Eli5: What does Inferiority Complex mean?
In: 0
It’s when someone goes through life believing that they are never good enough.
This often leads to toxic behaviors like overcompensation, depression, self-loathing. etc.
Inferiority complexes are often casually (and often wrongly) attributed to a certain type of person. Imagine a short man who drives a lifted pickup truck, and flashes displays of wealth (fancy toys, lots of cash, designer clothes, etc.), and gets into verbal altercations all the time. One might think “he’s compensating for something”, and that something is a general feeling of inferiority, so he makes it a point to demonstrate signs of superiority and/or success all the time to hide it.
The condition to feel inferior, self conscious, insecure and/or have low self-esteem due to ones own perceived physical abnormalities or lacking social/intellectual capabilities. More often than not, a person with an inferiority complex tends to act, react or respond negatively or with pessimism/aggression to criticism and finds preference in withdrawing from social and confrontational situations.
It’s called a “complex” because its not simple.
If a person felt inferior and always acted inferior and claimed to be inferior, that’s pretty simple.
It’s when it gets hard to sort through all the over compensation and understand the underlying feeling that it becomes complex.
Latest Answers