Dr. David Elkind is a child psychologist, educator, and author who has built on and furthered the works of, Jean Piaget. He has focused on the cognitive, perceptual, and social development of children and adolescents with an emphasis on what qualifies as healthy development. His research and writings have included the effects of stress and the importance of creative, spontaneous play for healthy development and academic learning.
One of Elkind's most well-known contributions to society is his work on adolescent psychology in which he expands on Piaget's description of adolescent egocentrism.
According to Piagetian theory, the abilities to separate oneself from one's own thoughts and analyze them, as well as understanding others' thoughts is developed only at young adolescence. Elkind describes how young adolescents, because they are undergoing major physiological changes, are preoccupied by themselves. The egocentrism of adolescents lies in their belief that others are as preoccupied with their appearance and behavior as they are. As a consequence, the adolescent anticipates other people's responses and thoughts about his or herself, and is, in a way, constantly creating or reacting to an imaginary audience.
According to Elkind, this probably plays a role in the self-consciousness so common in early adolescence, as well as other experiences in this period of life. Elkind also introduced the idea of the personal fable, in which the adolescent constructs a story about herself, a version of her life stressing the uniqueness of her feelings and experiences. Indeed, these ideas of personal uniqueness are also seen in a common conviction that the adolescent will not die. Elkind stressed how he found these concepts useful in understanding and treating troubled adolescents. Elkind believes the egocentrism of early adolescence usually lessens by the age of 15 or 16 as cognitive development proceeds.
Enright, R. D., Lapsley, D. K., & Shukla, D. G. (1979). Adolescent egocentrism in early and late adolescence. Adolescence.
Adolescent egocentrism and formal operations: Tests of a theoretical assumption.
Lapsley, Daniel K.; Milstead, Matt; Quintana, Stephen M.; Flannery, Daniel; Buss, Raymond R.
Developmental Psychology, Vol 22(6), Nov 1986, 800-807
I can relate very well to Adolescence Egocentrism because I have experienced it myself. When I was that age I was extremely self conscious.I always felt people were looking and judging me. I used to have real bad acne, and because of that I would get made fun of at school. Ever since then I wore lots of makeup and used all sorts of different face washes to clear my face up. I can relate to creating an imaginary audience, because although the mean boys at school would tease me I felt like everyone was staring. Looking back I know that simply was not true, the only people making fun of me were those mean boys at school.
When I become a teacher I may end up teaching middle school or high school age children. Since I have experienced what its like to be in their shoes I would be very sensitive to their situations as well as understanding. I know from experience how hard that age can be, and I want to be able to help my students get through this rough age. Every child is different and every child's situation is different. But if I can offer support and let my students know that I am not simply just their teacher, but also someone who has gone through it all, then I believe that is when I will be most effective as a teacher.
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