DREIKURS, RUDOLF

born Feb. 8, 1897, Vienna, Austria died May 25, 1972, Chicago, Ill., U.S. American psychiatrist and educator who developed the Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler's system of individual psychology into a pragmatic method for understanding the purposes of reprehensible behaviour in children and for stimulating cooperative behaviour without punishment or reward. After training at the University of Vienna (M.D., 1923), Dreikurs developed, in collaboration with Adler, clinics for child guidance, alcoholics, and psychopaths, as well as doing mental-hygiene and welfare work. Emigrating to the United States in 1937, he taught psychiatry and founded the Alfred Adler Institutes of individual psychology in Chicago and Tel Aviv, Israel.