--- Title: Adler Tells Causes of 'Inferiority' Description: Oakland Tribune, 7 February 1929, p. 40. Report by Anne Clark of Alfred Adler's lecture ("Understanding Human Nature") in Wheeler Hall, University of California, Berkeley, on the evening of 6 February 1929; the goal of superiority, the boy who wanted to be a grave digger, position in the family, neurotic symptoms, individual psychology as scientific guesswork. Author: Anne Clark URL: https://adler.school/archivo/adler/cronicas/original/1929-02-07%20Adler%20Tells%20Causes%20of%20%27Inferiority%27 --- # ADLER TELLS CAUSES OF 'INFERIORITY' ## Vienna Psychologist Explains Differences in Nature of Children in Same Family; Eldest Is Conservative By ANNE CLARK BERKELEY, Feb. 7.—Have you a little superiority complex in your home? You certainly have, according to Dr. Alfred Adler, Viennese psychologist, world famous as founder of an offshoot of psycho-analysis termed "individual psychology." The sense of inferiority which the individual strives to overcome in order to reach his personal goal of superiority is the keynote to an understanding of human nature, Dr. Adler told an audience which packed Wheeler hall at the University of California last night. "The child who sees sickness and death about him longs to overcome them and thus is led to be a doctor in later life," Adler said. "One such child who was brought to me, however, said that he did not want to be a doctor, but a grave digger. It was hard to discern the superiority goal in this ambition, until it dawned upon me that the grave digger is the man who buries the others and thus demonstrates his superiority over them." **GOAL OF SUPERIORITY.** The goal of superiority, if narrowed by pampering and too close a dependence on the mother results in an egoistic, domineering character, Dr. Adler said. But if the child developes an adequate social adjustment, the goal is enlarged to include the overcoming o[f] difficulties in terms that involve [the] rest of humanity. "[H]ereditary endowment is unim[porta]nt, compared with the child's [relat]ions to others, especially his [rela]tive position in the family," Adler declared. "The oldest child in the family becomes a conservative. For some time he has been the center of attention, and then he is dethroned by the newcomer. Throughout life he will strive to renew the old situation in which he was supreme, and will have the fear of being overcome by others. H[e] becomes careful and suspicious, and his interests will be in the realm of power. **SECOND CHILD RESTLESS.** "The intermediate child has never been alone and supreme. He is restless, always moving, always trying to establish himself and catch up with his older brother. He is trying to capture the throne which he has never held. "The situation of the youngest child is more favorable. He cannot be dethroned and is therefore less cautious. He developes into the type which thinks little of dangers to be met and difficulties to be overcome. He runs forward toward his goal and is more powerful than the others in the family." Neurotic symptoms are interpreted by Adler in terms of tension due to insufficient social adjustment. The insufficiently adjusted person is more interested in himself than in others, and wants to be privileged. The symptoms give him a sense of importance and furnish an excuse and relief which seem to solve the problem by establishing a fictitious superiority or providing a reason why the goal is not reached. **LARGELY GUESSWORK.** Individual psychology, Adler admits, is largely a matter of guesswork, but of inspired and scientific guesswork. "It is only by scientific guessing, by combining, examining and proving," he said, "that we can hope to understand human nature and in so doing to relate individual problems to social problems." Dr. Adler, who is professor in the Pedagogical Institute at Vienna and director of 22 child clinics in that city, will speak twice at Mills college during the week. On Friday at 4:15 he will lecture on "Individual Psychology" and on Saturday evening on "The Interiority [sic] Complex." --- *Fuente:* Anne Clark, "Adler Tells Causes of 'Inferiority'", *Oakland Tribune*, Oakland, Calif., Thursday, 7 February 1929, p. 40, col. 1, continued at the foot of cols. 2-3. Transcribed from the page image of the California Digital Newspaper Collection (CDNC, OT19290207.1.40); the CDNC OCR was used only for orientation. A tear in the left margin of the column damages a few words; the letters supplied between square brackets are reconstructed from the context. The neighbouring items on the page (General Butler's return from China, etc.) are omitted.