Adolescent egocentrism is a special case of egocentrism in general; it manifests itself in the sphere of personality with the onset of adolescence. If in the cognitive sphere egocentrism is overcome by the age of seven or eight, then in the sphere of personality, it flares up by the age of twelve or fourteen. Personal egocentrism is an idealistic crisis of youthful originality, a crisis of acquiring the novelty of one’s own self. The naturally emerging egocentrism of adolescents is “naive idealism,” and its emergence is linked with the opportunity opened up to adolescents to reason on the basis of abstract hypotheses and inferences.
Ideas about people’s thinking in adolescence must still be supplemented by ideas about the thinking of other people. Initially, such projective judgments are built on an egocentric basis, especially since the adolescent’s own inner world is incomparably more interesting and important than the world of other people. The intensity and multi variance of adolescent egocentrism is determined by the inclusion in the large space of modeling adult life, where not only formal-logical thinking but also the affective-volitional sphere and the personality of the adolescent as a whole are involved and are being restructured.
Researchers note the complex structure of the phenomenon of egocentrism, which includes not only cognitive but also personal and affective components that make themselves felt precisely in adolescence. The severity of egocentric attitudes in adolescence does not depend on the level of socio-centric orientations, i.e., public, social, and political interests can coexist with egocentric ones, not mutually exclusive.
TV commercials with the perfect appearance of people make adolescents think that they do not fit in the beauty standards, which only worsens egocentrism. In the emotional fantasies of a teenager, “viewers” notice all the weak points in appearance or behavior. Teenagers tend to refer to the audience as old women at the entrance and bypass peers and any other adults. The teenager feels himself constantly in sight and considers the object of close attention of almost everyone around him, which forces him to react to the “spectators.”
These reactions are not related to the situation and are not given by the context of the interaction; therefore, adolescents often behave inappropriately and too demonstratively. Often, they worry that others are struck by their awkwardness, body shape, or some other, most often imaginary, external defects. Reacting to imaginary audiences is devastating for adolescents. It is from this age-related phenomenon that the demonstrativeness and dramatization of experiences draw inspiration. Hence, TV commercials emphasizing appearance negatively affect adolescent egocentrism.
In my personal experience, I had an obsessive idea that everyone is looking at me and judging me. I think most of my peers were thinking that way at that age. It was difficult to concentrate on anything else when being in public since all my thoughts were focused on how everyone is looking at me or thinking about me. At the same time, the feeling of critical attention generates the desire for solitude, closeness, and detachment from other people. The phenomenon of “imaginary audience” arises mainly from the affective experiences and reactions of adolescents.
As they grow older, the phenomenon of imaginary audience diminishes due to the development of the adolescent’s orientation to the reactions and representations of other people. In this context, it becomes clear that the egocentric position further increases the emotional stress experienced by adolescents, which, in turn, compensatory causes negativism and sarcasm. Thanks to being critical of others, the teenager is partly protected from excessive introspection and feelings of self-inferiority, which, as a result, allows him to overcome egocentrism.