Egocentrism

[Page 226]The concept of egocentrism was introduced and described by Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget as a lack of differentiation in some area of subject–object interaction and a negative by-product of any emergent cognitive system. This entry describes the emergence of egocentrism during the adolescent phase of human development, presents the views of researchers and theorists on how gender affects the way in which egocentrism is manifested, and explains the connection between egocentrism and adolescents’ engagement in high-risk behaviors. The entry concludes with a discussion of political behavior and egocentrism, sometimes expressed in what psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud characterized as narcissism, an extreme form of the trait. David Elkind elaborated on the concept of egocentrism and used the term adolescent egocentrism to describe the phenomenon of adolescents’ ...