personal as well. Freud saw Adler ’s disagreements more as defections than
points of discussion. When Adler left the Vienna group, several members left
with him. Friendships were severed, and accusations were tossed about.
Adler went on to develop his own society, establish his own journal, and
even select a name for his new psychology. He called his approach individ-
ual psychology . Among Adler ’s important contributions to our understand-
ing of personality are the notion of striving for superiority, the role of
parental influence on personality development, and the effects of birth
order.
Striving for Superiority
One of the key differences between Freud and Adler was their description of
human motivation. Whereas Freud depicted motivation in terms of sexual
Alfred Adler
1870 –1937
Alfred Adler ’s career
provides an excellent
example of one man ’s
lifelong striving to overcomefeelings of inferiority. Adler
was born in Vienna in 1870,the third of six children.Alfred spent much of his
childhood in his older brother ’s shadow. A series of
childhood illnesses, particularly rickets, left Adlerphysically unable to keep up with his brother andother playmates in athletic and outdoor games. Healmost died of pneumonia at age 4 and twice wasnearly killed when run over by carts in the streets.
Because of his physical inferiority, Adler receivedspecial treatment from his mother. However, thisended with the birth of his brother. “During my first
two years my mother pampered me, ”he recalled. “But
when my younger brother was born she transferredher attention to him, and I felt dethroned ”(cited in
Orgler, 1963, p. 2).
Adler also experienced feelings of inferiority in the
classroom. He achieved only mediocre grades and didso poorly at mathematics one year he had to repeat thecourse. His teacher advised his father to take the boyout of school and find him an apprenticeship as ashoemaker. But this episode only seemed to motivate
Adler. He studied furiously and soon became the bestmathematics student in the class. He went on toreceive his medical degree from the University ofVienna in 1895.
Adler never studied under Freud, nor did he ever
undergo psychoanalysis, as required for becoming a
practicing psychoanalyst (Orgler, 1963). The twotheorists ’association began in 1902 when Freud
invited Adler to attend his discussion group after Adlerhad defended Freud ’s theory of dream interpretation
against attacks in the local newspaper. Adlereventually was named the first president of the groupin 1910.
However, growing disagreements with Freud led
to Adler ’s resignation in 1911. Several members
joined Adler in forming what was originally called
the Society for Free Psychoanalytic Research —a
name intended to express their objection to Freud ’s
required adherence to his theory. Adler later changedthe name of the association to IndividualPsychology, established a journal, and received wideacceptance for his alternate interpretation of strictFreudian theory. As in his earlier battles toovercome feelings of inferiority, Adler devoted muchof his professional life to catching and trying tosurpass Sigmund Freud.Bettmann/CORBISAlfred Adler 97