Egoism In Psychology: Definition, Types And Phrases

The concept comes from ego, through which a person becomes aware of his or her own identity and recognizes himself as an “I.” The dictionary defines the word selfishness as: “excessive appreciation that a person has for himself and that makes him pay excessive attention to his own interest, without worrying about that of others” (Royal Spanish Academy).

Psychological egoism talks about self-interested human behavior and not really altruistic.

Why do we look for a partner? Why do we want to be parents? Why do we want to have friends? Why do we help the people around us? If you analyze it, behind your great motivations we find your own benefit, no matter how small.

Let’s look at the different types of selfishness in psychology:

1. Egocentric selfishness

It is the selfishness that the dictionary defines, an attitude that distances you from others, makes you lose your social value and ends up emotionally isolating you from everyone. Person just look for yourself using others based on their interest and benefit without taking into account how their actions may impact others. The ego is so big that the person is unable to empathize with whoever they interact with. Those who are selfish “egocentric” build a victim-like personality and tend to complain and blame others when something does not go as expected. He accuses you of being selfish when you look out for your own interests because what he wants is for you to look out for his.

2. Conscious or neutral selfishness

It is important to dedicate some time each day to give ourselves what we need and thus maintain emotional balance. We need to think about ourselves to survive physically and emotionally. I affirm, again, that the human being must love yourself first to be able to adequately love others. Through this conscious selfishness, we improve our self-esteem by strengthening our self-confidence. Neutral selfishness benefits oneself and does not harm others, although it also tends to benefit those one loves indirectly.

3. Altruistic selfishness

This selfishness consists of doing something that we like to do and that also brings profits to other people. We are altruistic because doing good things makes us feel good. It is typical of a empathetic person, who without ceasing to seek their well-being, ensures that when they achieve it, it does not affect others in a negative way. She is able to let others receive a benefit first when she feels they need it more than she does.

In conclusion, we can understand that depending on how we look at selfishness, we can understand it as a more or less negative attitude, with different degrees of concern for our own and others’ well-being.

In the following article, we show good tips to overcome selfishness in our daily lives.

• “No one and nothing can make you happy. Only you can make yourself happy.” – Gerardo Schmedling
• “A man is not defined as selfish by pursuing his own good, but by neglecting the good of others.” -Richard Whately
• “Egoism is not living as one wants, it is asking others to live as one wants to live.” – Oscar Wilde
• “Selfishness is not self-love, but an inordinate passion for oneself.” – Aristotle
• “We cannot judge the lives of others, since each person knows their own pain. It is one thing to feel that you are on the right path and quite another to think that yours is the only path.” – Paulo Coelho.
• “Good character consists of recognizing the selfishness that is inherent in each of us and trying to balance it against the altruism to which we should all aspire.” -Alan Dershowitz.

This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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