Chapter 3    Adler: Individual Psychology97
Instead, he worked to win the parents’ confidence and to persuade them to change 
their attitudes toward the child.
Although Adler was quite active in setting the goal and direction of psycho -
therapy, he maintained a friendly and permissive attitude toward the patient. He 
established himself as a congenial coworker, refrained from moralistic preaching, 
and placed great value on human relationships. By cooperating with their therapists, 
patients establish contact with another person. The therapeutic relationship awakens 
their social interest in the same manner that children gain social interest from their 
parents. Once awakened, the patients’ social interest must spread to family, friends, 
and people outside the therapeutic relationship (Adler, 1956).
Related Research
Adlerian theory continues to generate a moderate amount of research. For example, 
some researchers have recently argued that using social media such as Facebook, 
 Instagram, and Twitter serves the purpose of increasing Gemeinschaftsgefühl (Bluvsh -
tein, Kruzic, & Massaglia, 2015). The most widely researched topics in Adler’s the -
ory, however, have been birth order, early recollections, and striving for superiority. 
Each of these topics can provide a potentially rich source for understanding various 
Adlerian concepts.
Birth Order, Intelligence, Academic Achievement, and Personality
Although it was Charles Darwin’s cousin Francis Galton who first proposed the idea 
that birth order was important to life outcomes, especially career attainment, it was 
Adler who first had a general theory of personality that incorporated birth order. Only 
after Adler did psychologists systematically begin to study the effects of birth order 
on human personality and life outcomes. Recall that Adler’s primary predictions of 
birth order were that firstborn children should possess a strong feeling of superiority, 
be anxious, and be overprotective. Second born children, by contrast, should be more 
prosocial and have stronger feelings of social interest. Lastborn children, finally, due 
to being pampered may lack a sense of independence and instead have a heightened 
sense of inferiority.
Unfortunately, the research on birth order and personality has always been 
somewhat controversial and full of contradictory findings and most of them either 
have not addressed the specific predictions by Adler or have found inconsistent sup -
port for them. To put it simply, there is no one general finding or trend when it comes 
to how birth order affects our lives and our personality. Results depend on numerous 
factors including how outcomes are measured (academic achievement, intelligence, 
attitude, or personality) and what aspects of personality are measured.
To start, outcomes matter. The influence that birth order has on intelligence 
and academic and career outcomes tends to be stronger than its influence on per -
sonality. Sir Francis Galton first observed that firstborn men in 19th Century Eng -
land tended to be the most eminent scientists, writers, poets, painters, musicians, and 
politicians, which is hardly surprising given that English society afforded firstborn 
(White) males an inordinate amount of privilege (Galton, 1892/2012). Research has 
confirmed that firstborns achieve higher educational and career outcomes, regardless 
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