The unconscious feeling of inferiority appears in man in the early years of his life. Then an individual style of overcoming and compensating for weakness in relation to others is formed and the line of life is established, defining the main direction in the personality's vitality. Feelings of inferiority - there are two types - painful and normal. It is normal for a teacher - a student, a virtuoso - a debutant. Painful is a person when he feels he is less valued and valued by someone else. It is a mental illness. It turns into neurosis and leads to suffering, shame, anxiety, hostility, hatred, over-aggression and over-ambition. The cruel need to overtake the other, to command, to rule at all costs, to "be right".
It becomes a personality trait and becomes the basic psychological attitude governing the behavior / line of life /. The essentials of individual psychology are expressed in the understanding of: - the individual as a single and self-aligning whole - Adler refers to his "individual" theory, by analogy to the Latin "individual", meaning indivisible. activity can not be seen in isolation, but only in relation to personality as a whole: in thinking, in feelings, in actions, etc. This unity in the personality of Adler defines as a lifestyle; - human life as an active pursuit of perfection - only in the movement aimed at personally significant goals the individual can be perceived as a unified and self-conscious whole. People strive to meet their own personal goals. These goals are chosen individually and to a great extent determine the destiny of man, while reaching the planned increases personal self-esteem; - individuality as a creative and self-defining whole - recognizing the importance of heredity and the surrounding environment for personality formation, Adler considers that individuality is the product of these two influences.
He believes that people have a creative power that affects perceptions, memory, imagination, fantasy and dreams; - the individual's social affiliation - Adler's individual psychology examines and examines individual inclusion in society. Every human behavior is interpreted in a social context. For this reason, every human being has a natural sense of community or social interest - a craving for social interaction and cooperation; - individual subjectivity - Adler's firm adherence to the phenomenological tradition has formed the view that behavior depends on the opinion of the people in the environment. People exist in accordance with these beliefs, whether they are objective or not. Basic Concepts and Principles in Adler's Theory - was convinced that the main goal in the theory of personality was to serve as a reference for the therapist and for the good of man on the path of alteration of his behavior; in contrast to Freud, he forms a limited theory of personality, the key concepts and principles of which can be considered in the following aspects: - feeling of inferiority and compensation; - striving for excellence; - life style ; - social interest; - Creative self; - sequence of births / position of children in the family /; - Functional finality / behavior is subject to the goals set for the future.