Describe adolescent egocentrism imaginary audience, personal fable and illusion of invulnerability

Your child will go through numerous stages while they are on the road to puberty. It's not uncommon for middle school and high school students to develop a "personal fable." Such a fable is a common teen and older tween belief that arises from adolescent egocentrism, which develops between the ages of 10 and 13.

The personal fable is the adolescent's belief that they are highly special and unlike anyone else who has ever walked the earth. Colloquially, these individuals are known as "special snowflakes." In other words, the adolescent thinks that since others are so obviously fascinated by them (adolescent egocentrism), they must be a unique individual (the personal fable).

Learn more about this development of adolescent identity and the potential consequences it can result in with this review of the personal fable.

If you suspect that your tween or teen has developed a personal fable, don't worry that your child will grow up to be a narcissist or self-centered. Belief in the personal fable is a developmentally normal cognitive limitation. Unfortunately, the belief can have serious consequences.

The personal fable can cause a tween or teen to believe that nothing bad could possibly happen to someone as exceptional as themself. In other words, since they are so special, they must be invulnerable.

Some research has shown that belief in the personal fable and one's invulnerability is connected to common adolescent risk-taking behaviors, such as promiscuous or unprotected sex, use of alcohol or illicit drugs, as well as physically dangerous acts, such as driving without a license or driving recklessly or while intoxicated.

You may need to consult with a counselor, therapist or another mental health professional to help your child counter these behaviors. At the very least, you and your tween should have an ongoing dialogue about risk and safety.

On the other hand, personal fables also result in tweens and teens believing that they are omnipotent, or have enormous power, lacking in others. This belief can actually improve the way a child adjusts to changes or challenges in life and can improve self-worth.

Belief in the personal fable should not be confused with having high self-esteem. Tweens or teens with low self-esteem usually still hold a version of the personal fable.

In fact, they may even perceive their critical self-judgments as "evidence" of their particular uniqueness—no one thinks quite as critically as they do. In other words, adolescents with a personal fable may typically believe they are special, even if they don't necessarily think of themselves as "good" or "special."

Psychologist David Elkind was the first to describe the adolescent phenomenon known as the personal fable. Elkind coined the term in his 1967 book Egocentrism in Adolescence.

Elkind's characterization of the adolescent experience builds on Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development. This theory illustrates how teens do not differentiate between themselves and others, leading them to think that others are as obsessed with them as they are obsessed with themselves.

Piaget also found that the adolescent mental state is not rooted in reality. With this in mind, Elkind used the term personal fable to describe the untrue stories adolescents tell themselves about their place in the world.

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Galanaki EP. The Imaginary Audience and the Personal Fable: A Test of Elkind's Theory of Adolescent Egocentrism. Psychology. 2012;3(6):457-466. doi:10.4236/psych.2012.36065
Popovac M, Hadlington L. Exploring the role of egocentrism and fear of missing out on online risk behaviours among adolescents in South Africa. Int J Adolesc Youth. 2020;(25)1:276-291. doi:10.1080/02673843.2019.1617171
Baumgartner SE, Valkenburg PM, Peter J. Assessing Causality in the Relationship Between Adolescents’ Risky Sexual Online Behavior and Their Perceptions of this Behavior. J Youth Adolesc. 2010;39(10):1226-1239. doi:10.1007/s10964-010-9512-y
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Kesselring T, Müller U. The concept of egocentrism in the context of Piaget’s theory. New Ideas Psychol. 2011;29(3):327-345. doi:10.1016/j.newideapsych.2010.03.008

Additional Reading

Trucco EM, Wright AG, Colder CR. Stability and Change of Social Goals in Adolescence. J Pers. 2014;(82)5:379-389. doi:10.1111/jopy.12069

During adolescence, Erickson argues that adolescents face a crisis between identity and role confusion. This is the stage where adolescents are trying to discover who they are. During this stage of the search for identity, adolescents have a variety ways of thinking, including adolescent egocentrism, imaginary audience, personal fable, and the illusion of invulnerability. The illusion of vulnerability is a way of thinking in which adolescents believe that misfortunes only happen to others. This means that they think that nothing bad can happen to them– that they are invincible. They believe that they are the exception and that they are protected against the odds.

At my high school, Canyon High School, we participated in a program known as, “Every 15 Minutes.” This program is created to destroy the illusion of invulnerability thinking in adolescents in relation to the consequences and effects of drunk driving and to prevent drunk driving from happening. (The name is based on that every 15 minutes, someone dies from an alcohol-related car collision) Every 15 Minutes makes drunk driving and its effects a reality for high school students over the course of two days. The first day, at the start of the school bell, every 15 minutes, someone at school, ‘dies.’ An announcement is made over the school speaker saying that they have just been informed that “name” has just died from an alcohol-related collision at “time.” This happens every 15 minutes during the entire school day. At lunch time, there is a stimulated car crash that upperclassmen get to witness. The firetruck, ambulance, police, and coroner all show up to the scene. It is treated as a real accident with classmates just watching as their friends die before their eyes and as there peer is arrested and taken to jail for drunk driving and for taking innocent lives. The drunk driver is taken to court, receives sentencing, and stays in jail. 25 people die over during the school day and these individuals do not get to go back home that night and must continue to isolate themselves from communication from family and friends. The following day is assembly style and after many lectures, stories, videos, etc., the ‘dead’ return and the program ends. There are many more details and much more happens, but that for the purpose of this blog, that is the general idea/events. This program happens every 2 years.

Every 15 Minutes destroys the illusion of vulnerability thinking because it demonstrates that it can happen to you, not just others around you, and that you are not an exception. This applies to everyone involved. The students who die are taught that yes, they can die from drunk driving. Just like they did that day and night. No one, including themselves, are immune. The students who do not die learn that it can happen to them as well and that it can impact them. Their best friend has just died. They never thought it was possible that they would have to experience it. But they did, through this program. Everyone learned and experienced, in some type of way, that it can happen to them. There is no exception. Therefore, this program works to destroy the illusion of invulnerability thought in adolescents.