Glossary E

Glossary E

Ego-defensive attitudes when we adapt our attitudes so that they seem to confirm the decisions we have already made

Ego-dystonic refer to traits of personality, behavior, thought, or orientation, considered to be unacceptable, repugnant or inconsistent with the person’s conscious or unconscious perceptions about him-or herself; a synonym for ego alien

Ego-ideal refers to a component of the Superego that contains the moral or ideal behaviors for which a person should strive.

Egocentric empathy is when a person recognizes distress in another person and responds to it in the same way one would respond if the distress were one's own.

Egocentric speech refers to Piaget’s term for the subset of a young child’s utterances that are non-social - that is, neither directed to others nor expressed in ways that listeners might understand. In Piaget's observation, toddlers use this to control and direct their behavior. The speech is considered egocentric because it is not intended to communicate with anyone else and often doesn't make sense to anyone else. Vygotsky’s intermediate stage of language development, common between ages 3 and 7, during which children often talk to themselves in an apparent effort to control their own behavior. Vygotsky suggested that egocentric speech is a component of the problem-solving function. Please see Inner speech, Social speech, Private speech.

Egocentric thought is defined as a thought that is self -centered and fails to consider the viewpoints of others.

Egocentricity is a term in Piaget's theory that refers to the tendency to interpret objects and events from one's own perspective.

Egocentrism refers to the assumption that one's way of thinking is the only possibility.