The Psychology of Alfred Adler: Superiority, Inferiority, and Courage 

Sign up to our newsletter for a chance to win a 1 year Membership so you can watch all our Member videos for free! (draw will occur mid-December): academyofideas.com/newsletter/ Watch previews to all our Member videos (we upload 1 new one each month): academyofideas.com/category/member-videos-preview/ Find links to all the paintings used in the video here: academyofideas.com/2017/11/psychology-of-adler-superiority-inferiority-courage/

I have just finished a book called "the courage to be disliked" which basically described Adler's theories. I think it was one of the most illuminating books I have ever read. I didn't know about Adler's theories and I think that everything that I've read about what he said seems so simple yet so true. It's very interesting, I'll definitely continue to read about him.

Honestly, this is one of the most valuable channels on youtube

Academy of ideas just roasted me for 9 mins

"Receiding further and further into the misery of our confort zone". This sentence let's you know how no matter how dark a place you are in right now, you can always fall further down if you DO nothing.

This is a hard video to digest for chronic procrastinators.

Most underrated psychologist ever.. wish we had his books translated in portuguese :(

You deliver knowledge in such an aesthetic manner I cant help but admire every sentence.

“The more often he feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel.” - C.S.Lewis

I also think what Nietzsche said was very true pertaining to this video. If you want to achieve something then you must live dangerously.

This is painfully relatable if you're about to graduate or leave college.

I REALLY needed to hear this. I'm not happy with myself and I noticed that I safeguard around my problems and I project my inferior self onto others. It's a mess I'm trying to deal with. Thank you.

"Wither away in misery of your comfort zone" that was just harsh 😏

Am psychology major and this channel strengthens the love I have for psychology

The Academy of Ideas is one of the best channel as it gives food for thought.

I really like that one picture of the man in a cell with a pack of lions circling around him. 8:07

This is life changing. Thank you for shedding light on Adler's theory and explaining it so beautifully.

I had heard of Adler - thank you! I love how he promoted being courageous. I believe we need to retreat to comfort zones and then go out to be courageous, it is an ebb and flow.

Man i really appreciate this channel and the minutes, hours, weeks, months you spend on these video's!

I love how even though you're covering different thinkers, the ideas of the channel all point towards something similar. An inspiring message :)

This is the most insanely accurate piece of information, I have ever come across in my life.

the art u guys choose is gorgeous

your videos are actually gold.

I came here because of the book "The Courage to be Disliked"

I can't express how much I love you guys! Please keep up the good work!!!

I've just recently subbed to this channel. This channel is a goldmine of knowledge!

I learned so much about how I respond to certain problems by reflecting on the words from this video. It's always great to see youself from another point of view and be challenged to grow. Truly great work!

So what I have learned is that I am incredibly superior to others in regards to finding the best safeguarding behaviors and methods in life. Gotcha. Going to cry in a corner now and work on strengthening my inferiority complex.

I loved the video, just discovered the channel! However I missed something; Adler's theory also confirms that all our problems have an interpersonal origin. Inferiority or superiority complexes both come from comparison and/or our relation with other people, and the vertical relationships we build. Also he talks about how we can only find happiness when we are able to confirm our value in the society. "The courage to be happy" by Fumitake Koga really helps understanding Adler's legacy :)

dude, the artwork you use on your videos are always great quality! Renoir, Kroyer, Monet! Thanks for uploading such great content

Amazing how Academy of Ideas paints a clear image of what I've played out and slightly rationalized on my every day life

6:00 really kicked my butt and told me to action... I recently retreated from a project due to multiple anxiety attacks that caused by fear. I really hate myself for lacking courage and constantly falling back to safeguarding behavior...

No one person has summed me up so succinctly. This video has blown my head off.

Today news channels are full of misery and ads are full of ideals. We are so bombarded by these conflicting images we seem to have internalised them. Despair vs Over ambition, swinging from extremes yet remaining stuck. But this video explains my life. Something I've struggled to make sense of has been told to me in 9 mins. My inferiority complex has gone up exponentially.

Ok, I pause the video because I have to thank you for doing this.. I'm in an intense self improvement period (or personality rebirth as you call it in one of your videos) I've been watching your videos and every single one of them - if watched with engagement - are concetrated knowledge of finding oneself in this world. Priceless! Thank you internet, thank you RU-vid and most importantly thank you for putting all this effort to share priceless content to the world!

I think the video didnt emphasis an important point from Adler. That by doing safeguarding or distancing behaviour, you are doing it to achieve your goals. For example you are purposefully procrastinating to fulfil the idea that "I am smart" and it is this problem "procrastination" that draws me back, while the harsh reality is even if you tried your hardest you might still fail and perform worse than others.

Thank you so much for these videos.

Finding this superiorly unique channel is a fresh air in the entertaining atmosphere of youtube...

it's one of the best videos I viewed about Inferiority. Thank you!

Never thought this would be on the MCAT, but here we are. I have always watched your channel for personal enjoyment, but now I'm using it to study! Keep up the awesome work man.

This channel is gold.

The paintings are perfectly chosen for these concepts. Well done.

Wow! You explained the gist of Adler so crisply and lucidly. Thanks a lot

Man brother, your videos are kick ass. If I would of known about these topics I would have majored in psychology.

I really resonate with this video even 2 years later

Well its official you earned a new subscriber❤. Love how simple it is

I've been watching all your uploads from newest->oldest and this one is the most impactful yet....and that's saying something bc more than half these videos are illuminating

It is so true, even my instructor in college said so many students even if not psychology major only knows Freud and Jung but no mention of Adler in which would help them better since it's more practical and easier to understand than the other two's almost metaphysical but also deeply helpful concepts.

Basically, if you want any chance at overcoming your fears, don't hide, just burn baby.

This is the best 9 minutes I've ever spent on youtube. Thank you so much.

Alfred Adler is even better than I thought. Thanks for this, Academy of Ideas.

The man!!! Reading his story for school and hes one of my favourites. He walked his talk.

Holy crap that was just what I needed

This perspective in Psychology is more in line and more practical with our modern life based on our profession and personal relationships.

This video is an Eye-opener

I think this video just changed my life. I'll get back to you on that.

7:29 Our self ideal may be overly perfectionist or too reliant on the things mentioned in the video. However I feel we don't have a consistent well articulated, unambiguous and measurable self ideal. For eg if we want to be rich but we never take the little step and answer questions as to how much should you be saving or earing in the coming month, year in order to reach a level of income, neither do we take the necessary steps or look back and audit the activity over time

I think in losing God and religion many compensate with outlandish and bombastic self-ideals. I know I have. Not knowing what to do with ones life or how to live it we look for some extreme that once achieved can put us above common human worry while simultaneously being so un-achievable that it saves us from actual real action and moral considerations.

Your video are so helpful! I'm taking notes while watching them over and over again. Thank you for making these. You should be proud👏

So i consider myself courageous. I always take courage/ seek fulfilment in completing tasks. I am a lazy person so I like to give my all to make my rest worry free. I think I have anxiety in not getting my rest properly. I also fear how I would behave should I be a father. How busy can I manage and still be optimal in all endeavours

"...........the misery of our comfort zone."

This is certainly one of the best channels on RU-vid. Thank you!

"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." -James Clear Reading about Adler after reading The Power of Habit and Atomic Habits.

Jesus, I first read a wiki page on Adler. Couldn’t really comprehend his concepts. This video does not only explain the concepts very good, it also connects them, so you can understand Adler’s full theory. Thank You!

This video is amazing. All of this channel's contents is extremely useful and enlightening. I greatly appreciate the hard work you put into these.

Wow! It is hard to focus on the lecture with all those pictures. What a nice job, thank you very much

Wonderfully crafted and presented. I wish the pauses are longer for the complex topics, so we can have a moment to absorb them. We can pause on RU-vid, but it’s different.

I’m grateful to be able to watch your video 🙏

What a brilliant man! Thanks for explaining it all!

Sometimes people who used the excuse, I haven't achieved more because something outside my control is preventing me from doing so, are not lying. For example, if a politician with power doesn't want you to get a job in the city, where the politician lobbies and have power, you will never get a job. The amazing thing will emerge, if a person with hurdles in all directions, achieves what they said he can't. And they will wonder, there are millions of people in this city, freed from our hurdles, they can't even do half of what he has accomplished. Impressive.

It's nuts how good this channel is.

thank you times 10000000000000000000000000 for your work you are seriously the man

The inferiority complex, the playing the victim complex, the external locus of control syndrome, the family black sheep with the family scapegoat personality disorder. The identified patient - also called the “symptom-bearer” or “presenting problem” - may display unexplainable emotional or physical symptoms, and is often the first person to seek help, perhaps at the request of the family.

Valuable information, thanks a lot! Loved the presentation style with the images - very well done!

Thanks.youtubes algorithms hiding your videos from me.it makes finding your latest post for me that much more interesting for me.thanks for your video essays,it helps with an insight on what I would think before as a pickle I'm in.inspires another way to look at it for the lack of a better term.

Points are valid but not all can apply today. The dynamic of life has changed a bit since his time. You don't get the privilege to be judged by only your village or city, but judgement from a planet. Having the space, and time to reflect. I mean besides locking yourself inside a closet for 10 min. Most of existence is "pitiful", period. Few of us are unremarkable until death, when our names are carved into stone. The degree of the kneeling before these old timers is a bit excessive. Most of them lived in a time where the average person could not read, and write. I would have been the fastest swimmer in my class if my pesky peers didn't have legs

Looks like people are Waking up. Great Video. Just what I needed to hear.

wow, Alfred is a genius. I wish I knew him and read his books earlier.

Absolutely stunning presentation, the concise content and the art works! Beautiful! thank you soo much!!!

Awesome video! Thank you very much. Didn't know much about Alfred Adler but hopefully you guys are here =) Very interesting and inspiring.

I'm starting today. Let's see how it will go the next 8month, I've impregnated my ideas with your words.

Thank you so much for your videos. I really feel like they're teaching me how to become a better person

Bravery is only courage in war: courage is doing the right thing even when it is hard.

I 100% agree to the message in this video. If you work long and hard enough, you can leave your old self back in your own dust.

Adler's psychology today would get dismissed as "victim blaming". Its a bitter truth pill to swallow, but it's the most useful psychological theory for anyone actually committed to change and taking responsibility for their own happiness.

Incredible art work! Please reveal who did it.

Man this one hurt. Good knowledge none the less

I love ❤️ this AOI . Adler's work kind of simplifies much of Freud's and Jungs work.. Though those two are no less important. Yet you can also use the basics of those two to find many similar concepts. In Adler's view. “…[the] first thing we discover in the psychic trends is that the movements are directed toward a goal. . . This teleology, (the explanation of phenomenain terms of the purpose they serve 👈rather than of the cause by which they arise.) ( think of it as a telegraphed explanation that guides you to a compensation resolution) "no theory of history can do without teleology" this striving for goals is innate ( natural) in the 👉concept of adaptation”. (Alfred Adler, Understanding Human Nature) I like the way he described this natural adaption. Or in other terms our dissonance of resolution in this dominance structured society. These structures create a higher order of goals he calls our "self ideals" 👈 Its the adapting to these self ideals are where superiority and inferiority complexes come from. " Our self-ideal, in other words, shapes the course of our life in that it “points to the future 👈and “pulls” 👈us toward what could be, what might be” It sets you goals and pulls you towards them always. : Our self-ideal plays a crucial role in our development in that it influences our striving for superiority, 👈 which according to Adler is the fundamental drive behind human behavior." 👈 "A superiority complex is a defense mechanism that develops over time to help a person cope with feelings of inferiority. " You deal with inferiority from a system that has power that depends on you being inferior . So when confronted you with it you either make it a challenge with our "coping skills" ( dissonance resolution) or we resort to "safe guarding" behaviors. Which are behaviors that manifest from your subconscious protecting you from that fear of failure. For example. If you are having a dissonance from a failure. You can cope with it through a effort justification. For example. Like reinforcing your superiority complex with compensation for that failure by reminding yourself how superior you are to a group perceived below you. Yet inferiority complexes irise.. In many ways physically and mental. So there are many ways to feed your insecurities. That bring a ( effort) justification for the procrastination that keeps you in your indoctrinated comfort zone and brings you back to that comfort zone because the fear of inferiority. These things are then the leverage needed to be manipulated. So in this dominance hierarchy they can use. Effort justification to create a superiority complex. ( you are ...(your political party is )...better than those guys because your work matters more ) For a desired Cognitive dissonance resolution.. ( if you're a employer and everyone wants a raise ..or people want human rights .and your a dictator...but you dont want to give it you can play on this) By leveraging the inferiority complexes they create in this top down structure. ( the fear of being brought down to those guys level if you push too hard) when reminded Then by directing the attention in that way. You feeling superior ...compensates for the actual injustices and failure you experience.. In the most basic form of examples... To resolve that dissonance. That allows you to accept it and move on. Over time its is just accepted as a "new normal" One of thier most powerful tools used by politics in this way is always having a group of people for another group to feel superior to. This works very well when say you indoctrinate white farmers by feeding thier ego with pride of 24 hr work from birth and attaching it falsely to race or any poorer person . Though alot of racism is in the past now.. not all.. Yet still... This is less about race to begin with... and more about the leverage that provides to create a superiority complex to "cope" (or naturally adapt.) Race is often used as a tool That is used As the main Effort justification to accept say. .. Slowly taking all rights proffits and land from farmers Over a long period of time. They know they are getting screwed. So to cope with this dissonance.. They are provided constantly with signals of superiority that constantly and then unconsciously that becomes the effort justification that is the natural adaption in this top down structure. A scapegoat is always needed. Because once that person is no longer lower than them in this top down structure. All thier justification for being better for working so hard is taken away. Especially because they really work so hard. The harder they work. The bigger the split that needs compensated. The more opportunity for a propagandist to leverage it. As the Tool song says ...IT.. 💩 adds up at "the bottom" Especially when you can never allow yourself to consider yourself that way but in reality you are. 💯 In a world that only produces for your viewing pleasure a reality so unreal that sets your self ideas that way.. Therefore always having inferiority complexes These are powerful tools of leverage. This can also be useful say.. In a crisis .. Especially in poor communities and countries. By using this formula that justifies the effort for control. You can use preferred indoctrinated values placed on a group to reinforce this justification. Creating a dissonance that allows them to start dehumanizing the value of certain groups. Usally and mostly by class and money. Over long periods of time. It's then easier to take advantage of disasters ( wild fires 🔥..Tornadoes) and use the "shock doctrine" in plans just in case any convenient opportunities arise. To control desired results that would otherwise be abhorrent by playing to the superiority complexes created for this reason in this political structure. I just watched the 3rd episode of Painkiller on Netflix. About the Sacklers and the opiod epidemic. ( which can be used as another form of manipulation but thats later) I digress. In it they reveal an old CIA targeting strategy called M I C E M. oney I. deology C. ohersion E. go ☝️Sound familiar? Leverage.... This is just one of the examples of targeted psychological operations. That uses all this leverage I have explained above. Especially when the pull of crowd and group psychology take hold. This way of influencing dissonance resolution or.. Or influencing.. "direct problem solving" Which.. "When it is impossible we may resort to the coping behaviour called 👉compensation.👈 We look for ways to make up for our inferiority" Like when your ego looks for ways to justify your actions to alter your Super Egos perception of morality .. To compensate for whatever inferiority complexes you are mandated to have by a dominance hierarchy social structure. That in the right hands with the right targeted plan complimented by the tactics of Bernays PR and classic tactics that take advantage of these things like the "greater good." ... can not only shape the future that we want and set self ideals but also pull us in any direction they want 😉 you to go. By taking advantage of the mechanisms of inferiority the system creates. Which my friends is a self feeding loop of guilt.. hate ..weakness points that becomes self censoring obedience. In exchange for not facing thier inferiorities and thier insecurities about them. So... I suggest you watch this video a couple times or you will be even more inferior to people who have this knowledge. 😉 Much love❤ Academy of Ideas. Your work is excellent always.

What an absolute genius.

Dear Sir, chapeau you certainly explained very well the main concept of Adlers Psychology! with this video you certainly hit a lot of peoples weak point and by summarizing you did a well job addressing also todays problems even if you did that quite fast! 🧐

This video made want to do something productive until my inferiority complex arose when Alfred Alder called me a bum which I was already conscious of.

Adler thoughts are my therapy

These hit hard. P.S if you ever need an alternate Voice Over for these, I'll happily help out.

great video. i am reading adler now and this video is great add on for me...thank you

A wonderfully clear explanation, thank you!

Watts said something along the lines of, how willing you are to turn into dust is a measure of how alive you are. He also said a secure mind is in a state of decay

Cheers. That filled in a blank for me.

There is too much safeguarding to the extent that inferiority complex has become cultural and commercial. Virtual, superficial self-ideals.

Adler “every lifestyle is adequate until life presents it with a task it is not prepare for” Wouldn’t the best lifestyle be the one that reduces the number of unprepared tasks closer to zero?

The misery of our comfort zone. Quite an observation.