DR. ADLER FLAYS CRIMINAL
Suicide and Lawbreaker Just Cowards, He Says; Defines Superiority Complex
Dr. Alfred Adler, Vienna psychologist, who has become especially well known as "the great antagonist of Freud," arrived in Los Angeles yesterday on a lecture tour and launched a new assault on Freudian theories.
If, as Freud holds, the sex urge is the basic power of all human expression, "the personality of humans would be no different from that of rabbits or other animals," Dr. Adler declared.
"But we have a better understanding now of the importance and significance of sex than ever before in history," he continued. "Sex has taken its proper place in the scheme of life.
"Just as there would be no difference in the personality of humans and animals if sex were the basic power of life, likewise there would be no difference in the personality of humans themselves. But
humans are governed by a special creative human power that forms their personality, a power that animals do not have.
INFERIORITY COMPLEX
"Whatever the sex drive in humans may be, it always appears molded and formed by the special creative power of the individual. This creative power is a striving for superiority from a feeling of inferiority."
Dr. Adler is the "inventor" of the "inferiority complex," which, he said, is common to all mankind.
"Man strives for the goal of completion, for superiority," he explained. "When he ceases to strive the inferiority complex becomes evident.
"The inferiority complex is an escape toward the useless side of life, the looking for an easier way. The easier ways are not the right ways."
The "superiority complex," Dr. Adler said, is based on the inferiority complex and is a self-delusion. Sometimes, he added, it deceives others. It is evidenced by boasting, high temper, arrogance, etc.
SEEK EASIER WAY
Suicides, all criminals, degenerates and drunkards have inferiority complexes, he said, because they seek "the easier way."
"Too many people believe suicide and crime to be an expression of courage," he continued. "Suicide and crime are actually expressions of cowardice. I do not believe that anyone understanding that suicide is cowardly could kill himself. A suicide is intoxicated with the idea of being a hero. He is really a mean imitation of a hero."
Napoleon, according to Dr. Adler, had a superiority complex based upon an inferiority complex caused by undervaluing himself, especially with regard to his wife. Nero and all tyrants of history had superiority complexes, he asserted.
Hickman, the murderer of Marion Parker, had an inferiority complex, and so have all other criminals, he said.
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln he described as "real heroes" because "they were socially adjusted."
Dr. Adler is at the Biltmore. He
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DR. ADLER HERE, TALKS ON CRIME
(Continued from First Page)
will lecture tomorrow night at 8 p.m. under auspices of the Southern California Society for Mental Hygiene and the Southern California Society for the Study of the Exceptional Child at the Sentous Junior High School auditorium, 1205 West Pico street.
Officers of the Southern California Society for Mental Hygiene include Dr. Oscar Reiss, Dr. Glenn E. Myers, Edwin O. Palmer, Mrs. Andrew Mac Kay-Scott and John Stevens.
Fuente: "Dr. Adler Flays Criminal", Los Angeles Times, 13 February 1929, p. 1, col. 1, continued on p. 2, col. 5 ("Dr. Adler Here, Talks on Crime"), unsigned. Transcribed from the page images at fultonhistory.com (Los Angeles CA Times 1929-02-13_48_21 and 48_22), rendered at 300 dpi; the platform OCR, very defective, was used only for orientation. The whole piece is legible.