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{{short description|Drive to maintain and enhance favorable views of oneself}}
{{short description|Drive to maintain and enhance favorable views of oneself}}
{{Distinguish|Egoism}}
{{Distinguish|Egoism|Egocentrism}}
{{For|the 1843 short story|Egotism; or, The Bosom-Serpent}}
{{For|the 1843 short story|Egotism; or, The Bosom-Serpent}}
{{Other uses|Egoist (disambiguation)}}
{{refimprove|date=January 2016}}
{{refimprove|date=January 2016}}
'''Egotism''' is defined as the drive to maintain and enhance favorable views of oneself, and generally features an inflated opinion of one's personal features and importance distinguished by a persons amplified vision of ones self and self importance. It often includes intellectual, physical, social and other overestimations.<ref>Robin M. Kowalski ed., ''Aversive Interpersonal Behaviors'' (1997) p. 112</ref> The egotist has an overwhelming sense of the centrality of the "Me" regarding their personal qualities.<ref>William Walker Atkinson, ''The New Psychology'' (2010 [1909]) p. 30</ref>
'''Egotism''' is defined as the drive to maintain and enhance favorable views of oneself and generally features an inflated opinion of one's personal features and [[Importance#Value of importance and desire to be important|importance]] distinguished by a person's amplified vision of one's self and self-importance. It often includes intellectual, physical, social, and other overestimations.<ref>Robin M. Kowalski ed., ''Aversive Interpersonal Behaviors'' (1997) p. 112</ref> The egotist has an overwhelming sense of the centrality of the "me" regarding their personal qualities.<ref>William Walker Atkinson, ''The New Psychology'' (2010 [1909]) p. 30</ref>


==Characteristics==
==Characteristics==
Egotism is closely related to an egocentric love for one's imagined self or [[narcissism]]&nbsp;– indeed some would say "by egotism we may envisage a kind of socialized narcissism".<ref>Samuel D. Schmalhausen, ''Why We Misbehave'' (2004 [1928]) p. 55</ref> Egotists have a strong tendency to talk about themselves in a self-promoting fashion, and they may well be arrogant and boastful with a [[grandiose]] sense of their own importance.<ref>Kowalski ed., p. 1114</ref> Their inability to recognise the accomplishments of others<ref>Mark R. Leary, ''The Curse of the Self'' (OUP 2007) p. 91</ref> leaves them profoundly self-promoting; while sensitivity to criticism may lead on the egotist's part to [[narcissistic rage]] at a sense of insult.<ref>Kowalski ed., p. 121-2</ref>
Egotism is closely related to an egocentric love for one's imagined self or [[narcissism]].<ref>Samuel D. Schmalhausen, ''Why We Misbehave'' (2004 [1928]) p. 55</ref> Egotists have a strong tendency to talk about themselves in a self-promoting fashion, and they may well be arrogant and boastful with a [[grandiose]] sense of their own importance.<ref>Kowalski ed., p. 1114</ref> Their inability to recognise the accomplishments of others<ref>Mark R. Leary, ''The Curse of the Self'' (OUP 2007) p. 91</ref> leaves them profoundly self-promoting; while sensitivity to criticism may lead, on the egotist's part, to [[narcissistic rage]] at a sense of insult.<ref>Kowalski ed., pp. 121–122</ref>


Egotism differs from both [[altruism]]&nbsp;– or behaviour motivated by the concern for others rather than for oneself&nbsp;– and from [[egoism]], the constant pursuit of one's self-interest. Various forms of "empirical egoism" have been considered consistent with egotism, but do not&nbsp;– which is also the case with egoism in general&nbsp;– necessitate having an inflated sense of self.<ref>Kowalski ed., p. 113</ref>
Egotism differs from both [[altruism]]&nbsp;– or behaviour motivated by the concern for others rather than for oneself&nbsp;– and from [[egoism]], the constant pursuit of one's self-interest. Various forms of "empirical egoism" have been considered consistent with egotism, but do not&nbsp;– which is also the case with egoism in general&nbsp;– necessitate having an inflated sense of self.<ref>Kowalski ed., p. 113</ref>


==Development==
==Development==
In developmental terms, two rather different trajectories can be distinguished with respect to egotism – the one individual, the other cultural.
In developmental terms, two different paths can be taken to reach egotism – one being individual, and the other being cultural.


With respect to the developing individual, a movement takes place from egocentricity to sociality during the process of growing up.<ref>[[J. C. Flügel]], ''Man, Morals and Society'' (1973) p. 242–3</ref> It is normal for an infant to have an inflated&nbsp;– almost a majestic&nbsp;– sense of egotism.<ref>[[Sigmund Freud]], ''On Metapsychology'' (PFL 11) p. 85</ref> The over-evaluation of one's own ego<ref>[[Otto Fenichel]], ''The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis'' (London 1946) p. 38 and p. 57</ref> regularly appears in childish forms of love&nbsp;– in large part because the baby is to himself everything, [[Omnipotence|omnipotent]] to the best of their own knowledge.<ref>[[Robin Skynner]] and [[John Cleese]], ''Families and how to survive them'' (London 1994) p. 91</ref>
With respect to the developing individual, a movement takes place from egocentricity to sociality during the process of growing up.<ref>[[J. C. Flügel]], ''Man, Morals and Society'' (1973) pp. 242–243</ref> It is normal for an infant to have an inflated sense of egotism.<ref>[[Sigmund Freud]], ''On Metapsychology'' (PFL 11) p. 85</ref> The over-evaluation of one's own ego<ref>[[Otto Fenichel]], ''The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis'' (London 1946) pp. 38, 57</ref> regularly appears in childish forms of love.<ref>[[Robin Skynner]] and [[John Cleese]], ''Families and how to survive them'' (London 1994) p. 91</ref>


Optimal development allows a gradual reconciliation to a more realistic view of one's own place in the world&nbsp;– a lessening of the egotistical swollen head.<ref>Skynner & Cleese, ''Families'' p. 63</ref> Less adequate adjustment may later lead to what has been called defensive egotism, serving to overcompensate for the fragility of the underlying concept of self.<ref>Kowalski ed., p. 224</ref> [[Robin Skynner]] however considered that in the main growing up leads to a state where "your ego is still there, but it's taking its proper limited place among all the other egos".<ref>Robin Skynner and John Cleese, ''Life and how to survive it'' (London 1994) p. 241</ref>
Optimal development allows a gradual decrease into a more realistic view of one's own place in the world.<ref>Skynner & Cleese, ''Families'' p. 63</ref> A less optimal adjustment may later lead to what has been called defensive egotism, serving to overcompensate for a fragile concept of self.<ref>Kowalski ed., p. 224</ref> [[Robin Skynner]] however considered that in the main growing up leads to a state where "your ego is still there, but it's taking its proper limited place among all the other egos".<ref>Robin Skynner and John Cleese, ''Life and how to survive it'' (London 1994) p. 241</ref>


However, alongside such a positive trajectory of diminishing ''individual'' egotism, a rather different arc of development can be noted in cultural terms, linked to what has been seen as the increasing infantilism of post-modern society.<ref>R. Bly and M. Woodman, ''The Maiden King'' (1999) p. 85–8</ref> Whereas in the nineteenth century egotism was still widely regarded as a traditional vice&nbsp;– for [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] egotism was a sort of diseased self-contemplation<ref>Malcolm Cowley, ed., ''The Portable Hawthorne'' (Penguin 1977) p. 177</ref>&nbsp;– [[Romanticism]] had already set in motion a countervailing current, what [[Richard Eldridge]] described as a kind of "cultural egotism, substituting the individual imagination for vanishing social tradition".<ref>Richard Eldridge, ''The Persistence of Romanticism'' (2001) p. 118</ref> The romantic idea of the self-creating individual&nbsp;– of a self-authorizing, artistic egotism<ref>Scott Wilson, in Patricia Waugh, ed., ''Literary Theory and Criticism'' (2006) p. 563–4</ref>&nbsp;– then took on broader social dimensions in the following century. [[Keats]] might still attack [[Wordsworth]] for the regressive nature of his retreat into the egotistical sublime;<ref>Henry Hart, ''Robert Lowell and the Sublime'' (1995) p. 30</ref> but by the close of the twentieth century egotism had been naturalized much more widely by the [[Me generation]] into the [[Culture of Narcissism]].
However, alongside such a positive trajectory of diminishing ''individual'' egotism, a rather different arc of development can be noted in cultural terms, linked to what has been seen as the increasing infantilism of post-modern society.<ref>R. Bly and M. Woodman, ''The Maiden King'' (1999) p. 85–8</ref> Whereas in the nineteenth century egotism was still widely regarded as a traditional vice&nbsp;– for [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] egotism was a sort of diseased self-contemplation<ref>Malcolm Cowley, ed., ''The Portable Hawthorne'' (Penguin 1977) p. 177</ref>&nbsp;– [[Romanticism]] had already set in motion a countervailing current, what [[Richard Eldridge]] described as a kind of "cultural egotism, substituting the individual imagination for vanishing social tradition".<ref>Richard Eldridge, ''The Persistence of Romanticism'' (2001) p. 118</ref> The romantic idea of the self-creating individual&nbsp;– of a self-authorizing, artistic egotism<ref>Scott Wilson, in [[Patricia Waugh]], ed., ''Literary Theory and Criticism'' (2006) pp. 563–564</ref>&nbsp;– then took on broader social dimensions in the following century. [[Keats]] might still attack [[Wordsworth]] for the regressive nature of his retreat into the egotistical sublime;<ref>Henry Hart, ''Robert Lowell and the Sublime'' (1995) p. 30</ref> but by the close of the twentieth century egotism had been naturalized much more widely by the [[Me generation]] into the [[Culture of Narcissism]].


In the 21st century, romantic egotism has been seen as feeding into techno-capitalism in two complementary ways:<ref>Wilson, p. 565-6</ref> on the one hand, through the self-centred consumer, focused on their own self-fashioning through brand 'identity'; on the other through the equally egotistical voices of 'authentic' protest, as they rage against the machine, only to produce new commodity forms that serve to fuel the system for further consumption.
In the 21st century, romantic egotism has been seen as feeding into techno-capitalism in two complementary ways:<ref>Wilson, pp. 565–566</ref> on the one hand, through the self-centred consumer, focused on their own self-fashioning through brand 'identity'; on the other through the equally egotistical voices of 'authentic' protest, as they rage against the machine, only to produce new commodity forms that serve to fuel the system for further consumption.


==Sex==
==Sexuality==
There is a question mark over the relationship between sex and egotism. [[Sigmund Freud]] popularly made the claim that love can transform the egotist,<ref>Schmalhausen, p. 153</ref> giving him or her a new sense of humility in relation to others.<ref>Sigmund Freud, ''On Metapsychology'' (PFL 11) p. 93</ref>
There is a question mark over the relationship between sexuality and egotism. [[Sigmund Freud]] popularly made the claim that intimacy can transform the egotist,<ref>Schmalhausen, p. 153</ref> giving a new sense of humility in relation to others.<ref>Sigmund Freud, ''On Metapsychology'' (PFL 11) p. 93</ref>


At the same time, it is very apparent that egotism can readily show itself in sexual ways<ref>Schmalhausen, p. 34</ref> and indeed arguably one's whole sexuality may function in the service of egotistical needs.<ref>Otto Fenichel, ''The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis'' (London 1946) p. 516-7</ref>
At the same time, it is very apparent that egotism can readily show itself in sexual ways<ref>Schmalhausen, p. 34</ref> and indeed arguably one's whole sexuality may function in the service of egotistical needs.<ref>Otto Fenichel, ''The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis'' (London 1946) pp. 516–517</ref>


== Social egotism ==
== Social egotism ==
[[Leo Tolstoy]], used the term ''aduyevschina'' (after the protagonist Aduyev of [[Ivan Goncharov|Goncharov]]'s first novel, ''[[A Common Story]]'') to describe social egotism as the inability of some people to see beyond their immediate interests.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011|title=I.A.Goncharov. Biobibliography". Russian Writers. Biobibliographical dictionary. Ed. P.A.Nikolayev. Vol.1 Moscow, Prosveshcheniye Publishers. 1990. Retrieved 10 October 2011|url=http://az.lib.ru/g/goncharow_i_a/text_0420.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[Leo Tolstoy]], used the term ''aduyevschina'' (after the protagonist Aduyev of [[Ivan Goncharov|Goncharov]]'s first novel, ''[[A Common Story]]'') to describe social egotism as the inability of some people to see beyond their immediate interests.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011|title=I.A.Goncharov. Biobibliography". Russian Writers. Biobibliographical dictionary. Ed. P.A.Nikolayev. Vol.1 Moscow, Prosveshcheniye Publishers. 1990. Retrieved 10 October 2011|url=http://az.lib.ru/g/goncharow_i_a/text_0420.shtml|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013145156/http://az.lib.ru:80/g/goncharow_i_a/text_0420.shtml |archive-date=2007-10-13 }}</ref>


==Etymology==
==Etymology==
The term egotism is derived from the Greek ("εγώ") and subsequently its Latinised ego (''[[Id, ego and super-ego#Ego|ego]]''), meaning "self" or "I," and ''[[-ism]]'', used to denote a system of belief. As such, the term shares early etymology with [[wikt:egoism|egoism]].
The term egotism is derived from the Greek ("εγώ") and subsequently its Latinised ego (''[[Id, ego and super-ego#Ego|ego]]''), meaning "self" or "I," and ''[[-ism]]'', used to denote a system of belief. As such, the term shares early etymology with [[wikt:egoism|egoism]].

== Egotism vs. pride ==
Egotism differs from [[pride]]. Although they share the state of mind of an individual, ego is defined by a person's self-perception.{{Citation needed|reason=I am not a psychologist but I don’t think that is correct |date=June 2023}} That is how the particular individual thinks, feels and distinguishes him/herself from others. Pride may be equated to the feeling one experiences as the direct result of one's accomplishment or success.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chathu |date=2017-01-26 |title=Difference Between Ego and Pride {{!}} Definition, Features, Characteristics |url=https://pediaa.com/difference-between-ego-and-pride/ |access-date=2022-12-05 |website=Pediaa.Com |language=en-US}}</ref>


==Cultural examples==
==Cultural examples==
* [[A. A. Milne]] has been praised for his clear-eyed vision of the ruthless, open, unashamed egotism of the young child.<ref>Ann Thwaite, ''A. A. Milne: His Life'' (2006) p. 123 and p. 194</ref>
* [[A. A. Milne]] has been praised for his clear-eyed vision of the ruthless, open, unashamed egotism of the young child.<ref>Ann Thwaite, ''A. A. Milne: His Life'' (2006) pp. 123, 194 {{ISBN?}}</ref>
* [[Ryan Holiday]] described our cultural values as dependent on validation, entitled, and ruled by our emotions, a form of egotism.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ego Is The Enemy|last=Holiday|first=Ryan|publisher=Penguin Random House|year=2016|isbn=9780698192157|location=New York|pages=20}}</ref>
* [[Ryan Holiday]] described our cultural values as dependent on validation, entitled, and ruled by our emotions, a form of egotism.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ego Is The Enemy|last=Holiday|first=Ryan|publisher=Penguin Random House|year=2016|isbn=978-0698192157|location=New York|pages=20}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
{{Portal|Philosophy}}
{{Portal|Philosophy|Psychology}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|
{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|
* [[Ahamkara]]
* [[Ahamkara]]
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* [[Hubris]]
* [[Hubris]]
* [[Implicit egotism]]
* [[Implicit egotism]]
* [[Megalomania]]
* [[Megalomania (disambiguation)]]
* [[Narcissistic elation]]
* [[Narcissistic elation]]
* [[Narcissistic personality disorder]]
* [[Pride]]
* [[Pride]]
* [[Psychological egoism]]
* [[Psychological egoism]]
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* [[Selfishness]]
* [[Selfishness]]
* [[Solipsism]]
* [[Solipsism]]
* [[Spoiled child]]
* ''[[Memoirs of an Egotist|Souvenirs d'égotisme]]''
* ''[[Memoirs of an Egotist|Souvenirs d'égotisme]]''
}}
}}
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==Further reading==
==Further reading==
*{{cite book |first=Anthony Clifford |last=Grayling |author-link=A. C. Grayling |title=Ideas that Matter |location= London |publisher=Orion |year=2009 |isbn=978-0297856764}}
* {{cite book |first=Anthony Clifford |last=Grayling |author-link=A. C. Grayling |title=Ideas that Matter |location= London |publisher=Orion |year=2009 |isbn=978-0297856764}}
*{{cite book |author=Stendhal |title=Souvenirs d'égotisme |language=fr |publisher=Gallimard |year=1983 |isbn=978-2070374304|title-link=Memoirs of an Egotist }}
* {{cite book |author=Stendhal |title=Souvenirs d'égotisme |language=fr |publisher=Gallimard |year=1983 |isbn=978-2070374304|title-link=Memoirs of an Egotist }}


==External links==
==External links==

Latest revision as of 16:55, 10 May 2024

Egotism is defined as the drive to maintain and enhance favorable views of oneself and generally features an inflated opinion of one's personal features and importance distinguished by a person's amplified vision of one's self and self-importance. It often includes intellectual, physical, social, and other overestimations.[1] The egotist has an overwhelming sense of the centrality of the "me" regarding their personal qualities.[2]

Characteristics

[edit]

Egotism is closely related to an egocentric love for one's imagined self or narcissism.[3] Egotists have a strong tendency to talk about themselves in a self-promoting fashion, and they may well be arrogant and boastful with a grandiose sense of their own importance.[4] Their inability to recognise the accomplishments of others[5] leaves them profoundly self-promoting; while sensitivity to criticism may lead, on the egotist's part, to narcissistic rage at a sense of insult.[6]

Egotism differs from both altruism – or behaviour motivated by the concern for others rather than for oneself – and from egoism, the constant pursuit of one's self-interest. Various forms of "empirical egoism" have been considered consistent with egotism, but do not – which is also the case with egoism in general – necessitate having an inflated sense of self.[7]

Development

[edit]

In developmental terms, two different paths can be taken to reach egotism – one being individual, and the other being cultural.

With respect to the developing individual, a movement takes place from egocentricity to sociality during the process of growing up.[8] It is normal for an infant to have an inflated sense of egotism.[9] The over-evaluation of one's own ego[10] regularly appears in childish forms of love.[11]

Optimal development allows a gradual decrease into a more realistic view of one's own place in the world.[12] A less optimal adjustment may later lead to what has been called defensive egotism, serving to overcompensate for a fragile concept of self.[13] Robin Skynner however considered that in the main growing up leads to a state where "your ego is still there, but it's taking its proper limited place among all the other egos".[14]

However, alongside such a positive trajectory of diminishing individual egotism, a rather different arc of development can be noted in cultural terms, linked to what has been seen as the increasing infantilism of post-modern society.[15] Whereas in the nineteenth century egotism was still widely regarded as a traditional vice – for Nathaniel Hawthorne egotism was a sort of diseased self-contemplation[16] – Romanticism had already set in motion a countervailing current, what Richard Eldridge described as a kind of "cultural egotism, substituting the individual imagination for vanishing social tradition".[17] The romantic idea of the self-creating individual – of a self-authorizing, artistic egotism[18] – then took on broader social dimensions in the following century. Keats might still attack Wordsworth for the regressive nature of his retreat into the egotistical sublime;[19] but by the close of the twentieth century egotism had been naturalized much more widely by the Me generation into the Culture of Narcissism.

In the 21st century, romantic egotism has been seen as feeding into techno-capitalism in two complementary ways:[20] on the one hand, through the self-centred consumer, focused on their own self-fashioning through brand 'identity'; on the other through the equally egotistical voices of 'authentic' protest, as they rage against the machine, only to produce new commodity forms that serve to fuel the system for further consumption.

Sexuality

[edit]

There is a question mark over the relationship between sexuality and egotism. Sigmund Freud popularly made the claim that intimacy can transform the egotist,[21] giving a new sense of humility in relation to others.[22]

At the same time, it is very apparent that egotism can readily show itself in sexual ways[23] and indeed arguably one's whole sexuality may function in the service of egotistical needs.[24]

Social egotism

[edit]

Leo Tolstoy, used the term aduyevschina (after the protagonist Aduyev of Goncharov's first novel, A Common Story) to describe social egotism as the inability of some people to see beyond their immediate interests.[25]

Etymology

[edit]

The term egotism is derived from the Greek ("εγώ") and subsequently its Latinised ego (ego), meaning "self" or "I," and -ism, used to denote a system of belief. As such, the term shares early etymology with egoism.

Egotism vs. pride

[edit]

Egotism differs from pride. Although they share the state of mind of an individual, ego is defined by a person's self-perception.[citation needed] That is how the particular individual thinks, feels and distinguishes him/herself from others. Pride may be equated to the feeling one experiences as the direct result of one's accomplishment or success.[26]

Cultural examples

[edit]
  • A. A. Milne has been praised for his clear-eyed vision of the ruthless, open, unashamed egotism of the young child.[27]
  • Ryan Holiday described our cultural values as dependent on validation, entitled, and ruled by our emotions, a form of egotism.[28]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Robin M. Kowalski ed., Aversive Interpersonal Behaviors (1997) p. 112
  2. ^ William Walker Atkinson, The New Psychology (2010 [1909]) p. 30
  3. ^ Samuel D. Schmalhausen, Why We Misbehave (2004 [1928]) p. 55
  4. ^ Kowalski ed., p. 1114
  5. ^ Mark R. Leary, The Curse of the Self (OUP 2007) p. 91
  6. ^ Kowalski ed., pp. 121–122
  7. ^ Kowalski ed., p. 113
  8. ^ J. C. Flügel, Man, Morals and Society (1973) pp. 242–243
  9. ^ Sigmund Freud, On Metapsychology (PFL 11) p. 85
  10. ^ Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (London 1946) pp. 38, 57
  11. ^ Robin Skynner and John Cleese, Families and how to survive them (London 1994) p. 91
  12. ^ Skynner & Cleese, Families p. 63
  13. ^ Kowalski ed., p. 224
  14. ^ Robin Skynner and John Cleese, Life and how to survive it (London 1994) p. 241
  15. ^ R. Bly and M. Woodman, The Maiden King (1999) p. 85–8
  16. ^ Malcolm Cowley, ed., The Portable Hawthorne (Penguin 1977) p. 177
  17. ^ Richard Eldridge, The Persistence of Romanticism (2001) p. 118
  18. ^ Scott Wilson, in Patricia Waugh, ed., Literary Theory and Criticism (2006) pp. 563–564
  19. ^ Henry Hart, Robert Lowell and the Sublime (1995) p. 30
  20. ^ Wilson, pp. 565–566
  21. ^ Schmalhausen, p. 153
  22. ^ Sigmund Freud, On Metapsychology (PFL 11) p. 93
  23. ^ Schmalhausen, p. 34
  24. ^ Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (London 1946) pp. 516–517
  25. ^ "I.A.Goncharov. Biobibliography". Russian Writers. Biobibliographical dictionary. Ed. P.A.Nikolayev. Vol.1 Moscow, Prosveshcheniye Publishers. 1990. Retrieved 10 October 2011". 2011. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13.
  26. ^ Chathu (2017-01-26). "Difference Between Ego and Pride | Definition, Features, Characteristics". Pediaa.Com. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  27. ^ Ann Thwaite, A. A. Milne: His Life (2006) pp. 123, 194 [ISBN missing]
  28. ^ Holiday, Ryan (2016). Ego Is The Enemy. New York: Penguin Random House. p. 20. ISBN 978-0698192157.

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]