SELF ACCEPTANCE
“An inferiority complex,” and its accompanying deterioration in performance, can be made to order in the psychological laboratory. All you need to do is to set up a “norm” or “average,” then convince your subject he does not measure up. A psychologist wanted to find how feelings of inferiority affected ability to solve problems. He gave his students a set of routine tests. Then he solemnly announced that the average person could complete the test in about one-fifth the time it would really take. When in the course of the test a bell would ring, indicating that the “average man’s” time was up. Some of the brightest subjects were jittery and incompetent indeed, thinking themselves to be morons. Taken from “What’s on Your Mind?” Science Digest (Feb 1952), From the Marriage Affair, edited by J. Allen Peterson (pgs. 52 & 53)
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