Generality
Egocentrism is a psychic condition characterized by the tendency to see the world exclusively from one's own point of view, without leaving space to the opinions of others.
This attitude can be considered a cognitive error, as it leads to a restriction of our perception, due to the fact that we can only see the world from our point of view. Egocentrism can have negative consequences of varying intensity in relational and social contexts.
An extremely self-centered form of behavior can evolve towards more or less pathological forms of narcissism . In this case, a useful approach to overcoming this attitude is psychotherapy.
Possible causes
All people tend to be more or less self-centered in their own way of thinking and evaluating the situations they face during their lives. In a sense, egocentrism can therefore be considered an absolutely normal phenomenon.
Childhood egocentrism and cognitive development
During childhood, from three to seven years of age, each of us faces this cognitive process, reasoning and evaluating the things that happen from our personal point of view. This behavior is aimed at seeing the world with itself at the center and makes it incapable of differentiating one's perspective from that of others. The child believes that everything is due to him and uses the information at his disposal to satisfy his own needs, as if they had an absolute and urgent value.
Only by maturing and developing his cognitive abilities over time, towards the adolescent period, is the subject able to depart from this partial vision of reality and is able to consider points of view different from his own, beginning to feel empathy .
Egocentrism can also be found in adults, especially in the case of prolonged stress or in situations of great euphoria.
"Pathological" egocentrism
When it reaches extreme levels, however, egocentrism is to be considered as a cognitive error, which excludes the possibility of considering things by putting oneself in others' shoes: the individual tends to the immediate satisfaction of the drives and instincts, without taking into account the limits imposed by the surrounding environment and the needs of others.
In the adult, this attitude represents the need to feel at the center of every situation, including the sentimental and professional one. Being self-centered can make you lose friends, significant ties and opportunities for personal growth.
How it manifests itself - Symptoms
Egocentrism is characterized by the absolute prevalence of an individual over others, associated with neglect of others. In fact, those who present egocentric traits behave as if they were at the center of the universe and never put themselves in other people's shoes.
Moreover, these subjects can become irritated when others cannot see things from their point of view or do not want to accept it unconditionally. In egocentrism, in fact, there is a tendency to believe that one's own opinions (or one's own interests) are more important than those of others.
One of the risks that can derive from this behavior is that of excluding others from one's own existence: the self-centered person is attentive only to his own needs, seems to ignore the thoughts of others and fails to grasp or consider the point of view of the rest of the world. This can lead to isolation, since socialization has sharing and communication as its focal point, and therefore the ability to accept the opinions of others.
When egocentrism evolves in an extreme and exaggerated way, resulting in narcissism, the opinion of others is completely left aside.
Difference between egocentrism and narcissism
When we talk about an egocentric person, we tend to think that he is also a narcissist. In reality, these two terms are different from each other and do not always denote a negative characteristic of the person in question.
Unlike what happens in egocentrism, those affected by narcissism understand the perspective of others, but do not consider it important.
The need for the narcissist is to be recognized and admired in an extreme form, even using others to achieve this form of complacency. In extreme cases, narcissism leads to the exploitation of others to obtain one's interests.
Diagnosis
Self-centeredness can have negative consequences in the social sphere, especially if attention is not paid to others. However, this behavior cannot be considered pathological, although it can manifest itself according to different degrees of intensity.
Egocentrism can occur in different clinical pictures, such as autism and narcissistic personality disorder.
Egocentrism: what to do
As for the possible interventions to correct and overcome egocentrism, it is possible to try to broaden and articulate one's own perspective, but this costs a certain effort on the part of the subject, since it implies a departure from the usual cognitive functioning.
The most resistant to change cases can be addressed with the help of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy.
The goal of this intervention is to:
- Investigate the origins of one's self-centered behavior;
- Try to develop empathy, training your thoughts to look at things from another perspective;
- Building a solid sense of self, without this depending on the approval or attention of others;
Develop the awareness of being self-centered and try to put yourself in others' shoes, thinking about what consequences your behavior could bring to social interactions.
