ABSTRACT
Alfred Adler de-emphasized Sigmund Freud's findings in sexual matters. Adler saw that the inevitable result of feelings of inferiority would be strivings for superiority. Adler developed the theory that social interest rather than striving for superiority is the only true and natural compensation for feelings of inferiority. Success had been his lot, both before and after the friend's death; he was the favourite of his parents, unsurpassed by brothers and sisters, and prosperous in the world. Habitual criticism, anger, and envy are indications of a useless striving for superiority: they are motions toward the suppression of others, either in reality or fancy, so as to be supreme. Useful criticism of a constructive tendency is always in some comprehensible relation with social feeling, but where the motive is merely relative self-elevation by lowering or degrading others the tendency is neurotic. Envy is universally an expression of inferiority, though it may sometimes be a stimulus to useful action.
