The Inferiority Complex

When in a group, have you ever felt that you are somehow inferior to your peers? That you are somehow inadequate and maybe a loser in life?

 That feeling of inferiority is what we are going to address in this blog. Since we cannot be perfect in all the fields and succeed in all our endeavors, we are obviously going to be bad at many things. These inadequacies can bring in us a sense of inferiority, especially when surrounded by people superior to us in that field.

 

But most of us can cope with that feeling. For some, it acts as a source of motivation to work harder in life. But many a time, people cannot cope with that feeling, and hence, they ignore that painful feeling. When this sense of scarcity is not dealt with rightly, it becomes a psychological problem, namely, the "Inferiority complex."

 

Introduction

 

The founder of the school of individual psychology, Alfred Adler, defines inferiority complex as "a combination of an erroneous belief of an individual that they are unable to cope with some aspect of life because of a real or imagined physical or psychological deficiency, feelings of depression, and a cessation of coping efforts in that area."

 

It's important to note that the deficiency causing the complex can be both real and imaginary. This shows that many a time, we are very self-conscious and over-critical of ourselves. The aspects which we see as inadequacies in ourselves might not be an inadequacy at all.

 

Adler further believed that the roots of this complex lay in one's upbringing as a child (being constantly unfavorably compared to the neighbor's kid), physical or mental limitations (being teased for one's short height), or lower social status (being served in different utensils because of one's lower caste).

 

Understanding further

 

Now that we have a decent idea of what the inferiority complex is about, let's dive deeper and analyze the complex further.

 

Let's start by understanding how this complex develops. Let's take an example to understand it better.

Ram is an 8-year old boy living in a decent city. He is above average in all his academic subjects and extra-curricular activities except one- music. He finds it difficult to relate a tune to its notes and has a hard time grasping the notes of a song. His parents are well-versed with music and can play multiple instruments like piano, guitar, harmonium, and drums. Seeing their offspring failing in music is a deal-breaker for them. Hence, they regularly taunt and scold him, expecting that scolding and hammering the notes into Ram's head would help. They constantly compare him with his cousins, who could play the piano at a very early age. 

 

This taunting, hostile environment gives birth to a thought in Ram's mind that he is inadequate. That, no matter how much he tries, if he can’t play music and make his parents happy, he would be a loser in life. Suppose, Ram doesn't get any other source of encouragement or motivation from anyone in his life. In that case, this thought of inferiority keeps growing inside, leading to an inferiority complex in adult life. Just because Ram couldn't play music, he feels inadequate and suffers from low self-esteem and self-confidence.

 

The above example illustrates one of the ways through which an inferiority complex develops. As was observed in the story, it's always these subtle environmental factors that lead to such psychological complexes.

 

Noteworthy aspects

 

One of the most common features of these people is that they always need a safety net in life. Due to their sense of inadequacy, they usually lack the courage to try new things in life. They feel that their inferiority will assure their failure; hence trying new or unconventional things doesn't make sense. Therefore, these people usually choose conventional careers (since they can provide traditional success with minimal risk involved) and rarely switch jobs or life partners in their life, even though they might hate that job or life partner.

 

On the positive side, this need for a safety net makes these people risk-averse. Hence, these people do good in fields where risk must be kept at a minimum, and a protocol must be followed.

Interestingly, though these people often repel change in life, they would accept the change if it comes as an order from a superior figure. Because their lack of self-esteem stops them from questioning the superior figure, they believe that the superior person must be correct to suggest the change.

 

 

Their inferiority usually makes them underperform in their various endeavors. Since success and positive reinforcement is so little in their lives, they naturally develop a bit of envy for successful people. Even though these people may have superior skills, their strong sense of inadequacy makes them believe they are inferior to those successful people. This envy can be fueled by what is known as the opposite of self-serving bias.

 

A self-serving biased person attributes the successes to himself while attributes the failures to their external environment. The person also believes that others' successes are due to external factors. In contrast, others' failures are due to their faults.

But as we saw, things are different for people with an inferiority complex. Due to low self-confidence, these people have shallow expectations and tend to believe everyone else is better than them. This makes them attribute their success to external factors like luck while attributing others' success to their skills and effort. 

 

Some of these people also suffer from anxiety and depression. This is mainly due to a lack of success or reward, which leads to low dopamine levels (the happiness hormone). Since these people rarely succeed, they also have low expectations for the future. Hence, they lack hope as well, which is very important for a healthy state of mind.

 

Conclusion

 

Inferiority complex is one of the most common psychological problems in today's world. Social media and the world of the internet have just fueled the problem further. But that doesn't mean that it can't be dealt with.

 

On some level, having a sense of inferiority always keeps your ego grounded and makes you work hard in life. But to avoid falling into the complex, we need to keep some points in mind.

Firstly, know and realize that no man is perfect. Everyone has got some strengths and some weaknesses. And you might be glorifying a person's life by only seeing his success and neglecting his countless failures. So, don't be too hard on yourself and keep working on building your skills because, after all, life is a journey and not a destination.

 

Secondly, make sure you keep getting feedback for your work. Positive feedback can motivate you to keep going, and a negative one can help you improve on your mistakes. Hence, make sure you get both kinds of feedback.

 

Thirdly, remember that all of us go through ups and downs in life. So, if you ever feel that you are inferior to people around you, remind yourself that it just might not be your day. Life never stops, and opportunities never cease from occurring. So, take a breather and wait for your chance to shine.

 

And lastly, remember that acknowledgement of a problem is the first step of the solution. So, don’t get demotivated if you realize that you have an inferiority complex. This mere acknowledgment can help you try to find ways to compensate for the complex. Identifying and dealing with your shortcomings is an integral part of the spiritual journey of exploring yourself. So, keep exploring yourself and never fear of what you find.