Egocentrism in psychology. What is it, definition, how does it differ from selfishness, reasons, how to get rid of

Consultation “Manifestation of children’s egocentrism from the practice of a teacher”

Elena Yarovaya

Consultation “Manifestation of children’s egocentrism from the practice of a teacher”

Egocentrism in preschool children is a fairly common phenomenon, and it is due to the fact that the child is not able to recognize the fact of the existence of other people’s points of view. manifestations of children's egocentrism , and it is very important to stop its development in time, until the greatness of one’s own “I”

did not cause interpersonal conflicts.

At the moment, while working in the garden, I often encounter egocentrism . This topic is very interesting and important at the same time. I will give an example from personal experience. A boy, 5 years old, tells me: “Elena Alexandrovna, put my things in the closet!”

.
Not only did “please
,” he expressed it in a demanding form. To which I answer him:
“Then you will remove my things.”
He answers me:
“No, I will not clean up!
These are your things, so you put them away!” .
Everything is logical. But at the same time he doesn’t want to put his things away. As a result, after the conversation, he agreed with me that he cleans his things himself. I won’t say that he folded them correctly and neatly. Children's egocentrism of thinking is also manifested in the fact that the child is not able to see the world around him through someone else's eyes, to understand how another person sees the world around him. This happens because the child’s cognition is focused only on his own position and goals, only on his own aspirations and experiences, and it is not clear to him that a different position and other goals are possible. A person who is characterized by egocentrism , as a rule, does not adapt well to society, is conflicted, or withdrawn, and does not know how to work in a team. Children are characterized by egocentrism and therefore parents must take care in time to rid the child of egocentrism and help him move to the stage of decentration. That is, when a child realizes that other people can see the world in their own way, that his point of view is not the only possible one. Children's egocentrism is based on the child's personal desires, which were previously always indulged by parents, but now face obstacles. If parents continue to indulge the child’s opinions and desires, then his egocentrism gains strength . To save a child from egocentrism , it is necessary to show him, at the level of words and actions, that he is not the only one whose opinions, desires and views are correct. We all understand that we have a huge responsibility for the health of our children, and we also need to fight bad habits and self-centeredness . After all, what will happen next to this child in adulthood? Although my opinion is that there are some things that are very difficult to convey to children in preschool age. But after a few years, when the child’s worldview has more or less developed, the social environment has changed, and many other factors influencing his development as an individual, he will change his point of view on many things in his life.

What is egocentrism in psychology?

The word egocentrism itself consists of two components:

• “ego” - translated from Greek meaning “I”;
• "centrism" - derived from the Latin centrum, meaning the center of a circle.

Accordingly, it is not difficult to understand the meaning of this definition - it means that an individual, a personality, is focused only on himself, his thoughts, feelings and needs, the inability to accept and understand the point of view or opinion of other people, the perception of his person as the center of the universe.

Due to age-related characteristics, such a way of thinking is typical for children under 10-12 years of age, as well as old people, as a result of age-related changes in brain activity. However, sometimes mature adults also adhere to this philosophy of life.

They are strongly focused on their experiences, have their own special worldview, the center of which they see themselves. Self-centered people do not consider it necessary to listen to anyone, be it relatives or strangers, do not respect other people's personal boundaries and are not able to put themselves in the shoes of others and empathize.

It seems to them that only they can have life’s problems and difficulties, and if they achieve success, the help of other people, if any, is completely devalued, and there is an even greater increase in the sense of self-importance and vanity. Such people are very fixated on their experiences, which increases the gap with the real world and reality.

What is the difference between egocentrism and narcissism?

Another concept similar to egocentrism is narcissism.

There are certain similarities between them:

• inability to empathize with others;
• concentration on one's opinions;
• denial of other people's needs;
• important decisions are made based on one’s own needs;
• excessive worries about how others evaluate them.

However, with narcissism, other traits are clearly visible:

• pretentiousness towards others (the feeling that everyone owes him);
• demonstrative behavior, positioning oneself as an important or very extraordinary person;

• need for admiration (the main difference from the egocentric);
• blatant manipulation of people for one's own interests;
• false ideas about yourself and presenting yourself as an exceptionally beautiful, smart, successful and strong person.

The influence of egocentric behavior

Self-centered people experience difficulties communicating with other people, which, of course, affects different areas of their lives - in their careers, in their families, and when building friendly relationships. Their bias often leads to conflict, and their inability to empathize and accept other points of view pushes people away.

Self-centeredness negatively affects:

• formation of trusting relationships;
• personal life (closeness and intimacy);
• teamwork;
• making decisions.

Difficulties arise not only for a self-centered person, but also for his close circle, which is unable to resist his destructive traits. If loved ones fall under the influence of such a person, they can become insecure, complex, and alienated.

Conclusions of Jean Piaget

Egocentric speech was first identified by Jean Piaget. He assumed that by analyzing children's egocentric speech one can understand the child's way of thinking. He also revealed that adult and child speech have several functions, and conveying one’s thoughts to the interlocutor is only one of them. As a result of experiments, J. Piaget concluded that a child has two types of speech: egocentric - for himself and socialized - for communicating with others.

Common Egocentric Traits

Egocentrism in psychology is a special worldview by an individual of himself as the central link of the world around him. Many people tend to exhibit egocentrism to one degree or another.

However, true egocentrics may exhibit several or even all of the traits of an egocentric personality:

• the effect of false agreement - it is typical for egocentric people to overestimate the points of view of other people. They tend to believe that the interlocutor must certainly agree with them, as if he does not have his own opinion, or, at least, have similar views on things to them;
• suppression of knowledge - if we are talking about some things or phenomena that the egocentric person is well versed in, then most likely he will conduct the conversation in a haughty manner, with some disdain, not taking into account the difference that may exist in knowledge between him and the interlocutor. If he is not strong in some topic, he will treat the conversation with indifference, demonstrating his disinterest and devaluing the discussion or experience of other people;
• a sense of transparency - egocentrics believe that other people see their emotional state in various situations, and therefore must adjust their behavior in accordance with their expectations;
• spotlight effect - this is a widespread phenomenon in psychology, characterized by the fact that a person (egocentric) greatly overestimates the degree to which other people perceive, evaluate and remember his appearance and actions.

  In other words, this is a person’s sincere conviction that close social attention is directed specifically to him.

How to help an egocentric person?

Dealing with an egocentric person can sometimes be quite difficult, but if you want to help a loved one, you should concentrate on the following aspects:

• do not make open negative claims against your partner;
• try to criticize actions, not the person himself;
• try to delicately find out the reasons for self-centered behavior (perhaps it is an inferiority complex, an unresolved conflict or the influence of life’s troubles);
• try to bring a self-centered person into a confidential conversation. Since egocentric people love to talk about themselves, it is important to use this moment correctly in a conversation and convey to the person the idea of ​​the need to work on themselves.

Often the core of the problem will have childhood roots. In this case, it will help to analyze the situation with a psychologist, with whom you can work through childhood problems that force a person to focus on himself and neglect others.

Vygotsky's studies

Russian psychologist Lev Semenovich Vygotsky did not agree with J. Piaget. According to his theory about the nature of egocentric speech, this is part of the process of internalization of actions, that is, their movement from the external environment into mental speech. In the example, the internalization process occurs as follows:

1. A child hears from an adult: you can’t touch the socket - Uncle Tok will bite you there.
2. Seeing the socket, the baby says to himself, without the need to be heard: you can’t touch it, Uncle Tok is there.
3. When he sees the socket, the baby already in internal speech tells himself that the socket cannot be touched.

How can an egocentric person help himself?

If a person is aware of his problem, then he can help himself with the help of self-conviction:

• realize that each person is a separate individual, a person with his own different needs, interests and beliefs;
• it is important to learn to respect the freedom of each individual (thoughts, actions, decisions);
• it is necessary to respect generally accepted norms of behavior that set the limits of what is permitted in terms of violating personal boundaries;
• you should try to change your behavior and thinking in accordance with such truths;
• you should not give advice and recommendations if no one asked me for it;
• you should not devalue the experience and feelings of other people, it is better to try to put yourself in their place and try to feel their emotions;
• you need to learn to calmly accept criticism and realize your problem;
• you can try to be interested in the lives of other people;
• When discussing any problem, try to hear different points of view;
• try to do something useful for society (volunteering, helping animals), which will help develop a sense of empathy.

Types of egocentrism

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