Alfred Adler (1870–1937), the Austrian physician and founder of Individual Psychology, understood motivation as fundamentally goal-directed rather than driven primarily by instinctual forces, proposing that human behaviour is shaped by purposeful striving to overcome feelings of inferiority and to achieve significance, competence, and belonging within the social world (Adler, 1927/1954).
According to Adler, psychopathology develops when individuals adopt mistaken lifestyles and maladaptive fictional goals, often rooted in early childhood experiences of inferiority, discouragement, or inadequate social interest (Gemeinschaftsgefühl), resulting in excessive self-focus, avoidance, and compensatory behaviours instead of cooperative engagement with others (Ansbacher & Ansbacher, 1956).
Adler’s ideas were further developed by Rudolf Dreikurs (1897–1972), who emphasised encouragement and social connectedness in education and psychotherapy, and by Heinz and Rowena Ansbacher, whose translations and commentaries made Adler’s work more widely accessible.
From a Christian perspective, Adler’s emphasis on human dignity, community, encouragement, responsibility, and service resonates with Biblical teaching that people are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27), are called to love God and neighbour (Matthew 22:37–40), and are to consider others above themselves (Philippians 2:3–4). His concept of social interest aligns with the New Testament ideal of self-giving love (agapē) expressed in passages such as Galatians 5:13–14 and John 13:34–35.
Nevertheless, Christian theology differs from Adler by locating the deepest source of human brokenness in sin and alienation from God (Romans 3:23; Genesis 3), rather than primarily in inferiority and discouragement, and by affirming that lasting transformation is achieved through God's grace and redemption in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8–10; 2 Corinthians 5:17), rather than through psychological insight and social encouragement alone.
Adler offers one of the most direct psychological accounts of personal life strategies, arguing that each individual develops a distinctive style of life (Lebensstil), a coherent cognitive and behavioural pattern established primarily in early childhood through which the person interprets experience, pursues personally significant goals, compensates for feelings of inferiority, and navigates perceived threats and opportunities (Adler, 1927/1954, 1931).
According to Adler, people are fundamentally goal-directed rather than merely driven by past events, with behaviour shaped by subjective meanings and "fictional final goals" that organise perception, decision-making, and action. Healthy life strategies are characterized by social interest (Gemeinschaftsgefühl), cooperation, courage, responsibility, and contribution to the common good, whereas maladaptive strategies emerge when individuals seek superiority through self-centredness, avoidance, domination, or overcompensation for perceived inadequacy.
His theory remains highly relevant to the life strategy concept because it integrates cognition (beliefs, interpretations, purposes), behaviour (habitual patterns of action), motivation (goal orientation), and social context into a unified account of how people intentionally (or often unconsciously) construct enduring approaches to life's developmental tasks of work, friendship, and love.
Adler's emphasis on purpose, responsibility, community, and concern for others resonates strongly with Biblical teachings that believers are created for good works (Ephesians 2:10), are to "look not only to [their] own interests, but also to the interests of others" (Philippians 2:3–4), and are called to love their neighbour (Matthew 22:37–40). His concept of social interest parallels aspects of the Christian understanding of love (agapē), mutual service, and the common good (Galatians 5:13–14), themes richly developed in the theology of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, both of whom viewed rightly ordered love of God and neighbour as foundational to human flourishing.
Nevertheless, Christian theology also offers important critiques of Adler's framework by maintaining that, as we have seen, the deepest problem of the human condition is not simply inferiority or discouragement but sin and alienation from God (Romans 3:23), and that authentic transformation ultimately depends upon divine grace through Christ rather than solely on psychological insight, encouragement, or social connectedness (Ephesians 2:8–9).
Consequently, Adler's account provides a valuable psychological model for understanding personal life strategies while remaining incomplete from a Christian worldview, which situates human purpose, identity, and flourishing within humanity's relationship with God and the redemptive work of Christ.