Every person should have respect and not underestimate their own personality
Every person should have respect and not underestimate their own personality at every opportunity. This positive person is different from the idea that the conceited greatness has of his own being (which is based on self-deception and poor defense mechanisms). Few people have a realistic picture of their own personality. An unrealistic idea of ​​one’s own being and a burning desire for success do not necessarily separate a person from reality. And the progress of civilization was realized from their megalomaniac faith in their own being. Among them is, for example, Salvador Dali, but also the American billionaire Howard Hughes.
Often, people with excessive self-esteem are unjustifiably included in the group of people with special qualities. In reality, there are few who overestimate themselves who actually make progress. Unrealistically high valuations can also be held by extremely destructive persons whose ambitions have brought a lot of trouble to humanity, entire nations and individuals.
People with an overestimated image of their own being have one characteristic in common
These people are never satisfied even when they achieve all their plans and earn unimaginable sums of money – say psychologists and professors of the Faculty of Philosophy (Department of Psychology). The largest number of people (about 66% have average abilities) while only 16% are gifted. Many do not accept their own personality, but want to achieve even more.
Wanting success is not bad because ambitions increase human capacity for work and achievements
Some people perceive being “average” as a shortcoming, so they feel bad in their own skin and try in every way to present themselves as even better, even without real coverage. Such persons build poor defense mechanisms. Already in adolescence, teachers are to blame for bad grades, and later on, someone else is to blame for every personal failure. In extreme cases, conceited people lose their sense of reality and devalue the environment and judge it as bad and immoral. They take justice into their own hands.
Self-esteem is different from grandiosity
It is always better for a person to have his own respect than to underestimate him at every opportunity. This positive trait should be distinguished from conceited grandeur whose opinion of his own being is based on self-defense and poor defense mechanisms. Some studies say that prisoners have a great opinion of their own being. Another population with a pronounced image of their own superior capabilities are athletes, but they do not build bad defense mechanisms or devalue others. On the contrary, athletes respect their own environment.
Extremely narcissistic people convinced of their own superiority are initially accepted as very attractive people in the environment. They impress with the originality of their appearance, they have convincing grandiose plans that they never achieve. The environment reveals their hidden qualities over time. Psychologist Denis Lasho described very succinctly in the book “The Joys of Power”: “…they close their eyes to reality, have a radical contempt for everything that someone else can express, a secret desire for the destruction of others and destructive behavior towards themselves.” Conceited greatness in reality is louder than others, looks to humiliate everyone, especially those closest to him and demands respect from everyone,
Psychoanalytic interpretation of this disease, like many pathological phenomena of our “I”, has its roots in childhood, when the usual megalomaniac fanaticisms are born. Thus, the “sweet baby” is always asking for something without hesitation, and it is difficult to convince the people around her that this is really the case, and she pleases the baby in everything. For a child, the feeling of omnipotence is a normal phenomenon, even a necessary developmental stage. Self-esteem is born from this illusion in early childhood.
Growing up, the child learns to fulfill his own needs and respect the wishes of others
If the child does not outgrow his narcissistic temperament as he matures, he will develop a defense mechanism during puberty and adolescence. In school, that child got a bad grade, not because he didn’t know the knowledge, but because the teacher hates that child. Others succeeded because they were lucky or because their parents have money and social status, and not through their own efforts and work. Research has shown that “I will be someone and something only if I belong to certain circles” is a prejudice that still exists in the world today. Such a social attitude discourages young people who have the potential for greater achievements. Children and young people from poorer and less educated social groups have the worst image of their own being. They always have less ambition, and later they usually marry within the same social group.
Reality and imagination are like a tangled ball for “imaginary sizes” (people). They are not as productive as they present themselves and often mix reality and desires by tailoring their own appropriate truth. Pathologically conceited greatness (such as some psychiatric patients) constantly live in a distorted imagination (imagining their own being in an incredible past or family origin, trying to differentiate themselves from others in these daydreams). In manic phases, these people feel invincible and unsurpassed. The pathological form of a distorted self-image can also take a different form and shape. Then conceited people present themselves as victims, pretending to have survived life’s hard blows and elevate their own suffering to the rank of instruments of power – they are excellent in this affective blackmailing. These people feel extremely worthless when that phase passes. They fall into deep depression. They have fragile self-esteem and a glass “I” behind which a depressed personality hides. Their unrealistic image is a kind of escape from reality and the confrontation with their own being and possibilities. That’s why conceited people never get enough of fame and power and money.
Unreality is necessary in small doses to realize life plans, ideas and ideas, but this phase lasts until it crystallizes and separates the ultimate desire from a truly possible realization. It is not bad to set high goals and check one’s own possibilities, but the reason for failure should be sought in one’s own personality without accusing or devaluing others without a real reason.