Have you ever met a person with an arrogant attitude who seemed to want to convey a high level of false security with their attitude? Just as there are people who have a completely opposite attitude and feel inferior, there are also those who do everything possible to attract attention and show a “confident” attitude, always wanting to appear superior to others. He superiority complex It is an unconscious defense mechanism in which people who suffer from it try to hide their feelings of inferiority by adopting an attitude of arrogance and arrogance. These types of people treat others as if they were inferior to them continually to show them and, above all, to prove to themselves that they are very secure and have great self-confidence when in reality it is quite the opposite.
In this Psychology-Online article about superiority complex: symptoms and treatmentwe are going to learn more about this complex in detail, as well as what its causes are, the most common symptoms and what treatment people who suffer from it should follow to overcome it.
Symptoms and traits of the superiority complex
Some symptoms or characteristics that have in common people with superiority complex are the following:
- They act arrogantly and arrogantly, speaking badly to others and treating them as if they were less than them.
- At times, they can have aggressive attitudes.
- They usually speak to others in a tone of mockery and irony.
- They flaunt everything they have. For example, in economic matters, if things are going well for them, they tend to talk about it and even invent that they have more.
- They tend to brag about their abilities to do one or many things and/or their intelligence by exaggerating it.
- They think that everyone criticizes them and that they are jealous and envious of them.
- They are too proud.
- They always try to judge and impose their own rules and/or points of view on others.
- It is very difficult for them to accept their mistakes and/or ask for forgiveness.
- They always want to attract attention and constantly seek the admiration and recognition of others.
- They tend to always complain about everything, since nothing seems right to them.
Superiority complex: causes
In reality, behind a superiority complex there is a marked inferiority complex that they try to hide at all costs. People who feel superior to others are actually trying to protect themselves from everyone, let’s say they try to defend themselves irrationally and try to be the first to attack so that they don’t get messed with.
There are various reasons why a person can develop a superiority complex, among them is having been humiliated and criticized since childhood, where the person was not taught to face this situation assertively and did not adopt a posture of submission, but on the contrary adopted another equally dysfunctional posture, such as an attitude of superiority to defend oneself.
Another possible cause is that this same complex has been passed from parents to childrenthe son learns to adopt the same behaviors as the father and, in this case, he also adopted this type of defense mechanism.
People who have a superiority complex actually have enormous self-confidence, they have probably been constantly rejected because of their personality, physical characteristics, among other things, by the people closest to them and, therefore, they started to take an attitude of contempt and resentment towards others, appearing grand and confident.
Treatment to overcome the superiority complex
Actually, it is very difficult for people who suffer from this type of complex to accept it and be willing to receive help to overcome it, since, as mentioned above, they are very proud and are not able to see their own weaknesses and defects.
When a person with an inferiority complex asks for help it is because they are really having a hard time, either because thanks to their attitude they have many problems with others or because, deep down, they simply feel too inferior and feel exhausted from pretending. all the time in front of others to be feeling something else.
He psychological treatment To overcome the superiority complex is aimed at the person recognizing that the type of attitudes they are taking are caused by how bad they feel about themselves and the obvious inferiority complex that exists behind it. It is about the person realize how valuable you are without giving so much importance to the internal or external factors that surround you. He is also taught to modify those dysfunctional behaviors that have only brought him more problems and to know that despite not adopting that type of behavior, he is a valuable person, it is not necessary that he has to prove it.
Work is also being done on the increased self-esteem so that you stop having the need to be arrogant and/or aggressive with others or with yourself.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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