[In the following review, Blumer provides an assessment of three Adlerian themes: the inferiority feeling, the life-pattern, and the nature of character.]

Of all psychiatrists Dr. Adler seems to be most akin to sociologists in spirit and perspective. In earlier works he has shown a keen appreciation of the rôle of social relations in personal development; in [Understanding Human Nature], which is constructed out of a series of popular lectures, we have the simplest and clearest picture of these views.

Amid a wealth of varied and valuable discussion his central theses are easily isolated. They are essentially three: the basic importance of the inferiority feeling, the presence in each of us of a life-pattern, and the appearance of character traits as expressions of the life-pattern. The conception of the inferiority relation scarcely needs any stating.

Every child acquires a feeling of inferiority because of "his inability to cope single-handed with the challenges of his existence." From this feeling of inferiority arises the life-pattern. The feeling of inferiority "determines the very goal of his existence and prepares the path along which this goal may be reached." 'I t is this goal which gives value to our sensations, which links and co-ordinates our sentiments, which shapes our imagination and directs our creative powers, determines what we shall remember and what we must forget;.… our very perceptions are prejudiced by it, and are chosen, so to speak, with a secret hint at the final goal toward which the personality is striving." It results that the individual shows an enduring behavior pattern throughout life, even though the situations encountered vary greatly. The medical implication of this view is apparent. The neurotic is one who has an unsatisfactory and unsocial life-pattern; he is cured by revealing to him this unconscious life-pattern and by aiding him to construct a new goal or pattern. Traits of character—such as vanity, hate, anxiety, cheerfulness, joy, anger, and disgust—are "only the external manifestation of the style of life, of the behavior pattern of any individual." These traits are not inborn but are forced into being by the secret goal of the personality.

This short presentation scarcely does justice to the discriminating and thorough treatment given these views by Dr. Adler, but it will suffice to indicate the general tenor of the work. Dr. Adler's view of the inferiority complex is well known; it has run the gauntlet of criticism, but alas, has emerged untested. What truth it contains is still a matter of controversy. It seems to the reviewer that Dr. Adler errs in attributing the appearance of the inferiority feeling to the helplessness of the infant. To feel one's self inferior presupposes that one views one's inadequacies through the eyes of others. This identification with another marks the birth of personality and is scarcely to be found in the infant. To assign the inferiority feeling to personal experience is sound; to base it on mere physical helplessness is to make it a phenomenon essentially of mammalian life, and not merely human life.

The critical point, as well as the pivot, of the discussion which Dr. Adler gives in this book is constituted by the conception of a life-pattern. The contention that the life of each of us falls into a definite pattern which is formed early and endures unchanged amid great variety in experience is as important as it is startling. Here is a view built out of Dr. Adler's vast clinical experience which cannot be passed over lightly. Unfortunately little concrete material is given to its support in this volume, due, likely, to lack of space. What constitutes the nature of this life-pattern? Is it as unchanging as Dr. Adler tells us? To the reviewer it seems that constancy in personal behavior depends upon the maintenance of a certain conception of one's self, whatever be the complex of psychological factors which is implied by this amorphous concept. To change this pattern one must change one's conception of one's self. Indeed, this seems to be exactly the aim and means involved in the scheme of therapeutics advocated by Dr. Adler for the cure of neuroses. If, however, to change one's conception of one's self is to change one's life-pattern, personal life-patterns presumably are not as crystallized as Dr. Adler thinks.

One is forced to recognize that however amiss his interpretations, Dr. Adler understands human nature in a most intimate way. Probably no other living writer shows a shrewder insight into its character nor a more comprehensive grasp of its elements. His book is replete with keen observations and revealing judgments. The social psychologist who reads this work in a sympathetic mood will garner a rich income.