Elkind’s Theory: Objective And Subject Information (Essay Sample)

Elkind’s Theory
Name
Institution
Elkind’s Theory
The first signs of egocentrism can be seen in childhood when kids cannot differentiate between objective and subject information. This is when kids believe that other people’s perspectives are either none existent or wrong CITATION Amy07 \l 1033 (Alberts & Elkind, 2007). While most studies focused on early childhood, Elkind decided to focus on adolescents. Elkind states the phycological changes that adolescents go through makes them focus only on themselves. They fail to distinguish between other people’s thoughts and their own. They believe that everyone is obsessed with them as much as they are with themselves. Elkind’s has a full theory on egocentrism. Under this theory, he identifies three essential aspects of egocentrism. He cites that adolescents have an imaginary audience which makes them act as is they are being watched. They have a tendency to feel as if their peers are constantly watching them, much like actors.
The second aspect of egocentrism is the Personal; this is when adolescents think that their experiences are unique to them and no one who has ever experienced what they are currently experiencing CITATION Amy07 \l 1033 (Alberts & Elkind, 2007). Adolescents feel like others do not appreciates or understand their intense feelings. The second aspect of egocentrism is Invincibility Fable. This is the adolescent belief that bad thing only happens to others. This leads them to have high levels of risk-taking. Not that they are unable to identify the potential risk of their actions, they don’t believe that these things cannot happen to them. Adolescents indulge in all kinds of risky behavior clearly aware of the risks. According to Elkind’s is Invincibility fable. Elkind’s main theory is developed from Jean Piaget analysis on cognitive development CITATION Eva12 \l 1033 (Galanaki, 2012). Elkind was Jean's student and was intrigued with his work. Elkind examined most of the Jeans theories and analyzed his concepts by studying adolescents and children. This enables him to develop his own theories on adolescent egocentrism. Elkind’s theories provide evidence that egocentrism is a high year before.
The interviewee Is a teenage of 16 years old. He is at the peak of adolescents and walks as if he owns the whole world. The teenager is experiencing some physical changes and is proud of his new growing beard. He has grown 15 centimeters taller in less than a year and seems to be experiencing some socio-emotional problems. He mentions that he has been receiving comments that his voice had become a little bit deeper. The teenager is still struggling to engage in formal operational thinking and is clearly struggling to stand out and fit in with his current group of friends. This is challenging since he comes from a poor background and studies in a rich school. All his friends are richer than him, and this makes him care about his image and was how he looks. He doesn’t want to seem like the poor kid in the group; he wants to fit in. At times, he has to leave his friends and go study on his own because most of his friends already have their future set. He is the only one in the group that has to struggle to get good grades, and he has to do it while still hanging out with the cool kids. The group is known for its unique sense of fashion and is the group every kid wants to belong to. Being in this group provides the teenager with security and a sense of belonging. But it is not hard to tell that the boy is struggling to find his own identity. He wants to be himself and do the things he loves, but how he feels he is contradicting to what his parents and friends expect from him. He has to balance between his image of himself and other people's image o...