Chapter 3 Adler: Individual Psychology 71I
n 1937, a young Abraham Maslow was having dinner in a New York restaurant
with a somewhat older colleague. The older man was widely known for his
earlier association with Sigmund Freud, and many people, including Maslow,
regarded him as a disciple of Freud. When Maslow casually asked the older man
about being Freud’s follower, the older man became quite angry, and according to
Maslow, he nearly shouted that
this was a lie and a swindle for which he blamed Freud entirely, whom he then
called names like swindler, sly, schemer.... He said that he had never been a
student of Freud or a disciple or a follower. He made it clear from the
beginning that he didn’t agree with Freud and that he had his own opinions.
(Maslow, 1962, p. 125)Maslow, who had known the older man as an even-tempered, congenial person,
was stunned by his outburst.
The older man, of course, was Alfred Adler, who battled throughout his
professional life to dispel the notion that he had ever been a follower of Freud.
Whenever reporters and other people would inquire about his early relationship
with Freud, Adler would produce the old faded postcard with Freud’s invitation to
Adler to join Freud and three other physicians to meet at Freud’s home the fol-
lowing Thursday evening. Freud closed the invitation saying, “With hearty greet-
ings as your colleague” (quoted in Hoffman, 1994, p. 42). This friendly remark
gave Adler some tangible evidence that Freud considered him to be his equal.
However, the warm association between Adler and Freud came to a bitter
end, with both men hurling caustic remarks toward the other. For example, after
World War I, when Freud elevated aggression to a basic human drive, Adler, who
had long since abandoned the concept, commented sarcastically: “I enriched psy-
choanalysis by the aggressive drive. I gladly make them a present of it” (quoted
in Bottome, 1939, p. 64).
During the acrimonious breakup between the two men, Freud accused Adler
of having paranoid delusions and of using terrorist tactics. He told one of his
friends that the revolt by Adler was that of “an abnormal individual driven mad
by ambition” (quoted in Gay, 1988, p. 223).
Overview of Individual Psychology
Alfred Adler was neither a terrorist nor a person driven mad by ambition. Indeed,
his individual psychology presents an optimistic view of people while resting
heavily on the notion of social interest, that is, a feeling of oneness with all
humankind. In addition to Adler’s more optimistic look at people, several other
differences made the relationship between Freud and Adler quite tenuous.
First, Freud reduced all motivation to sex and aggression, whereas Adler saw
people as being motivated mostly by social influences and by their striving for
superiority or success; second, Freud assumed that people have little or no choice
in shaping their personality, whereas Adler believed that people are largely respon-
sible for who they are; third, Freud’s assumption that present behavior is caused
by past experiences was directly opposed to Adler’s notion that present behavior
is shaped by people’s view of the future; and fourth, in contrast to Freud, who