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Egocentrism and the Personal Fable

Elkind introduced the idea of an adolescent egocentrism, which according to him emerges in the midst of the transition to Piaget’s formal operational stage of cognition (the final stage in which the individual is capable of abstract thinking: hypothetical and deductive reasoning). Although the construct itself remains widely used in research today, there has been no supporting evidence to suggest that adolescent egocentrism follows any age related pattern (as would be suggested by the assumption that it disappears when adolescents enter the formal operational stage, which in fact some individuals never reach). Adolescent egocentrism can be divided into two separate forms: the imaginary audience and the personal fable. The first relates to the adolescent living life believing he is constantly being watched and judged by others, and that others are as concerned with his appearance and behaviour as he himself is. The personal fable results in the adolescent perceiving himself as special and unique, believing no one can relate to his personal experiences.

The Personal Fable and Risk Taking in Adolescence

Adolescence was once believed to be a time of stress and turmoil. Although this is sometimes the case, research has shown that most adolescents rate their experiences as enjoyable and that the storm and stress of adolescence actually occurs at a fairly low rate and discontinuously. Nonetheless, adolescence is still a time of significant change and development on all levels (psychological, social and biological). Along with all these changes adolescents are faced with situations in which they must make important choices and decisions. Namely, decisions made regarding risky behaviours become more prevalent at this time. Adolescents are faced with decisions on whether to make an effort to have safe sex and how to react to peer pressure regarding substance abuse for example. So how does the personal fable, a form of egocentrism usually considered to be characteristic of adolescence, relate to adolescents’ risk-taking behaviours?

Research suggests that when faced with a decision, adolescents perceive risks but they do not incorporate these into their decision making process. It has been suggested that egocentrism plays a significant role in this lack of risk evaluation. The widespread impact of the correlation between the personal fable and risk-taking behaviours is evident when we consider it has been identified in other cultures, such as the Japanese culture. A study done among Japanese college students found a direct path from egocentrism to health-endangering behaviours. Thus, even though universality can in no way be assumed, it is noteworthy that the correlation has been identified in other parts of the world.

Support for the hypothesis that egocentrism, and the personality fable more specifically, predict risk-taking behaviours is considerable in North America. In fact, the personal fable is commonly associated with risk-taking in research. It has been established that speciality and invulnerability are significant predictors of risk. Research has found that egocentrism increased significantly with age and that the personal fable was positively correlated with risk-taking. Male students revealed significantly higher rates of invulnerability. The correlation between the personal fable and risk taking is considered to be of utmost importance. A valid and reliable measure of the personal fable would be an invaluable aid to assessing adolescent risk-taking potential and preventive intervention.

Potential Positive Factors of the Personal Fable

Research has come to distinguish three main subtypes of the personal fable. Omnipotence relates to the adolescent believing he has great authority or power (i.e. he is capable of what most others are not). Invulnerability is just that: the adolescent believes he cannot be harmed or affected in the ways others can. And finally, uniqueness is the adolescent’s belief that he and his experiences are novel and unique to him (i.e. no one else could possibly relate). Distinguishing between the personal fable's three subtypes has merrit. Research has shown that omnipotence does not seem to be related to delinquent behaviour such as substance use, nor to depression or suicidal ideation. In fact, omnipotence is suggested to act as a protective factor, allowing for superior adjustment, high coping skills and self-worth. Contrary to omnipotence, invulnerability relates to risk behaviour and delinquency, and uniqueness, which is more prevalent in girls, is related to depression and suicidal ideation (and is found to increase with age). Research has focused significantly more on the personal fable's negative effects and it is important to consider pursuing omnipotence to capitalize on it's positive results.

Looking at each subtype of the personal fable - invulnerability, omnipotence and uniqueness - revealed that invulnerability was highly correlated with externalizing behaviours, namely risk-taking (i.e. delinquency and substance use). Personal fable as a whole was found to be a multidimensional construct, contrary to the belief of it being invariably negative. Omnipotence was not correlated with any negative outcomes and in fact was correlated with superior adjustment and feelings self-worth. Uniqueness (more prevalent in females) was highly correlated with depression and suicidal ideation. Therefore, although a certain subset of the personal fable was once again found to significantly predict involvement in risky behaviour, further examination into the multidimensionality of the personal fable is recommended. Particularly, examining whether omnipotence may in fact aid in healthy development and appropriate risk taking would be of utmost importance.

An Australian research brought into play the Trans-Theoretical Model (a model used to determine an individual's level of readiness and commitment to changing their behaviours to healthier alternatives) in conjunction with the personal fable to examine smoking and implications for smoking cessation. The researchers found that the personal fable is consistently associated with unhealthy and high risk behaviours. Findings from their study provide mixed results however. Although pre-contemplative smokers (individuals believing they do not exhibit any problem behaviour) revealed high levels of omnipotence, ex-smokers did as well. These results suggest personal fable actually plays an important role in smoking cessation and researchers should consider re-evaluating the constructs to determine whether omnipotence could become stronger after smoking cessation (omnipotence in this particular case being the individual’s belief that he can stop smoking whenever he wants). In the end, it is suggested the the personal fable might be better conceptualised as encompassing both adaptive and maladaptive beliefs.

Preventative Efforts

Studies examining egocentrism’s effect on risk awareness/health promotion messages’ effectiveness revealed that egocentrism may inhibit deep cognitive processing of these messages. It is contended that explicit messages may not work best for adolescent audiences, despite this being the chosen form. The adolescent needs to be involved in the decision-making process by being presented with a message encouraging discussion and deep elaboration of behaviours and their outcomes. In other words, the message should implicitly encourage non-egocentric thought. In fact, open-ended messages, as opposed to messages scaring, teaching or providing answers, resulted in greater retention of the intended message and in general a reduced intention of risk taking behaviour. However this effect was somewhat reduced among male participants.