Meera always felt left out, low and incompetent as a child because her elder siblings were more successful. Now she works extremely hard to be the best in every task she takes up. According to Adler, this behaviour can be explained by :
Meera always felt left out, low and incompetent as a child because her elder siblings were more successful. Now she works extremely hard to be the best in every task she takes up. According to Adler, this behaviour can be explained by :
Options
Official answer
Correct option: (C) Superiority Complex.
Meera's excessive striving to be the best at everything is an overcompensation for her deep-seated childhood feelings of inferiority — according to Alfred Adler, this exaggerated drive to prove superiority is called a superiority complex.
Marking scheme
- 1.1 mark for correctly marking option (C) Superiority Complex.
Hint
Distinguish between the underlying feeling (inferiority) and the resulting overcompensating behaviour (superiority complex) described in the question.
Quick oral answer
According to Adler, Meera's extreme drive to be the best in everything is a superiority complex — an overcompensation for the deep feelings of inferiority she developed in childhood.
Common mistakes
- 1.Picking 'Inferiority Complex' because the question mentions Meera felt inferior as a child, without noticing the question asks about her PRESENT compensatory behaviour.
- 2.Confusing Adler's superiority complex with Freud's fixation, which belongs to psychosexual stage theory, not Adlerian theory.
Analysis and explanation
Alfred Adler's Individual Psychology centres on the idea that people are motivated by feelings of inferiority and the resulting striving for superiority/competence.
Why (C) is correct
- Adler proposed that everyone experiences some inferiority feelings, especially in childhood, which normally lead to healthy compensation.
- When these feelings are intense (as with Meera, who felt 'left out, low and incompetent'), the person may overcompensate by excessively striving to outperform others in every task — this exaggerated striving is the superiority complex.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Fixation (a Freudian concept) refers to being stuck at an earlier psychosexual stage of development, not an adult striving pattern.
- (B) Inferiority Complex describes the underlying feeling of inadequacy itself, not the resulting behaviour of working extremely hard to be the best — Meera's described behaviour is the compensatory response, not the original feeling.
- (D) Regression is reverting to behaviour of an earlier developmental stage under stress, unrelated to consistently striving to excel.
Interesting facts
Alfred Adler broke away from Freud's Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1911 partly because he rejected Freud's emphasis on sexual drives, focusing instead on social interest and striving for superiority.
Adler coined the term 'inferiority complex', which has since become one of the most widely used psychological terms in everyday language.
Question details
Q4 of 33 questions
- Board
- CBSE
- Class
- Class 12
- Subject
- Psychology
- Year
- 2026
- Section
- Section A
- Marks
- 1
- Type
- MCQ
- Chapter
- Self and Personality
- Topic
- Adler's Individual Psychology — Superiority Complex
- Bloom's level
- apply
- Syllabus topic
- Unit 2: Self and Personality — Neo-Freudian/Psychodynamic Approach (Adler's Individual Psychology)
- Author
- CBSE
- Reviewed by
- Padhantu Academic Team
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Frequently asked questions
What is a superiority complex according to Adler?
A superiority complex is an exaggerated striving to prove oneself better than others, developed as an overcompensation for deep, often childhood-rooted, feelings of inferiority.
Is superiority complex the same as high self-esteem?
No. Superiority complex is a defensive overcompensation masking underlying inferiority feelings, whereas genuine high self-esteem reflects a stable, realistic positive self-evaluation without an underlying insecurity driving it.