Sally walks into a room full of high-flying executives. She scans the room with her eyes to see the executives dressed in expensive suits, sipping champagne, and mingling amongst each other. She cannot help but feel "different" to the executives.

She feels the executives are an entire class above her. Maybe it is the executives' suits while she wears a basic top and skirt that makes her feel "below standard". Maybe she has this strange difference because she does not know the executives very well and she feels socializing with them is therefore difficult. Or maybe she has what is known as the "inferiority complex".

In 1912, a psychologist by the name of Alfred Alder wrote a book titledThe Neurotic Character. His research in this book founded a popular area of psychology known as the "inferiority complex" which is a term used to describe a sense of inferiority an individual feels about oneself towards other people. It revolves around social status, inadequacy, power, ego, and dominance. You will have an inferiority complex when you feel less than people. You think other people are better than you.

Sally in our example is likely to feel inferior if she thinks the executives are better than her. Her inferiority has nothing to do with not knowing the executives, being dressed differently, or having a less prestigious job. Rather, her interpretation of this situation that makes her feel "below standard" creates her inferiority.

An inferiority complex can arise when you experience an imagined or conditioned feeling of inferiority. As is the case for most people, it is a combination of imagination and subtle conditioning. You would feel inferior when an event takes place which makes you feel less than others (conditioning aspect) and your creative imagination (imagination aspect) would "blow out" your understanding of the event beyond what would seem reasonable to another person.

The conditioning aspect in Sally's example is her actual differences to the executives. She is wearing different clothes to the executives and she is not "a part of the group" based on her employment status. The imagination aspect for Sally is her clothes are below standards, the executives are better than her, the executives want nothing to do with her because of her difference, plus a lot of other possibilities she is likely to think. There is a big difference between the two which hold the answer to cure your inferiority complex.