Introduction
According to Elkind’s theory of adolescent egocentrism, adolescents tend to return to a psychological state of egocentrism of childhood, where they focus on themselves, their vision of the word, their reality, and their imaginary audience (Galanaki 457). The concept of egocentrism according to Elkind, refers to the youngster’s self-absorption and ability to see the world only from one perspective rejecting others’ ability to make sound judgments (Harvey 15). Also, egocentrism is the very factor that causes a young person to think that no one in the world can understand his or her situation, and decide what is good for him or her (Banerjee et al. 375).
Elkind’s manifestations of adolescent egocentrism are multiple; however, here only two of them will be addressed: arguments and imaginary audiences (Duell, Icenogle, and Steinberg 263). Below, the two cases illustrating the two manifestations of adolescent egocentrism will be narrated.
Case 1
Arguments are manifestations of egocentrism since a youngster is trying to demonstrate his or her ability to make decisions and use one’s judgment to resolve problems (Rai et al. 14). Donna, aged sixteen, is now a huge concern for her parents because of the problem of the argument. They continue to wonder what happened since she was a normal kid, and they never had issues with her behavior and obedience. However, currently, the situation has changed. Donna seems to protest against the entire world around her. She hardly listens to anyone’s recommendations. She is driving too fast and has friends who are irrefutably a bad company for her and can cause many troubles.
When Donna’s parents are trying to warn her about the consequences of her actions, she begins to argue that her vision is right and parent are not able to understand how mistaken their position is and how badly they influence her preventing from a chance to be happy about what she is doing and the decisions she is making. Donna insists that her parents should leave her alone and just let her be happy.
Case 2
The concept of an imaginary audience implicates that a young man believes that he or she is the center of everyone else’s attention and the entire world seems to follow one and constantly make evaluations of one’s deeds, looks, choices, and behaviors (Somerville 127). A case of fourteen-years-old Mark is the vivid illustration explanation of this concept. The young man had a normal childhood with many friends around him. Currently, Mark believes that others are constantly watching and judging him even if there are no indications they do so. He is constantly looking to find if anyone else is watching him. It seems that he began to spend too much time in front of the mirror checking his clothing, hair, and face. Another problem is that Mark appears to be addicted to his mobile phone constantly checking it for messages or missed calls. There is a similar problem with social networks, where Marks spend the biggest part of the day. Mark even has a sleep disturbance problem because he is always concerned that someone can write something about him or place one of his images publicly.
For this reason, he prefers to stay isolated and has few friends. Some people around him believe that Mark behaves quite strange overestimating his importance to others. His situation is getting ever more complex during the last year. Mark’s parents seriously consider consultation from a psychiatrist to diagnose his problem.
Works Cited
Banerjee, Smita C., Kathryn Greene, Itzhak Yanovitzky, Zhanna Bagdasarov, Soe Yoon Choi, and Kate Magsamen-Conrad. “Adolescent Egocentrism And Indoor Tanning: Is The Relationship Direct Or Mediated?” Journal of Youth Studies 18.3 (2015): 357-375. Print.
Duell, Natasha, Grace Icenogle, and Laurence Steinberg. “Adolescent Decision Making and Risk Taking.” Child Psychology: A Handbook of Contemporary Issues (2016): 263. Print.
Galanaki, Evangelia P. “The Imaginary Audience and the Personal Fable: A Test Of Elkind’s Theory Of Adolescent Egocentrism.” Psychology 3.06 (2012): 457. Print.
Harvey, Aimee Marie. Adolescent Egocentrism and Psychosis. Birmingham: Diss. University of Birmingham, 2013. Print.
Rai, Roshan, Peter Mitchell, Tasleem Kadar, and Laura Mackenzie. “Adolescent Egocentrism and the Illusion of Transparency: Are Adolescents as Egocentric as we Might Think?” Current Psychology (2014): 1-15. Print.
Somerville, Leah H. “The Teenage Brain Sensitivity To Social Evaluation.” Current directions in psychological science 22.2 (2013): 121-127. Print.