Alfred Adler and Karen Horney I agree with Alfred Adler when he states that a sense of inferiority drives people to succeed. I can relate to this theory because I am very affected by others’ actions around me. If somebody that I idolize is prospering in a certain area, I may feel inferior and strive to meet his or her level. For example, when running with a partner who is faster than me, I always push myself and increase my pace significantly. Many people are driven by comparison—they continually measure their own abilities against others’, experiencing a decrease in self-esteem when they perceive themselves as inferior. This idea rings true for me and is present in my life. To bring Adler’s theory into a modern context, I notice my friends comparing their physique to supermodels’. Essentially, they are comparing themselves to the incomparable; most photos in magazines have been doctored and these models are astonishingly thin. Consequently, they internalize their perceived flaws and feel inherently inferior, developing an Inferiority Complex. Adler’s Inferiority Complex is ever present in modern day. This complex can be evoked in someone who lives by the media’s implicit expectations of humans, but also occurs for other reasons. Sometimes, I think I suffer from an Inferiority Complex. Thinking about my upbringing from an Adlerian perspective, my complex may be present because of my position in my family system. I am the first child in my family and I have one sister. This could have been a factor in the development of the complex because when my sister was born, she commanded a lot of attention. My parents began to accommodate her needs and therefore, I assumed that I didn’t deserve the plethora of attention that I was receiving before her birth. Plausibly because of this shift, I began to feel deficient in many areas of my life. I relate to Adler’s theory of Teleology. Though humans may be affected and
