I have been asked to discuss with you what are called inferiority complexes. So-called complexes are part of altered personality development, and therefore, are expressions of it. There are many forms of complexes: guilt complexes, superiority complexes, inferiority complexes, etc.
Repression as the Foundation of Complexes
One cannot speak of complexes without first talking about repressions. Repression is one of the most commonly used adjustment mechanisms (called defense mechanisms by Freud) and is developed to handle conflicting situations, that is, situations where there are two irreconcilable desires or where there are two yearnings that compete with each other, or two tendencies that constitute a threat to the image we have of ourselves.
Through the mechanism of repression, desires, impulses, thoughts and yearnings that we consider disturbing or incompatible with what we desire or with what we have been taught should or can be held in consciousness are excluded from the field of conscious perceptions. But these desires, impulses, thoughts and yearnings do not disappear but rather pass into the unconscious field. Thus, through psychological inhibition in memory, they remain inaccessible, unrecognized... as if they did not exist and therefore, do not cause anxiety, nor become unbearable. It is important that we make clear to avoid confusion or misunderstandings that repression does not occur through a deliberate and conscious effort by the person to exclude the unpleasant from consciousness but rather occurs in a totally involuntary, unconscious, automatic way.
Now, just because the impulse is repressed does not mean it loses its dynamic force or tension. On the contrary, the repressed material continues living an underground life... and tries to present itself again, to come to the surface. Thus, there are those who propose that intolerance toward the bad behavior of others often indicates the effort required to repress similar tendencies that the individual does not recognize in himself.
Definition of Complex
Uniting the concept of repression with that of complex, let us say that what is known as a complex is a group of associated ideas or united with common affective elements, which due to their disturbing nature have been repressed. It is these affective elements that give a dynamic character to complexes since they become emotional charges —latent tensions— that lead the person to act emotionally in certain situations, or to express opinions about situations that have no importance for other people because they are seeing those aspects of life in a very peculiar way.
Characteristics of Inferiority Complexes
Some characteristics of inferiority complexes are: we are sensitive to criticism, we react poorly to competition, we tend to criticize and comment on the faults of others but excuse our own, we react exaggeratedly when we are flattered and when we are criticized...
Why Do Feelings of Inferiority Arise?
Both children and adults can have thoughts and attitudes of inferiority regarding themselves. Why does this happen? Psychologist Von Haller suggests that it is because our culture is oriented toward success. Our ambition is to be number 1, in sports, studies, business... we all seek an ideal, and this is healthy, but when we live in a culture oriented toward social triumph then we do not evaluate ourselves using our abilities and potentialities as criteria but rather we do so based on our disadvantages and errors. Sometimes we are so severe with ourselves that we distort our own image. This prevents us from acting and being as we truly are. Or it prevents us from growing and developing our potentialities and abilities because we are convinced that we cannot.
The Relationship with Personal Identity
As we have said many times, everything we learn in psychology about ourselves and how we function is interconnected. The human being is a unique whole, physically, psychologically, socially and spiritually. Therefore, we now need to link repression and inferiority complexes with our own identity. That is, with our own image and perception that we have of ourselves, with our own valuation that we have of ourselves.
Let us remember how the concept we have of ourselves is formed. It is formed when we discover our name and when we respond to it. It is formed according to the qualifiers that the adults around us give us: pretty or handsome, intelligent or not as intelligent as..., naughty, good, affectionate or not, etc. And without understanding exactly what they are telling us, we accept and internalize what they tell us, until later in school and in relationships with other children and other adults we compare what we believed we were with what we are achieving... and from that experience our own identity emerges.
The Path to Personal Success
Finally, studies show that people successful in family, social, work, and community life are those who know themselves best and who are open to that difficult art of drawing experience from everything in life. They are those who have the patience to observe, analyze and solve problems by applying what they have learned to new situations that appear or by discovering new ways to solve problems. These people come from homes where all children are viewed equally, where children are not compared but rather healthy competition is sponsored among them so that each one reaches the maximum of their capacities and abilities taking into account their individual differences. They come from homes where the example of their parents is more important than anything that can be told to them so that they internalize how very important they are.