overkompensation

Overcompensation is an exaggerated response to a perceived deficit or insecurity, in which a person attempts to cover up limitations by emphasizing or exaggerating opposite strengths. The concept is used across psychology, behavioral sciences, and related fields to describe how individuals cope with feelings of inferiority or failure. It is typically distinguished from ordinary compensation by the degree and visibility of the response.

In psychology, overcompensation is often linked to feelings of inferiority identified by Alfred Adler as a driver of striving and behavior. When inferiority is perceived as overwhelming, a person may respond by overemphasizing competence, achievement, or dominance in other areas. Manifestations include arrogance, boastfulness, hypersensitivity to criticism, perfectionism, or compulsive status-seeking. While can be adaptive in some contexts, it can also lead to interpersonal conflicts and a fragile sense of self.

Outside psychology, the term appears in control theory and physiology. In control systems, overcompensation occurs when a controller overreacts to a disturbance, producing an overshoot or sustained oscillations. In physiology or endocrinology, it can describe a process that overshoots a homeostatic set point after a perturbation.

In clinical and social contexts, overcompensation is not a formal diagnosis but a mechanism observed in personality development and behavior. Understanding it involves examining underlying insecurities, coping styles, and the situational demands that shape how a person responds. Treatments, when needed, focus on balancing coping strategies and addressing core beliefs, often through psychoeducation and cognitive-behavioral approaches. See also: compensation, defense mechanisms.