends to engage in antisocial behavior.

The socially useful types who tend to be outgoing, social, and active. These types strive to
improve the world around them.

The first three types tend to have more mental health problems, and it could be argued that a central goal
of Adlerian psychology is to convert the first three types into the socially useful type. Adler strongly
influenced later psychologists such as Abraham Maslow,Carl Rogers, Erich Fromm, and Albert Ellis.

Alfred Adler was born in the suburbs of Vienna on February 7, 1870, the third child,
second son, of a Jewish grain merchant and his wife. As a child, Alfred developed
rickets, which kept him from walking until he was four years old. At five, he nearly died of
pneumonia. It was at this age that he decided to be a physician. He began his medical
career as an ophthalmologist, but he soon turned to psychiatry, and in 1907 was invited
to join Freud's discussion group. After writing several papers which were quite
compatible with Freud's views, he wrote a paper concerning an aggression instinct

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which Freud did not approve of, and then a paper on children's feelings of inferiority,
which suggested that Freud's sexual notions be taken more metaphorically than literally.
Although Freud named Adler the president of the Viennese Analytic Society and the coeditor of the organization's newsletter, Adler didn't stop his criticism. A debate between
Adler's supporters and Freud's was arranged, but it resulted in Adler, with nine other
members of the organization, resigning to form the Society for Free Psychoanalysis in
1911. This organization became The Society for Individual Psychology in the following
year.
During World War I, Adler served as a physician in the Austrian Army, first on the
Russian front, and later in a children's hospital. He saw first hand the damage that war
does, and his work turned increasingly to the concept of social interest. He felt that if
humanity was to survive, it had to change its ways.
Adler's work has been largely absorbed into psychotherapeutic practice and
contemporary thought without retaining a separate identity. Some of his terminology,
such as "compensation" and "inferiority complex," are used in everyday language.
Individual Psychology still has its own centers, schools and work groups, but Adler's
influence has permeated other psychologies. His "aggression drive" reappeared in the
Ego psychology of orthodox psychoanalysis; other Adlerian echoes are found in the
work of Karen Horney, Harry Stack Sullivan, Franz Alexander and Ian Suttie. Those who
try to see the backward child, the delinquent, the psychopath or the psychiatric patient
as a whole person are sharing Adler's viewpoint.
Adler was the grandfather to Humanistic Psychology. In his later writings Adler made a
shift never managed by Freud but later repeated by Maslow: he wrote less about
pathology and more about health, and the Nietzschean striving for superiority and
compensation, mutated into a unifying directional tendency toward self-mastery and
self-overcoming in the service of social interest (Gemeinschaftsgef hle), the opposite of
self-boundedness (Ichgebundenheit). The healthy person neither loses himself in his
ideal-self fictions or lives through others, the two faces worn by neurotic selfishness; the
healthy person makes his deepest goals conscious while integrating them into activities
that improve family and community. Here Adler anticipates Fromm's dictum that self-love
and other-love arise together and support one another.
Alfred Adler's theory is at once a model of personality, a theory of psychopathology, and
in many cases the foundation of a method for mind development and personal growth.
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Adler wrote, "Every individual represents a unity of personality and the individual then
fashions that unity. The individual is thus both the picture and the artist. Therefore if one
can change one's concept of self, they can change the picture being painted." His
Individual Psychology is based on a humanistic model of man. Among the basic
concepts are:
1. Holism. The Adlerian views man as a unit, a self-conscious whole that functions
as an open system (see General Systems Theory), not as a collection of drives
and instincts.
2. Field Theory. The premise is that an individual can only be studied by his
movements, actions and relationships within his social field. In the context of
Mind Development, this is essentially the examination of tasks of work, and the
individual's feelings of belonging to the group.
3. Teleology ("power to will" or the belief that individuals are guided not only by
mechanical forces but that they also move toward certain goals of selfrealization). While Adler's name is linked most often with the term 'inferioritycomplex,' towards the end of his career he became more concerned with
observing the individual's struggle for significance or competence (later
discussed by others as self-realization, or self-actualization, etc.). He believed
that, standing before the unknown, each person strives to become more perfect,
and in health is motivated by one dynamic force - the upward striving for
completion - and all else is subordinated to this one master motive. Behavior is
understood as goal-directed movement, though the person may not be fully
aware of this motivation.
4. The Creative Self. The concept of the creative self places the responsibility for
the individual's personality into his own hands. The Adlerian practitioner sees the
individual as responsible for himself, he attempts to show the person that he
cannot blame others or uncontrollable forces for his current condition.
5. Life-Style. An individual's striving towards significance and belonging can be
observed as a pattern. This pattern manifests early in life and can be observed
as a theme throughout his lifetime. This permeates all aspects of perception and
action. If one understands an individual's lifestyle, his behavior makes sense.

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6. Private intelligence is the reasoning invented by an individual to stimulate and

justify a self-serving style of life. By contrast, common sense represents society's
cumulative, consensual reasoning that recognizes the wisdom of mutual benefit.
The 'Individual Psychologist' works with an individual as an equal to uncover his values
and assumptions. As a person is not aware that he is acting according to
misperceptions, it becomes the task of the practitioner to not only lead the individual to
an insightful exposure of his errors, but also to re-orient him toward a more useful way of
living.
The practitioner seeks to establish a climate in which learning can take place.
Encouragement and optimism are his key concerns. Adlerian therapy permits the use of
a wide variety of techniques, for example, Drama Therapy and Art Therapy. Despite the
methods used, techniques are used first to help relieve suffering and second, to promote
positive change and empowerment. From the point of view of Mind Development, the
most important constant factor is the stress on social interactions and social
contribution; the more outgoing social interest, the less feelings of inferiority the
individual has.
A technique unique to Adlerians that we have preserved in Mind Development is the
formulation of the life-style and the constant use of the information gathered to
demonstrate the individual to himself. It is the particular interpretation of the person's
behavior and the teaching of a certain philosophy of life, to prod the person into action,
which is both uniquely Adlerian and at the same time has wide application in Mind
Development. This is a brief introduction to Adlerian principles and desirable life-style.

Man as a Social Being

Man is a social being. Nature is fierce and he is relatively weak and needs the support
of communal living; of course he needs to be interested in the society around him. His
capabilities and forms of expression are inseparably linked to the existence of others.
From the sociological point of view, the normal man is an individual who lives in society
and whose mode of life is so adapted that society derives a certain benefit from his lifestyle. From the psychological point of view, he has enough energy and courage to meet
the problems and difficulties of life as they come along.
Social interest is the inevitable compensation for all the natural weaknesses of human
beings. Social interest is a way of life; it is an optimistic feeling of confidence in oneself,
and a genuine interest in the welfare and well-being of others. The human being is
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clearly a social being, needing a much longer period of dependence upon others before
maturity than any animal. As long as the feeling of inferiority is not too great, a person
will always strive to be worthwhile and on the useful side of life, because this gives him
the feeling of being valuable which originates from contribution to the common welfare.
Adler writes: "Since true happiness is inseparable from the feeling of giving, it is clear
that a social person is much closer to happiness than the isolated person striving for
superiority. Individual Psychology has very clearly pointed out that everyone who is
deeply unhappy, the neurotic and the desolate person stem from among those who
were deprived in their younger years of being able to develop the feeling of community,
the courage, the optimism, and the self-confidence that comes directly from the sense of
belonging. This sense of belonging that cannot be denied anyone, against which there
are no arguments, can only be won by being involved, by cooperating, and
experiencing, and by being useful to others. Out of this emerges a lasting, genuine
feeling of worthiness." (From "Individual Psychology," 1926).
The child soon learns that his aims and goals in life are not attained without movement,
striving and effort. Thus in order to reach fulfillment, the child adopts a strategy.
Inferiority feelings influence the adoption of misguided and limiting safe solutions as
survival strategies. The child's attitude towards the problems of life is governed by this
early 'life script'. The preliminary social problems met in childhood (friendships,
schooling and relationship to the other sex) provide tests of the individual's preparation
for social living, and these may reinforce the life script or cause it to be adjusted in
positive or negative directions.
In recent research, the relationship between life satisfaction, social interest, and
participation in extracurricular activities was assessed among adolescent students. They
were asked to list the number of extracurricular activities that they participated in since
their enrollment in high school. Higher social interest was significantly related to higher
levels of overall satisfaction, as well as satisfaction with friends and family.
The social problems of adulthood are the realities of friendship, comradeship and
social contact; those of one's occupation or profession; and those of love and marriage.
It is failure to face and meet them directly which results in neurosis, and perhaps in
mental ill-health (which has been defined in simple terms as: madness, badness and
sadness). It has been well said that the neurotic turns half-away from life, while the
insane person turns his back on it; it may be added that those possessed of sufficient
social courage face it!
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Happiness in life depends to a considerable extent on the degree of social interest and
ability to cooperate which the child has developed, with the help and encouragement of
his parents and teachers. Successful men and woman are those who have learned the
art of cooperation, and who face life with that attitude - an attitude born of courage and
self-confidence. Such a person faces difficulties head-on, but is not plunged into
despondency and despair by defeat or failure. His life- style is characterized by an easy
approach to life, the absence of over-anxiety and a friendly tolerance towards his
fellows. The need to escape into neurosis is very small.
There is only one reason for a person to side-step to the useless side: the fear of defeat
on the useful side - his flight from the solution of one of the social problems of life. If the
person is unprepared for social living he will not continue his path to self-actualization
on the socially useful side; instead of confronting his problems he will try to gain
distance from them. Those who fail socially in life are not ready to cooperate; they are
too self-centered - they think always of themselves, and they do so because they lack
confidence and courage - in other words, they are afraid of life. Such individuals do not
feel able or prepared to deal with their problems. Because of a sense of inadequacy and
inferiority they lead unhappy, incomplete, frustrated and unsatisfactory lives. Fear, then,
is at the root of all such misery in life.
The seeking of distance from problems (through hesitating, halting and detouring) at
various stages of life and in the face of social problems, results in striving directed at
exaggerated private goals of personal superiority, to make up for the felt inferiority.
Artists provide a compensatory function for society by illustrating for us in their fiction
how to see, feel and think in the face of the problems of life, and how to turn from denial
to face challenges anew, in order to eventually succeed. The neurotic aims for a goal of
personal superiority, without handling the upsets of his work, his home life and his
various personal relationships. Such neurosis is sustained by misunderstandings
acquired by assimilation, particularly during the first five years, but also through the
many ways that misguided ideas can be identified with throughout one's development.
The fixity of such ideas may result in a refusal to observe objectively in the present time
- which is the only way to solve life's problems in an open-minded manner and succeed
in a socially beneficial way.

The Adlerian Unconscious

"There appears to be no contrast between the conscious and the unconscious, that both
cooperate for a higher purpose, that our thoughts and feelings become conscious as
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soon as we are faced with a difficulty, and unconscious as soon as our personality
requires it." (From "Individual Psychology," 1930.)
The unconscious-to-conscious relation is as "photo-to-negative": by just one lie to
oneself, the unconscious can support and realize the ideal or goal determined by
consciousness, e.g. "I am the victim in this situation," "I deserve better," "My violence
was well justified." Once such a simple re-draft of the plain experience has been made,
it continues unconsciously to take over one affect and behavior, whether one is awake or
asleep. In dreams, the Adlerian unconscious can sometimes be caught engaged in the
very same problem-solving work as goes on in daily life, yet without the constraints of
reality. Thus dreams become a continuation of daytime speculations and anxieties and a
re-organizing of conflicts between values, ideals and actual experience.

Fictional Finalism
Adler was influenced by the philosopher Hans Vaihinger who proposed that people live
by many fictional ideals that have no relation to reality and therefore cannot be tested
and confirmed. For example, that all men are created equal; women should always bow
to the will of their husband; and the end justifies the means. These fictions may help a
person feel powerful and justify the rightness of their selfish choices, although at the
same time cause others harm and injustice and destroy relationships. Adler took this
idea and concluded that people are motivated more by their expectations of the future
than they are by the past. If a person believes that there is heaven for those who are
good and hell for those who are bad, it will probably affect how that person lives. An
ideal or absolute is a fiction.
Fictional Finalism proposes that people act as much from accepted ideals as they do
from observed reality. Whatever the subconscious mind accepts as true, it acts as if it is
true whether it is or not - it does not have the benefit of the conscious mind's ability to
observe independenty and check with real experience. From the point of the view of the
person, such a fiction may be taken as the basis for their orientation in the world and as
one aspect of compensation for felt inferiority.

The Adlerian Ego

Hans Vaihinger described how every discipline - psychology, sociology, philosophy, law,
and even the sciences - establishes fictions to try to describe the reality. And after a
while, we tend to think of these fictions as having reality to them, so that when we talk
about a part of the mind such as Ego, Libido or Higher Self, we're basically trying to
hone in on a region of functioning that in fact doesn't exist as a separate entity. Adler
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disagreed with Freud on a number of issues, particularly regarding the division of the
personality into Ego, Id and Superego - he preferred to consider the entire person, as
they function.
Freud hypothesized a division of the personality into these so-called segments or
dynamic parts, but Adler said that there is no division, that the personality is a complete
unity. Adler believed that you could not accurately look at the personality as subdivided,
that you had to look at it only as a whole, as an organized whole without contradictions.
Even when distinguishing between conscious and unconscious, Adler felt that there was
a kind of fluidity there, because what seems to be unconscious can be raised to
consciousness very rapidly under certain circumstances. Freud indicated that there was
a conflict or war between the parts of the personality, between the Id and the Ego and
the Superego. But Adler said that that is an erroneous assumption. He felt that there is
no internal war or conflict, and that the individual moves only in one direction... Adler
believed that the personality was organized around a single "fictional final goal."
Henry Stein, when interviewed in What is Enlightenment magazine, describes the
fictional final goal... "It is unique to each person and pretty much guides and dictates
most of the individual's actions. So you might say it defines the Ego and sense of self.
Adler said that everything within the personality, whether it's thinking, feeling, memory,
fantasy, dreams, posture, gestures, handwriting - every expression of the personality - is
essentially subordinate to this goal, which gets formulated even without words in early
childhood and becomes what Adler called the 'childhood prototype.' The child imagines
some time in the future when they will grow up, when they will be strong, when they will
overcome insecurity or anything else that bothers them. So if they feel that they are ugly,
they will be beautiful. If they feel that they're stupid, they will be brilliant. If they feel that
they're weak, they'll be strong. If they're at the bottom, they'll be at the top. All of this is
conceived without words as a way of living in the insecurity of the present that may be
uncomfortable or unbearable. It would be unbearable to say that these feelings of
insecurity or inferiority are apermanent condition for you. So what the child does, and
eventually what the adult does, is they imagine that the future will bring a redemption,
will bring relief from the inferiority feeling. The future will bring success, significance, a
correction - a reversalof everything that's wrong. It's very purposeful. This fictional final
goal is an embodiment of their vision of the future."
Heinz Ansbacher, in The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler, talks about the many
differences between Freud and Adler. "Freud's defenses provide protection of the Ego
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against instinctual demands. Whereas Adler's safeguards protect the self esteem from
threats by outside demands and problems of life." It is not against instinctual demands
that people have to safeguard themselves, it is that their self esteem is suffering,
because they have a feeling that they cannot meet the demands of life that come from
the outside.
"We see how, for the safeguarding of his picture of the world and for the defense of his
vanity, the patient had erected a wall against the demands of actual community life. In a
difficult situation, he felt himself too weak to arrive at the high goal which he, in his
vanity, had set for himself; when he felt too weak to play a pre-eminent role
commensurate with that which should be his according to his picture of the world. Thus
he was able to avoid the shock of imminent problems, and could relegate those
problems to the background." Such a procedure of exclusion naturally appeared to him
the lesser of two evils." (Adler in "The Neurotic's Picture of the World, in "The
International Journal of Individual Psychology, v. 1, no 3, pages 3-13).
"The neurotic actually is not as convinced of his uselessness or worthlessness as is
generally assumed. He does not feel inferior, but fears being discovered as inferior, not
being able to meet the demands of life. Some of his traits, such as hesitancy, avoidance,
withdrawal from difficult tasks, and his fear of losing, make sense only when understood
as safeguards which preserve his self-esteem. What difference would his defeat make
to him had he already given up, or had he already resigned himself to it? Only as long
as he still has his ambition, does security from defeat make sense. Adler himself always
emphasized that neither lack of courage nor ambition alone will mark the neurotic; the
neurotic is identified by the concurrence and the mutual aggravation of these two traits."
(Adler in "Principles of Individual Psychology," an unpublished manuscript in the
AAISF/ATP archives.).
I feel both Freud and Adler are correct. Defenses are used both to provide protection of
the Ego against instinctual demands (the Freudian idea is that the Id doesn't want to feel
pain so it motivates the Ego to use defense mechanisms to defend it from anxiety), and
as a safeguard to protect the self esteem from threats by outside demands and the
many problems of life. Defense mechanisms are ways in which the Ego deals with
conflicts within the psyche. Freud and Adler are each only looking at part of the picture.
Adler believed that feelings of inferiority, mostly subconscious, combined with
compensatory defense mechanisms played the largest role in determining behavior,
particularly behavior of the pathological sort. Adler's theory of individual psychology
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stressed the need to discover the root cause of feelings of inferiority, to assist the
development of a strong Ego and thereby help the individual eliminate neurotic defense
mechanisms.

Inferiority complex
Adlerian psychology assumes a central personality dynamic reflecting the growth and
forward movement of life. It is a future-oriented striving toward an ideal goal of
significance, mastery, success or completion. Children start their lives smaller, weaker,
and less socially and intellectually competent than the adults around them. They have
the desire to grow up, to become a capable adult, and as they gradually acquire skills
and demonstrate their competence, they gain in confidence and self esteem. This
natural striving for perfection may however be held back if their self-image is degraded
by failures in physical, intellectual and social development or of they suffer from the
criticisms of parents, teachers and peers.
If we are moving along, doing well, feeling competent, we can afford to think of others. If
we are not, if life is getting the best of us, then our attentions become increasingly
focussed on ourself; we may develop an inferiority complex: become shy and timid,
insecure, indecisive, cowardly, submissive, compliant, and so on.
The inferiority complex is a form of neurosis and as such it may become all-consuming.
A person with an inferiority complex tends to lack social interest; instead they are selfinterested: focused on themselves and what they believe to be their deficiencies. They
may compensate by working hard to improve in the skills at which they lack, or they may
try to become competent at something else, but otherwise retaining their sense of
inferiority. Since self esteem is based on competence, those who have not succeeded in
recovering from this neurosis may find it hard to develop any self esteem at all and are
left with the feeling that other people will always be better than they are.
The fictional goal is, in many ways, a device of the individual to pull himself up by his
bootstraps, as it were. In addition to serving the useful purpose of orienting the
individual in the world, it is a compensatory defense: it creates positive feelings in the
present which mitigate the feelings of inferiority.
As a further compensation, we may also develop a superiority complex, which
involves covering up our inferiority by pretending to be superior. If we feel small, one way
to feel big is to make everyone else feel even smaller! Bullies, big-heads, and petty
dictators everywhere are the prime example. More subtle examples are the people who
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are given to attention-getting dramatics, the ones who feel powerful when they commit
crimes, and the ones who put others down for their gender, race, ethnic origins, religious
beliefs, sexual orientation, weight, height, etc. Some resort to hiding their feelings of
worthlessness in the delusions of power afforded by alcohol and drugs.

Private intelligence
In the case of a neurotic failure in life, his reasoning may be 'intelligent' within his own
frame of reference, but is nevertheless socially insane. For example, a thief said: "The
young man had plenty of money and I had none; therefore I took it." Since this criminal
does not think himself capable of acquiring money in the normal manner, in the socially
useful way, there is actually nothing left for him but robbery. So the criminal approaches
his goal through what seems to him to be an 'intelligent' argument; however his reason
is based on private intelligence, which does not include social interest or responsibility.
Reasoning which has general validity is intelligence that is connected with social
interest. Whereas isolated private intelligence may seem 'clever' to the individual
concerned but if it conflicts with social needs it is of little value. Adler says it's a matter of
being overwhelmed by the inferiority complex.
Neurotics, psychotics, criminals, alcoholics, vandals, prostitutes, drug addicts, perverts,
etc are lacking in social interest. They approach the problems of occupation, friendships
and sex without the confidence that they can be solved by cooperation. Their interest
stops short at their own person - their idea of success in life is self-centered, and their
triumphs have meaning only to themselves.
From The Collected Works of Lydia Sicher: An Adlerian Perspective... "People learn to
think in terms of their own private logic and will say, 'I'm different from others.' Everyone
is different because no two people in the world are alike. But the difference that they
mean is a difference that begs justification. "I am different from the others and,
therefore, you cannot expect me to do insignificant jobs.' Or, 'I cannot finish what I have
started because if I finish you might discover that what I did was not marvelous.' Thus,
people create their own formulas with their private intelligence or logic according to
which they live. They expect themselves to be far beyond their present point of
development. They expect others to see them as having already arrived at the endpoint
of their own capabilities. They then go through life begging for excuses because they
have not reached this endpoint of evolution, of perfection."
The early childhood feeling of inferiority, for which one aims to compensate, leads to the
creation of a fictional final goal which subjectively seems to promise total relief from the
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feeling of inferiority, future security, and success. The depth of the inferiority feeling
usually determines the height of the false goal - a "guiding fiction" - which then becomes
the "final cause" of behavior patterns.
As Adler described, "Every psychological activity shows that its direction is governed by
a predetermined goal. However, soon after a child's psychological development starts,
all these tentative, individually recognizable goals, come under the dominance of the
fictitious goal, a finale that is regarded as firmly established. In other words, like a
character drawn by a good dramatist, the individual's inner life is guided by what occurs
in the fifth act of the play. This insight into any personality that can be derived from
Individual Psychology leads us to an important concept: If we are to understand the
nature of an individual, then every psychological manifestation should be perceived and
understood as only preparatory for a particular goal. Everyone develops a final goal,
either consciously or unconsciously, but ignorant of its meaning." [The Practice and
Theory of Individual Psychology, by Alfred Adler.]
Private intelligence is a form of negative intelligence, a negative intelligence that
includes all the distortions of analytical thinking that may occur, such as justifications,
excuses, rationalizations, generalizations - all ways to be 'right', to provide a safe
solution. In each case, there is a failure to observe, a refusal to notice. The goal of
striving for self-expression has been misdirected to a goal for personal superiority. They
may be correctly co-ordinated in a frame of reference on the useless side of life, but the
person lacks the courage and the interest that is necessary for the socially useful
solution of the problems of life.
True intelligence is IQ multiplied by the degree of social involvement in life (through
sex, family, work, play, education and all kinds of local, national and international
groupings and involvements) which in turn requires personal stability and social skills,
the facets of emotional intelligence. When the individual's interest is too self-centered,
he feels that he is socially impotent or a nobody; he feels alienated from his fellow man.
The person who is socially integrated feels at home in this world, and this gives him
courage and an optimistic view. He does not regard the adversities of life as a personal
injustice; he is not alone.
Lev Vygotsky says, "Every function in ... cultural development appears twice: First, on
the social level, and later on the individual level; first between people
(interpsychological), and then inside (intrapsychological). This applies equally to
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voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher
functions originate as actual relationships between individuals."
Not all of one's intelligence occurs in one's own head; it needs to be combined with
external resources of knowledge and understanding. This latter, external and distributed
type of cognition is termed Extelligence. Extelligence contrasts with intelligence (the
use of knowledge through cognitive processes within the brain). Further, the
combination of Extelligence and Intelligence is fundamental to the development of
consciousness in both evolutionary terms for the species, and also for the individual.
Our Extelligence is growing and maturing all the time, it is the way that society grows,
children get taught and culture evolves. It's what allows humans to think outside the box,
develop imagination, overcome their fears, and evolve both intelligence and
consciousness. A person who only has Private Intelligence is probably not very
Extelligent nor an effective member of society, because he has withdrawn from life and
the larger picture. All the Extelligence in the world is useless if you lack the intelligence
to use it.

Conclusion
Disguised under a different terminology, Freud in reality accepted many basic Adlerian
postulates. Adlerian Psychology has had a tremendous effect on Freudian ideas as they
are used now, because the neo-Freudians come very close to the neo-Adlerians. The
inclusion of social forces on personality by neo-Freudians seem to come more from
Adler than Freud. There was a time in which Adler's views corresponded with Freud's
thinking, but Freud disapproved of the aggression instinct when Adler introduced it in
1908. Later, in 1923, long after Adler had discarded instinct theory, Freud incorporated
the aggression instinct into psychoanalysis.
Instead of delving into the unconscious, Adler sticks to "surface phenomena;" he finds
no contradiction between these ideas and Freudian theory. However, where Freud may
have searched for and identified certain agents as determining the individual's
maladjustment, Adler thought that such factors were not causal but rather that they
influenced the individual's sense of self through the conclusions he draws from them.
Adler's popularity was related to the comparative optimism and comprehensibility of his
ideas compared to those of Freud or Jung. And there was never a "cult of personality"
around Adler as there was around Freud and Jung (and more recently, Perls and
Berne). Along with Freud and Jung, Adler was one of the founding giants in the field of

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ideas. Adler, Freud, and Jung were the key figures in the development of psychology as
we know it.

There have been many discussions about the differences between the various schools
of thought in psychology, and anyone with an analytical mind can easily discover
differences, controversies, or similarities. We might define a school of thought as an
entity whose principles should be thoroughly studied and understood, the most
important part of which is the synthetic unity of understanding the related balance of
the principles. Thus mentioning basic principles of Adlerian psychology should evoke
from the reader a synthetic quality of thinking, where he relates one thought with
another and thinks in movements rather than in dimensions.
The name "Individual Psychology," given by Adler to his concept of psychology, has
been a source of misunderstanding. The meaning is: psychology of the unique,
undivided personality. Herewith Adler expressed the view that man's uniqueness
exists only once and that he must be understood as a unity. We can understand the
parts only through the total.
As there is no end to the refinement in our method of analyzing parts, there is no end
to the concept of totality. Adler sees man as a totality, belonging to a larger whole. He
goes as far as seeing him as part of the cosmos, which is an infinite thought.
Another basic concept is that man is seen in motion, constantly on his way.
Consequently the question arises: "Where is he going?" If we know where a person is
going, we can understand why he is moving the way he is moving. In other words: we
understand his behavior. Thus Adlerian psychology adheres to the principle of affinity,
expressed in the concept of goal.
This goal has a starting point in a combination of factors found in early childhood.
With his inheritance and the thousandfold impressions given by his physique, his
environment (people and surroundings), as well as the influences of climate, culture,
and society, the child creates his very own way of survival and development. The
chances are that he not merely is "on his way," but that he protects or defends himself
in his very own way--according to Adler, with his "life style."

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Essential in Adlerian psychology is the concept of creative ability. It is with his

creative ability that the child tries to find his way in an unknown world, in which he
has to find his place and has to achieve significance. Out of what is innate and what is
outside of him, the individual at an early age creates his personal goal, which from
there on dictates his actions, thinking, and feeling. Only if this personal goal is
included in his concept of his significance can he become an integrated personality.
This could be called the concept of overall-goal.
Instead he may individualize more and more instead of developing in the direction of
belonging to a larger unit--the development of functioning outside of the total, against
a personal "complement," where personal prestige counts more than progress of
mankind. Functioning in the sense of individual significance can only exist on
condition of belonging to the total. Individualization becomes isolation, which is the
beginning of the neurotic attitude.
In Adlerian psychology man is seen as a social being. Therefore emphasis is stressed
on his way of living with and cooperating with his fellow men in relationships, work,
and love.
Every action serves a purpose. Both action and lack of action characterize the
individual. If the individual has capacities which he does not develop or use, his lack
of action is typical for his life style. The basic thought is: Use is more important than
possession.
According to Adler, there is not merely one way in which the individual can use what
he-has got; his creative ability is not limited to finding one certain combination out of
what is innate and outside. He has choice, because as a human being he is capable of
reasoning. If there were no choice, the individual would be inexorably submitted to
his inheritance, environment, and the thousands of factors that influence his life; he
would be entirely determined and therefore never could use any creative ability.
Whatever he might do, he would be determined by his fate. However, when we study
life as it presents itself, we observe that man is capable of turning negative into
positive. He may be found either on the negative or on the positive side of life as a
result of the choice he makes out of all the possibilities. In order to justify his position
on the negative side it is important that he should not understand what he is doing so
that ''unconsciously" he can continue to follow his personal goal. For what may seem

24

a storage place of obscure drives for which one cannot be responsible, the
unconscious and subconscious, Adler coined the term "the Un-understood."
It follows logically that Adlerian psychology uses a technique tolerance, patience, and
encouragement. The adult's insecurity and feelings of inadequacy are not very
different from the child's. Both are facing difficulties for which they are not prepared.
Nothing can objectively be a difficulty; we call a thing difficult as long as we don't
know what to do about it. If we don't do anything at all, we turn the difficulty into a
problem. This responsibility generally seems too big to accept and for many people
this is the crucial point at which nervous symptoms crop out.
Since man is a social being, who would not be able to survive by himself or to reach
the present level of civilization all alone, but borrows rows and receives values from
others constantly, he also is co-responsible for his fellow men. According to Adlerian
principles, mankind strives toward perfection. The individual, as part of mankind, has
the inclination and at the same time has to accept his imperfection. Striving toward
perfection with the acceptance of being imperfect leads toward improvement: man is
"on his way."

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