In his analysis of individual development, Adler stressed the sense of inferiority, rather than sexual drives, as the motivating force in human life. According to Adler, conscious or subconscious feelings of inferiority (to which he gave the name inferiority complex), combined with compensatory defense mechanisms, are the basic causes of psychopathological behavior. The function of the psychoanalyst, furthermore, is to discover and rationalize such feelings and break down the compensatory, neurotic will for power that they engender in the patient.

Adler's works include The Theory and Practice of Individual Psychology (1918) and The Pattern of Life (1930). Alfred Adler studied personality around the time of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung but developed ve

"Adler, Alfred," Microsoftc Encartac Online Encyclopedia 2000 http://encarta.msn.com c 1997-2000 Microsoft Corporation.

Three of the four groups are negative styles of life. These mistaken styles include the ruling types, the getting types and the avoiding types. The ruling types seek to control others. They are not all terrible people; because high competitiveness goes along with control, many are high achievers. They will, however, let others know of their accomplishments and tend to do so in a belittling manner. Adler called this inclination the deprecation complex. The second type is the getting type. These people are very dependent on others and take on a passive attitude towards life. Adler wrote that parents who pamper their children encourage this lifestyle. The third type is the avoiding type. They try to avoid all of life's problems to avoid defeat. They are seen as cold and usually prefer to be isolated. This appearance however, usually masked a superiority belief, albeit a fragile one.

Adler's theory is comprised primarily of four aspects: striving towards superiority, the unity of personality, the development of personality, and psychological health, which includes intervention. Motivation of Actions Adler believed the main goal of all people is to move to a better way of life, although he admits the ways to achieve this goal varies among people (Cloninger, 1996). He first used the term inferiority complex as being overcome by feelings of lack of worth. In other words, the person is not achieving their

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