In Vienna during the mid-1920's, Adler and his team of individual psychologists devoted their intensive research to educational counseling. The result and foundation of this social engagement is the work Menschenkenntnis (Knowledge of Human Nature). In it Adler shows what motivates human behavior in an attempt to further understand it. With this intention the first part of the work addresses basic anthropological issues such as the social nature of the soul, how a child is influence by his surroundings, and the relationship between the sexes. In the second part, Adler sets the essence and origin of the human character at the center and analyses various personality traits, as well as separating and connecting emotions. German text.