Ken Cramer — a finalist in the 2008 “Best Lecturer” competition sponsored by TVO’s Big Ideas — recently delivered a talk on the life and works of Alfred Adler (1870-1937), whom he describes as “the most famous personality theorist you likely never heard of.”

Everyone knows about Alfred Adler’s theories… He gave us the notions of an inferiority complex, his ideas about birth order, the notion of a ‘calling’ in life, the idea that a fully enriched and satisfying life comes through volunteerism… These are all very common place ideas now.

Adler was one of Freud’s first collaborators in psychoanalysis, having been invited to contribute to his evening “Wednesday Society” meetings in 1901. He then later become president of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, before breaking away from Freud in 1911.

Watch the video of Cramer’s talk here. (An MP3 will be posted when one becomes available.)