Napoleon complex

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In the fields of psychology and psychoanalysis, Napoleon complex (or Napoleon syndrome) is a colloquial term used to describe a type of inferiority complex suffered by people who are short. The term is also used more generally to describe people who are driven by a perceived handicap to overcompensate in other aspects of their lives.

Alfred Adler pioneered the psychological work on inferiority complexes, and used Napoléon Bonaparte as an example of someone whom he thought was driven to extremes by a psychological need to compensate for what he saw as a handicap: his small stature (though in actuality, Napoleon's particular shortness is a myth; he was in fact slightly over 168 cm, or 5 ft 6 in, and of average height in his day). Typically people with this complex will compensate in many ways, reaching beyond their personal performance. A person with a Napoleon Complex may set pictures in their home to lower levels and make other such accommodations which will enable them to feel taller in their surroundings.

Compensatory behavior exhibited by those with a Napoleon complex may also include being overly aggressive or argumentative and a need to over-achieve, which all serve to give the person a sense of greater self worth.

An example of somebody with the Napoleon Complex is the character Curley in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Curley finds the need to prove himself by fighting larger men, such as Lenny.

Napoleon complex

See also