Adolescent Egocentrism

Egocentrism begins from early childhood and enters the stage of adolescent. Egocentrism varies from child to child no two people are every the same. Adolescent’s egocentrism is based primarily on thoughts and problems improved by thinking and the examination of oneself. This kind of thinking will help the adolescent grow an understanding of their identity and be clear and consistent with their way of thinking of their identity. This way of thinking will also lead to periods of self absorption. This in return will help the adolescent develop in identity and good decision making. The long-standing and often-cited theory of adolescent egocentrism (Elkind, 1967) delineates two distinct but related ideation patterns--the imaginary audience and the personal fable. The imaginary audience refers to adolescents' tendency to believe that others are always watching and evaluating them; the personal fable refers to the belief that the self is unique, invulnerable, and omnipotent. The patterns of thinking reflected by both constructs seem to capture and explain feelings and behaviors typically associated with early adolescence, such as self-consciousness, conformity to peer group norms, and risk-taking (Elkind, 1967).
Some questions have been raised whether he imaginary audience or personal fable really exist (Lerner, 1988). Researchers have been studying this for over the last 30 years and had found that twin constructs have appeared in textbook discussions of adolescent’s behavior and development for over thirty years. The measurement of adolescent egocentrism has been another source of controversy and, at present, there are at least three operational definitions of the imaginary audience. Given these issues, some have questioned whether the imaginary audience and personal fable really exist ( Lerner, 1988)
Many adolescents struggle with