They're heavily preoccupied with looking good in front of others. They can't bear to lose, whether a promotion to a colleague or a game of chess to a friend. They have an unquenchable thirst to come out on top, no matter the cost.
Why is it that some people have such oversized egos?
The answer lies in something known as the egocentric bias. First coined in 1980 by Anthony Greenwald, a psychologist at Ohio State University, egocentric bias is the tendency to depend too heavily on one's own perspective and/or have a higher opinion of oneself than reality. It stems from the psychological need to satisfy one's ego, which research suggests can be advantageous for memory consolidation. As it turns out, ideas, beliefs, and experiences are more easily recalled when they match one's own, inducing an egocentric perspective.
The effects of egocentric bias can vary based on a number of personal characteristics, age and the number of languages one speaks among them. Still, researchers have unearthed that people skew their beliefs so that what they recall from their memory or what they initially understood is different than what actually occurred. Indeed, people seem to recall information better if they think about how the information will affect them during the encoding process (recording memories in their brain). This so-called self-reference effect causes people to exaggerate their role in a situation.
As a result, information is better encoded, and thus people are more prone to suffer from egocentric bias, if they produce information actively rather than passively, such as by having a direct role in the outcome of a situation.
Egocentric bias causes people to fail to consider situations from other individuals' points of view, influencing ethical judgments to the point where people not only believe that self-interested outcomes are preferential, but are also the morally appropriate way to proceed.
People are more inclined to be conscious of their own behaviors so they can leverage their thoughts and emotions toward gaining more information about themselves. These thoughts and emotions can in turn affect how people view themselves in relation to others in particular situations.
A common example arises when people are asked to explain how much credit should be attributed to each person in a group project. Egocentric bias has been regarded as one of the "seven sins" of memory and essentially reflects the significant role played by the self when encoding and retrieving episodic memories. Further, people often feel that their contributions to a collaborative project are greater than those of other members since people tend to focus more on how much they have done.
The above can be summed up succinctly as follows: People are self-centered. Their overarching goal is to view life through the lens that is most favorable to them. They can train their mind into believing anything and/or recalling past events in the manner that will best protect the ego.
For example, people can conveniently choose to recall all the bad things their ex did that ultimately contributed to the downfall of the relationship while failing to cite their own missteps.
The reality is that humility is in short supply out there. If only people took responsibility for their flaws and mistakes, the world would be a much better place. Admitting they're wrong isn't in everyone's repertoire, however.
Rather than cast aspersions on each other, we should strive to find common ground. Let's face it: Nobody is perfect. And while we should always stand up for ourselves when we're treated unfairly, it's important we at least make the effort to consider the other person's point of view. It can be very easy for human beings to fall into the trap of perceiving the world in ways that inflate the ego rather than tame it.
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