Projected Inferiority
Projected Inferiority is a proposed composite bias in which internal insecurity is redirected outward as criticism, diminishment, or contempt toward another person’s competence.
| Projected Inferiority | |
|---|---|
| Field | Cognitive psychology; social comparison; defensive behavior |
| Author | Andrew Lehti |
| Status | Proposed composite bias |
| Related framework | Cognitive Impasse |
| Related concepts | Imposing Inferiority, Projection and Imposition of Inferiority Bias, Social Comparison, Impostor Feelings |
Projected Inferiority describes the outward expression of internal inadequacy. Instead of improving one’s own standard, the person lowers the target through nitpicking, motive-impugning, contempt, or dismissal.
Within Cognitive Impasse, Projected Inferiority protects self-image. The other person’s competence becomes painful because it reveals a comparison the observer does not want to face.
The bias damages collaboration by turning another person’s success into a perceived threat.
See also
- Imposing Inferiority
- Projection and Imposition of Inferiority Bias
- Cognitive Impasse
- Enforced Sameness
References
| Cognitive Biases | |
|---|---|
| Biases | Confirmation Bias · Status Quo Bias · Authority Bias · Negativity Bias · Optimism Bias · Self-Serving Bias · Overconfidence Bias · Publication Bias · Source Attribution Bias |
| Effects | Dunning-Kruger Effect · Backfire Effect · Bandwagon Effect · Social Proof · Pluralistic Ignorance · Learned Helplessness · Normalization of Deviance |
| Composite biases | Academic Distorting Bias · Always Has Been Bias · Ancestral Default · Anticipatory Compliance · Autonormia · Bleak Retrospection · Brevity Bias · Cognitive Dissonance Avoidance · Dismissal Bias · Dystopian Forecasting · Enforced Sameness · Galileo Dismissal · Galileo Gambit · Habitual Inertia · Imposing Inferiority · Infamication · Invulnerability Bias · Microblindness · Normative Reflex · Programmed Emotion Bias · Projected Inferiority · Projected Introspection · Projection and Imposition of Inferiority Bias · Proper Channels Bias · Sympathy Bias · Utopian Forecasting |
| Framework terms | Cognitive Impasse · Cognitive Bias Reinforcement · Cognitive Inertia · Imposition and Projection · Manifested Responses · Selective-Mindedness · Semmelweis Reflex · Standardized Obedience |