Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
personality and are more optimistic concerning the prospects for personality growth and change
in personality in adults.
Alfred Adler (1870–1937) was a follower of Freud who developed his own interpretation of
Freudian theory. Adler proposed that the primary motivation in human personality was not sex or
aggression, but rather the striving for superiority. According to Adler, we desire to be better than
others and we accomplish this goal by creating a unique and valuable life. We may attempt to
satisfy our need for superiority through our school or professional accomplishments, or by our
enjoyment of music, athletics, or other activities that seem important to us.
Adler believed that psychological disorders begin in early childhood. He argued that children
who are either overly nurtured or overly neglected by their parents are later likely to develop
an inferiority complex—a psychological state in which people feel that they are not living up to
expectations, leading them to have low self-esteem, with a tendency to try to overcompensate for
the negative feelings. People with an inferiority complex often attempt to demonstrate their
superiority to others at all costs, even if it means humiliating, dominating, or alienating them.
According to Adler, most psychological disorders result from misguided attempts to compensate
for the inferiority complex in order meet the goal of superiority.
Carl Jung (1875–1961) was another student of Freud who developed his own theories about
personality. Jung agreed with Freud about the power of the unconscious but felt that Freud
overemphasized the importance of sexuality. Jung argued that in addition to the personal
unconscious, there was also acollective unconscious, or a collection of shared ancestral
memories. Jung believed that the collective unconscious contains a variety of archetypes, or
cross-culturally universal symbols, which explain the similarities among people in their
emotional reactions to many stimuli. Important archetypes include the mother, the goddess, the
hero, and the mandala or circle, which Jung believed symbolized a desire for wholeness or unity.
For Jung, the underlying motivation that guides successful personality is self-realization, or
learning about and developing the self to the fullest possible extent.
Karen Horney (the last syllable of her last name rhymes with “eye”; 1855–1952), was a German
physician who applied Freudian theories to create a personality theory that she thought was more