Austrian psychiatrist; author of such books as Studie über Minderwertigkeit von Organen (Study of Organ Inferiority and its Psychical Compensation) (1907), Praxis und Theorie der Individualpsychologie (Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology) (1918) , and Der Sinn des Lebens (What Life Should Mean to You) (1934) . Influenced by the philosophy of Hans Vaihinger, Adler's "individual psychology" focussed on the efforts people invariably make in order to compensate for their (self-perceived) inferiority to others, whether it originally arose from a specific physical defect, relative position in the family constellation, particular experiences of humiliation, or a general lack of social feeling (Gemeinschaftsgefühl) for others. Adlerian theory and practice have proven especially productive in application to the lives of children.

Recommended Reading: Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler: A Systematic Presentation in Selections from His Writings (Harpercollins, 1989); Superiority and Social Interest: A Collection of Later Writings, ed. by Heinz L. Ansbacher and Rowena R. Ansbacher (Norton, 1979); and Harold H. Mosak and Michael Maniacci, A Primer of Adlerian Psychology: The Analytic-Behavioral-Cognitive Psychology of Alfred Adler (Brunner/Mazel, 1999).

Also see C. George Boeree, EB, and Austria-Forum.