“Man knows much more then he understands,” – Alfred Adler

 Born February 7 th, 1870 in Rudolfsheim, a district in Vienna, Austria-Hungary  Died May 28 th, 1937 in Alberdeen, Scotland

 Psychotherapist  Psychiatrist  Medical Doctor  Founder of the school of individual thought

 The concept of the inferiority complex  President of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society  Individual psychology

 Became a physician after suffering from rickets as a child.  Later turned his interest towards psychiatry.  1902, Joined a psychiatry group along side Sigmund Freud (later became the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society)

 Served as president of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society  Left as a result of several disagreements with Freud’s theories  Formed his own School of Thought; Individual Psychology

 Stressed a positive view of human nature  Believed individuals could control their own fate  Human behaviour is goal oriented and socially embedded

 Adlerian theory focuses on developing an understanding about an individuals characteristic ways of moving through life, before making change  Emphasizes birth order, individual life styles, social interests, and concepts pertaining to inferiority and superiority as principle components of personality

 "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." -Alfred Adler

 Holism  Field Theory  Teleology  The Creative Self  Life-Style  Private Intelligence

 Man as a Social Being  The Adlerian Unconscious  Fictional Finalism  The Adlerian Ego  Inferiority Complex  Private Intelligence

 Influenced the beliefs and practices of various psychologists  Carl Rogers, Karen Horney, Rollo May, Erich Fromm, Albert Ellis  Sigmund Freud

 Adlers theory largely impacted the studies of later psychologists in addition to the modern day practices of psychology