Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsBest Known ForLife and CareerTheory of PersonalityContributions to Psychology

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Best Known For

Life and Career

Theory of Personality

Contributions to Psychology

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Alfred Adler was an Austrian physician and psychiatrist who formed the school of thought known as individual psychology. He is also remembered for his concepts of theinferiorityfeeling and inferiority complex, which played a big role in Adler’s theory of personality formation. Learn more about Adler’s life, career, and contributions to psychology.

What Alfred Adler is Best Known For

Adler is known for many thoughts and theories within the field of psychology, but is best known for:

Alder was initially a colleague ofSigmund Freudand helped establish psychoanalysis. He looked at the individual as a whole, which is why he referred to his approach as individual psychology.

Adler eventually split from Freud’s psychoanalytic circle but went on to have a tremendous impact on the development of psychotherapy. He also had an important influence on many other great thinkers, including Abraham Maslow and Albert Ellis.

Alfred Adler’s Life and Career

To best understand who Alfred Adler was and how this contributed to his theory of personality development, it helps to take a look at his life and career.

Early Life

Alfred Adler was born in Vienna, Austria, on February 7, 1870. He suffered rickets as a young child, which prevented him from walking until after the age of 2. Then he got pneumonia at the age of four.

Due to his health problems as a child, Adler decided he would become a physician. After graduating from the University of Vienna in 1895 with a medical degree, he began his career as an ophthalmologist and later switched to general practice.

Mid-Life

In mid-life, Alder turned his interests toward the field of psychiatry. In 1902, Sigmund Freud invited him to join a psychoanalytic discussion group. This group met each Wednesday in Freud’s home and would eventually grow to become the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society.

After serving as President of the group for a time, Adler left in part because of his disagreements with some of Freud’s theories. While Adler had played a key role in the development ofpsychoanalysis, he was also one of the first major figures to break away to form his own school of thought.

He was quick to point out that while he had been a colleague of Freud’s, he was in no way a disciple of the famous Austrian psychoanalyst.In 1912, Alfred Adler founded the Society of Individual Psychology.

Later Life

Although Adler had converted to Christianity,his Jewish heritage led to the Nazis closing down his clinics during the 1930s. As a result, Adler emigrated to the United States to take a professor position at the Long Island College of Medicine. In 1937, Adler went on a lecture tour and suffered a fatal heart attack in Aberdeen, Scotland, on May 28, 1937.

His family lost track of his cremated remains shortly after his death and the ashes were presumed lost before being discovered in 2007 at a crematorium in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 2011, 74 years after his death, Adler’s ashes were returned to Vienna, Austria.

In an interview withThe Guardian, his granddaughter explained, “Vienna was essentially Adler’s home, his birth home and there was the triangle, you know, Adler, Jung and Freud, and all had that sense of coming out of that place, so there’s something rather fitting about him going back there.”

Adler’s Theory of Personality

Adler’s theory of personality contended that individuals are whole beings. Therefore, their personality is formed based on several key concepts, including:

Adler suggested that there were four personality types based on a person’s lifestyle:The socially useful typeThe ruling typeThe getting or learning typeThe avoiding type

Adler suggested that there were four personality types based on a person’s lifestyle:

Inferiority Complex

Adler believed that this drive was the motivating force behind human behaviors, emotions, and thoughts. An example of Adler’s theory would be a child who feels inferior, then misbehaves in an attempt to get their parent to pay more attention to them. Later in life, feeling inferior may cause some individuals to focus on collaboration and contributions to society while others will try to exert power over others.

Alfred Adler’s Other Contributions to Psychology

Alfred Adler’s theories have played an essential role in many areas of psychology, including therapy and child development. Alder’s ideas also influenced otherimportant psychologistsand psychoanalysts, including:

Today, his ideas and concepts are often referred to as Adlerian psychology.

Selected PublicationsAdler, A. (1925).The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology. London: Routledge.Adler, A. (1956).The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler. H. L. Ansbacher and R. R. Ansbacher (Eds.). New York: Harper Torchbooks.

Selected Publications

Adler, A. (1925).The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology. London: Routledge.Adler, A. (1956).The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler. H. L. Ansbacher and R. R. Ansbacher (Eds.). New York: Harper Torchbooks.

Adler, A. (1925).The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology. London: Routledge.

Adler, A. (1956).The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler. H. L. Ansbacher and R. R. Ansbacher (Eds.). New York: Harper Torchbooks.

6 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Ellis DJ.Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and Individual Psychology.The Journal of Individual Psychology. 2017;73(4):272-282. doi:10.1353/jip.2017.0023Alfred Adler Institute of New York.About Alfred Adler.Walborn F.Religion in Personality Theory. 2014. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-407864-2.00004-7Carrell, S. (2011).Ashes of psychoanalysis co-founder Alfred Adler traced.The Guardian.Sage Publications.Alderian psychotherapy.Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach.Wissing NJ.Adler’s theory of personality and inferiority complexes. ResearchGate. 2018. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.33995.23840Additional ReadingRattner, J. (1983). Alfred Adler. New York: F. Ungar.

6 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Ellis DJ.Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and Individual Psychology.The Journal of Individual Psychology. 2017;73(4):272-282. doi:10.1353/jip.2017.0023Alfred Adler Institute of New York.About Alfred Adler.Walborn F.Religion in Personality Theory. 2014. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-407864-2.00004-7Carrell, S. (2011).Ashes of psychoanalysis co-founder Alfred Adler traced.The Guardian.Sage Publications.Alderian psychotherapy.Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach.Wissing NJ.Adler’s theory of personality and inferiority complexes. ResearchGate. 2018. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.33995.23840Additional ReadingRattner, J. (1983). Alfred Adler. New York: F. Ungar.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Ellis DJ.Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and Individual Psychology.The Journal of Individual Psychology. 2017;73(4):272-282. doi:10.1353/jip.2017.0023Alfred Adler Institute of New York.About Alfred Adler.Walborn F.Religion in Personality Theory. 2014. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-407864-2.00004-7Carrell, S. (2011).Ashes of psychoanalysis co-founder Alfred Adler traced.The Guardian.Sage Publications.Alderian psychotherapy.Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach.Wissing NJ.Adler’s theory of personality and inferiority complexes. ResearchGate. 2018. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.33995.23840

Ellis DJ.Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and Individual Psychology.The Journal of Individual Psychology. 2017;73(4):272-282. doi:10.1353/jip.2017.0023

Alfred Adler Institute of New York.About Alfred Adler.

Walborn F.Religion in Personality Theory. 2014. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-407864-2.00004-7

Carrell, S. (2011).Ashes of psychoanalysis co-founder Alfred Adler traced.The Guardian.

Sage Publications.Alderian psychotherapy.Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach.

Wissing NJ.Adler’s theory of personality and inferiority complexes. ResearchGate. 2018. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.33995.23840

Rattner, J. (1983). Alfred Adler. New York: F. Ungar.

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