Why do some people feel superior to others?

Hey, I’m just curious about why some people tend to fake themselves more attractive to others, whether consciously or subconsciously.

I study in a university in Tokyo(I’m japanese but a nationality’s not the cause hopefully…), and I’ve found so many students who are proud of them, too proud to be convinced that everyone is different and they should therefore listen to what others say carefully. It appears to me that they are even psychopathic; I mean, they just insist they are the only ones who are correct in the world, or among their friends, and they deserve priority at any occasion such as when to have a debate. They say lots of pointless and ego-centric opinions which they call “critics”, and therefore it usually ends up with not-constructive and not-organized results with which I am not comfortable sometimes. The topic of debates are sometimes ethical ones such as: “what do you think about having an ability to select your children by their genetical potential?” or like that, and one is supposed to pay attention to everyone and be democratic, but they pretend to be “skeptical”(so they say) only to become too subjective and even ignoring the crucial points, saying like; “it depends”, “it’s none of use to discuss because we, human being become distinct in the future”, “why does it bother even though it’s apparent that it doesn’t happen before we die”, and stuffs like that…

I wrote above a nationality is not the factor, but I seriously doubt it. When I was in Europe or when I chat with someone here, I saw some people who keep listening to me, which is a truly rare occasion I have in japan. And on the internet, I see many Japanese troll and pretend to discuss but pointlessly.

Yeah that’s why I’ve decided to find a place where I can fully express myself and it was found to be english(but I guess it’s also snobbish to give up communicating with people of my own language :/).

I must admit there are some people who are also snobbish and even ignorant other than in Japan, and it’s a kind of human nature somehow, but I then came to think why it happens. Does anyone had any similar experience as I have?

Category: Society & Culture asked October 27, 2013

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hinaggik

6 Answers

I agree completely. At my school over in the USA, there are quite a few people who act like they are better than everyone else, but it has to do with all the politics at the school (the most popular guy in the school has the middle school principle as his dad). But I imagine (and please don't take this badly, not meaning to put you in a box with everyone else.) that over in Japan it has to do with the high standards set by family, everyone wants to prove their worth, and feel that they have to outdo each other to succeed. And since it's the most technologically advanced nation on Earth, I imagine that the competition between peers is high. Over west in the US or Europe, that competition isn't as bad, which explains our why many more people here have a willingness to listen over here. But that's my view on it, so I have no idea if this was helpful or a waste of twenty seconds of your life. I hope this helped though.

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A BiPolar Bear

I think it's somewhat part of being a healthy human being to overestimate how smart, or right you are. If nobody had confidence in their opinions they would get nowhere. However, right now people (especially college aged) are extremely narcissistic. People always think they know the best, or right way to live life and have the best most well informed opinions. It's okay to feel that way to a certain extent, but when people are rude or close minded about other people's opinions and thoughts, it just speaks to their immaturity. People like that usually need to be knocked down a peg, at some point it happens to everyone. They'll go along in their life thinking the way they do, until some day, someone will show them how wrong they are, and it will probably pretty traumatizing for them to see that they could be so wrong about something. I enjoy being the person to inform people like this when they're clearly very, VERY wrong.

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1,447

To A BiPolar Bear,thx for your comment, it was not a waste of a time, actually:) It's really understandable that everyone should rely on their standards which derive from their monetary/cultural wealth and those standards decide where and how each children should study and enjoy the life. I feel sometimes the students around do not have the same opinion as I have, from where to go on a trip to how to spend the money in the future. It's not necessarily because each one is different, but also there seems to be a great gap between them and me - an extraordinary difference between those who have what they deserve and have-nots, like me. I'm not an economist and I can't say it's the effect of somehow "distorted" capitalism in Japan, but sounds interesting.

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hinaggik

I think it's because they just want to be noticed. They maybe don't have any friends so they put up this front to make it look like they're important and better than other people. My favorite artist, Kanye West, talked about this stuff way back in 2004 in one of his songs "All Falls Down". Here's a couple of highlights from the song:
"It seems we living the american dream But the people highest up got the lowest self esteem The prettiest people do the ugliest things For the road to riches and diamond rings"
"We'll buy a lot of clothes when we don't really need em Things we buy to cover up what's inside Cause they make us hate ourself and love they wealth"
That's basically the gist of what I'm trying to say.

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The Lone Helper

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From my point of view, when you put someone on a pedestal, they end up being arrogant and look down on others... But only because they made the choice to and not because they want to help someone. That one way of putting it (my boyfriend does it...)
It could be also that they've achieved a lot in their lifetime and therefore think that they're self entitled... I admit I've done this but learnt the hard way. I've learnt not to treat people that way because I hate how it feels to be looked down on.
Or it could be psychological.. They're a narcissist. Absolutely insecure about themselves so they act all high and mighty to try and fix it.

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-psychedelic90-

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Oh I've got many comments while I was out because of sickness, but I'll try to read and figure all them out in a while… All of the comments seem interesting and worth being considered and I need time for that.

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hinaggik