ABSTRACT

Adlerian encouragement is based on fundamental principles of attachment. Adler, in consultation with the social investigators of his day, concluded that there is an inborn connection between humans that functions to ensure the survival of the species. He concluded that the desire to belong to a group, while primary, can be shaped toward positive prosocial behavior or toward negative and discouraged behavior through interaction with significant others in their primary social group (the family). Thus, he provided a philosophical construct of human behavior that bridges the instinctual and the learned. In addition, he bypassed the idea of behavior as good or evil. Instead, through his basic principles of human nature, he suggested that psychological development is an adaptation to the environment. The aim of this development is to achieve a fit into the social group, and thus the physical and psychological survival of the individual.