Chapter 3    Adler: Individual Psychology103
illusory one. Just what is this magical force that takes the raw materials of heredity 
and environment and molds a unique personality? How does the creative power trans -
form itself into specific actions or operations needed by the scientist to carry out an 
investigation? Unfortunately, individual psychology is somewhat philosophical—even 
moralistic—and does not provide answers to these questions.
The concept of creative power is a very appealing one. Probably most people 
prefer to believe that they are composed of something more than the interactions of 
heredity and environment. Many people intuitively feel that they have some agent 
(soul, ego, self, and creative power) within them that allows them to make choices and 
to create their style of life. As inviting as it is, however, the concept of creative power 
is simply a fiction and cannot be scientifically studied. Due to lack of operational defi -
nitions, therefore, we rate individual psychology low on internal consistency.
The final criterion of a useful theory is simplicity, or parsimony.  On this stan -
dard we rate individual psychology about average. Although Adler’s awkward and 
unorganized writings distract from the theory’s rating on parsimony, the work of 
 Ansbacher and Ansbacher (Adler, 1956, 1964) has made individual psychology more 
parsimonious.
 Concept of Humanity
Adler believed that people are basically self-determined and that they shape 
their personalities from the meaning they give to their experiences. The build -
ing material of personality is provided by heredity and environment, but the 
creative power shapes this material and puts it to use. Adler frequently empha -
sized that the use that people make of their abilities is more important than the 
quantity of those abilities. Heredity endows people with certain abilities and 
environment gives them some opportunity to enhance those abilities, but we 
are ultimately responsible for the use they make of these abilities.
Adler also believed that people’s interpretations of experiences are 
more important than the experiences themselves. Neither the past nor the 
future determines present behavior. Instead, people are motivated by their 
present perceptions of the past and their present expectations of the future. 
These perceptions do not necessarily correspond with reality, and as Adler 
(1956) stated, “meanings are not determined by situations, but we determine 
ourselves by the meanings we give to situations” (p. 208).
People are forward moving, motivated by future goals rather than by 
innate instincts or causal forces. These future goals are often rigid and unre -
alistic, but people’s personal freedom allows them to reshape their goals and 
thereby change their lives. People create their personalities and are capable 
of altering them by learning new attitudes. These attitudes encompass an 
understanding that change can occur, that no other person or circumstance 
is responsible for what a person is, and that personal goals must be subordi -
nated to social interest.
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