Question

Mr. Goldberg, a high school teacher, approaches you (a brilliant adolescent psychologist) regarding two of his students. He is concerned about their behavior and hopes you can explain what is going on. One student, Sharon, occasionally drinks alcohol and gets in the car with drunk drivers. The other student, Michael, constantly wears pants to hide what he believes are skinny legs. Using David Elkind’s theory of adolescent egocentrism, how would you explain and define Sharon's behavior? How would you explain and define Michael's behavior? Be sure to justify your answer.

Answer 1

David Elkind had realized that adolescents mainly focus on their personal perceptions – their behavior and appearance - because of an experience of “physiological metamorphosis” during this stage of development. This misleads them to believe that people around are as attentive to them as they are of themselves. This egocentrism results in two consequential mental constructions, imaginary audience and personal fable.

According to Mr. Goldberg's concern, both students are going through the stage of adolescent egocentrism manifested in different mental constructions. Michael's construction of imaginary audiences preoccupies him with a created audience who, he believes is as admiring or as critical of him as he is of himself. He believes that he is continually the focus of attention, although this may not be the case, Sharon has reached the corollary stage where because he has constantly reinforced that he is the center of attention, he believes that he is special or unique. This has created his personal fable and has been followed and backed by feelings of invulnerability.