What does egocentricity mean?
Egocentricity is the quality of placing oneself at the centre of everything — a habitual self-absorption in which one's own needs, views, and experiences dominate one's thinking. An egocentric person struggles to step outside their own perspective, whether out of vanity or simply because they have never learned to do otherwise. In psychology, particularly in the work of Jean Piaget, egocentricity describes a normal stage of child development: young children genuinely cannot yet imagine how the world looks from someone else's position. Beyond the nursery, however, the word carries a strongly negative connotation, suggesting selfishness, vanity, or emotional immaturity, and it appears most often in formal writing, literary criticism, and discussions of character. Its everyday equivalents include self-centredness and self-absorption, while its close relative egocentrism serves as the standard technical term in psychology. To call someone's behaviour an exercise in sheer egocentricity is to condemn it as thoughtless and self-regarding.
nounThe quality of regarding oneself and one's own concerns as the centre of everything; excessive self-centredness. It also refers, in psychology, to the tendency to perceive the world only from one's own point of view.
- Excessive self-centredness; preoccupation with oneself and one's own affairs.
- In psychology, the inability or tendency to fail to distinguish between one's own perspective and that of others, especially in child development.
"His egocentricity made it almost impossible for him to consider a colleague's perspective."
"The novel's narrator is a study in egocentricity, filtering every event through his own grievances."
"Piaget argued that infant egocentricity gradually gives way as children learn to take others' viewpoints."
Every toddler is an egocentric by design — Piaget showed that young children literally cannot yet picture the world through another person's eyes.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of egocentricity
Egocentricity derives from 'egocentric', formed from the Latin pronoun 'ego' meaning 'I' combined with Greek 'kentron' meaning 'centre' — literally 'I-centred'. The adjective emerged in English in the 19th century, with the noun 'egocentricity' following as an abstract form. It shares its Latin root 'ego' with words such as egoism and egotism, and its Greek element with terms like concentric and eccentric.
Related word forms
How egocentricity is actually used
A formal, somewhat clinical or literary word; 'self-centredness' is the more common everyday equivalent. In developmental psychology, 'egocentrism' (following Piaget) is the preferred technical term, so egocentricity is more often found in general prose. The stress falls on the fourth syllable: ee-goh-sen-TRIS-i-tee.
Easily confused with egocentricity
Egotism is the habitual practice of talking and thinking excessively about oneself, while egocentricity is the deeper cognitive disposition of viewing everything from one's own standpoint.
Egocentrism is the standard psychological term for the same trait; egocentricity is the more general word for the quality of being egocentric.