Humans are social and hierarchical species. They can’t stop comparing themselves with others to know where they lie on the social hierarchy.
When they make an upward social comparison, i.e., when they encounter someone who’s ‘above’ them or better than them in some vital way, they feel inferior.
You’ll always find someone better than you at something, no matter how good you are. So, feelings of inferiority are common. They motivate us to become better.
Inferiority complex
A person has developed an inferiority complex when they experience persistent feelings of inferiority and inadequacy. These feelings impair their lives far from being a motivation for positive change.
People with an inferiority complex are likely to suffer from:
- Low self-esteem
- Social anxiety
- External locus of control (propensity to blame external vs. internal factors)
- Superiority complex (overcompensation for inferiority)
Taking the inferiority complex test
This test consists of 20 items on a 5-point scale ranging from Strongly agree to Strongly disagree. It’s based on the common signs of inferiority. Your results only appear to you, and we don’t store them in our database.
