Have you ever met a person who has airs and graces? Who has a punitive nature, likes to criticize others and can do nothing but talk about himself, making himself stand out to others (sometimes with questionable methods).
Many may justify this behavior by claiming that this person is nothing more than someone who is ambitious, who has very clear goals and an almost enviable self-confidence.
However, do you think it is necessary to go over the heads of others to prove your worth?
This is a characteristic trait of egocentric people.They believe that the world revolves around them and therefore keep their imaginary audience with them at all times. As if they rule the world just by blinking their eyes.
- You may be interested in: “Histrionic personality: what it is, and its 14 characteristic traits”.
If you know someone with this type of behavior or feel that you have ever leaned towards these, then don’t miss this article where we will talk about egocentric people and what are their main traits.
What is the egocentric personality?
Egocentrism is based on a set of qualities, behaviors and behaviors that we all possess, which is more noticeable during early childhood (as a survival instinct) and adolescence (where the construction of self-identity is sought) and which usually decreases as we grow up. Although it is true that we tend to keep within us some egocentric attributes that allow us to keep our priorities high, as well as elevate self-confidence.
However, the egocentric personality is one of the types of behaviors that can develop in people who have a significant distortion of their influence in the world. They tend to be arrogant, aggressive, oppositional, humiliating, unempathetic, and possess a lack of empathy.They are not very empathic and have desires of greatness and beliefs of superiority in front of others, to the point that they feel they can intervene in the lives of those around them.
Characteristic traits of egocentric persons
Know the traits that this type of person possesses so that you can easily identify them.
1. Feelings of omnipotence
This is the most prominent feature of egocentric people and which refers to those beliefs of greatness and power they possess, by which they feel invincible, powerful and can influence the lives of others with great magnitude. They also believe that their problems are more important than others, their opinions are the only correct ones and their actions can never be judged by others than themselves, yet they feel they have the authority to criticize those around them.
2. Self-image distortion
As mentioned above, some may believe that their traits are nothing more than high self-confidence, but this is completely wrong, as their perception of themselves is unrealistically exaggerated at times. For example, they say they are experts in doing certain things, when in reality they know nothing about it.
3. Need for admiration
The reality of egocentric people is that they feel continuously insecure and doubt everything around them, although of course they are not able to admit it or believe that there is something wrong with their surroundings that is affecting them. So they are always looking for attention, resorting to people they can manipulate or deceive so that they are always praising them, admiring them, reinforcing their lack of self-confidence or do what they say without any objection.
4. Lack of empathy
As they are in the permanent quest for self-aggrandizement, they have no time, nor the slightest interest in showing empathy towards others. So you will not see an egocentric person worry about the problems of others, to support them, to celebrate with them their triumphs or to show affection without getting anything in return (or at least they will not do it in a real way).
They may pretend to be empathetic and help those around them as long as it benefits them, they are more than grateful for it, or they can brag to people about their ‘good deeds’.
5. Inability to recognize the qualities of others
If they have no ability to empathize with people, much less feel the need to recognize their talents, skills or achievements, because egocentric people will always find some negative point or weakness to criticize, discredit or minimize their goals accomplished.
They may even, as in the above case, make the person believe that they have your full support and ‘help’ them only to then steal credit for their success or in the opposite case, blame the person entirely for their failure.
6. They always talk about themselves
This is not surprising, considering all that we have described, however do not think that it is just about putting themselves first of all the time, but their vocabulary seems to be composed only by the word ‘I’. In every sentence they say they are subject, verb and predicate, there is no room for others to play a role and if there is, it has no relevance compared to them.
The biggest problem lies in the fact that, if another person points out this behavior to them or tries to stand up to them, they are harshly punished and rejected, to the point of even making them feel guilty for not understanding. In other words, they have the ability to change things in their favor by using emotional blackmail.
7. False self-confidence
All these feelings and beliefs of greatness is nothing more than a ‘defense mechanism’ to hide the fact that they feel exposed and vulnerable in front of others, especially in situations they cannot control or of which they have no knowledge or ability whatsoever. So their best weapon is to appear superior and assure that because of their many capabilities, this issue is none of their business, just to get rid of it.
So even though on the outside they look confident and can be persuaded by their words, in reality they are trying to escape from their reality of insecurity. This action is known as contrived self-confidence, where they convince themselves of their beliefs that it becomes easy for them to make others believe it too.
8. Hypersensitivity to the evaluation of others.
Because of their growing insecurity and the extreme care they take to ensure that it is not perceived, egocentric people are seriously affected when they are made any kind of comment that they interpret as negative. Whether it’s an insult to the skills they usually tout, a criticism of their work, or a pointing out of an unwelcome attitude, they may exaggerate it and feel it is a direct attack on them.
So they may throw a tantrum, respond with a more aggressive attack, or play the victim to turn the situation in their favor.
9. Excessive self-esteem
Even if they have so many doubts about themselves, are they still capable of having high self-esteem? Of course, but again don’t go by appearances because where they see themselves as almost a role model of self-confidence, this is nothing more than a façade created by contrived self-confidence. In reality they only use this appearance to ward off the suspicions of others as to the truth behind their behavior.
10. Exhibitionist tendencies
Egocentric people do not have any kind of restriction to expose themselves, on the contrary, the more they are seen the better for them, this way they can receive all the praise and admiration they desperately need. So they do everything they can to attract and monopolize the attention generated or not by them, but if that allows them to somehow influence the ideas or actions of others, then they have won the lottery.
It is an extra point that they will not waste, which is why it is common to see these people occupying positions where they must make decisions that in some way affect others, such as entertainment figures or other occupations that bring them closer to the public and allow them to have their full attention.
11. Manipulation or emotional blackmail
In this subject they are quite skilled, since in order to obtain so much interest from those around them, it is necessary to manipulate their feelings for their own convenience and that is why all the actions they perform (even those of false benevolence) is only a strategy to get what they want in return.
They also resort to emotional blackmail to reinforce their fragile self-esteem and to keep others from diverting attention from their need to receive unconditional praise by any means.
12. Poor interpersonal relationships
However, not all people are willing to give their undying devotion or to put up with their whims, so, despite being great experts in attracting attention and emotional manipulators, they have few people around them and do not tend to maintain quality relationships for long, both in the sphere of friendship and in the intimate and even in the family.
In this sense, their relationships tend to be superficial and casual.
13. Enormous ambition and unrealistic expectations
Because they are self-convinced that they are capable of doing thousands of things perfectly and that they are the best choice for anything, they tend to have unrealistic goals that, when they are not able to meet them, they tend to blame others for their failure and even the environment itself.
Although you usually see them going for much more ambitious goals, where they can have a privileged position, of power, with a high economy and a high social status.
14. Hidden envy
It is not unusual for these people to be comparing themselves all the time with those around them to make sure they are better and more valuable than them. But the reality is that they are often envious of your achievements, capabilities and even personalities, although this understanding only occurs in their unconscious.
Reason why they always have something negative to say, while they only accept positive things for themselves.
15. Loneliness and pessimism
Due to all the above mentioned, it is not unusual for these people to remain solitary most of their lives, although they categorize it as ‘not needing the hindrance of others’ because they are able to stand up for themselves and shine on their own, when their situation is that few people want to spend time with them.
And, because they feel they don’t need the help or relationship with their peers, they hold within themselves feelings of intense pessimism, sadness and rejection from others.
So you know if you come across someone who has ‘royal pride’, you know the real reason behind it.