Editing Superiority complex (section)

{{Short description|Psychological defense mechanism articulated by Alfred Adler}}
{{use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
A '''superiority complex''' is a [[defense mechanism]] that develops over time to help a person cope with feelings of inferiority.<ref name=":2">{{cite book |ref=Adler1 |last=Adler |first=Alfred |author-link=Alfred Adler |date=1917 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IXSbtSZGZJAC |title=The Neurotic Constitution: Outlines of a Comparative Individualistic Psychology and Psychotherapy |translator=Bernard Glueck and John E. Lind |location=[[New York City | New York]] |publisher=Moffat, Yard & Co |page=xvii |quote=... so the traits of character, especially the neurotic ones, serve as a psychic means and form of expression for the purpose of entering into an account with life, for the purpose of assuming an attitude, of gaining a fixed point in the vicissitudes of life, for the purpose of reaching that security-giving goal, the feeling of superiority.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite dictionary |title=superiority complex|dictionary=[[American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]]|edition=5th|date=2018 |url=https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=superiority+complex|access-date=5 October 2020}}</ref> The term was coined by [[Alfred Adler]] (1870–1937) in the early 1900s, as part of his school of [[individual psychology]].

Individuals with a superiority complex typically come across as supercilious, haughty, and disdainful toward others. They may treat others in an imperious, overbearing, and even aggressive manner.{{sfn|Adler|1917|loc=p. 327 "Usually one sees deviations and circuitous paths in following which the sadistic trait seems wholly or in part lost. In this way the neurotic succeeds in gaining superiority over the weak, or he operates on this new line so skillfully as to manage to set up an aggression which enables him to dominate and torture others."}}<ref>{{Cite dictionary|title=superiority complex|url=https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/superiority+complex|access-date=5 October 2020|dictionary=[[Stedman's Medical Dictionary |Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing]]|quote=...a constellation of behaviors–eg, aggressiveness, assertiveness, self-aggrandization, etc, which may represent overcompensation for a deep-rooted sense of inadequacy.}}</ref>

In everyday usage, the term is often used to refer to an overly high opinion of oneself.