Some very important observations from George Simon's new book "Character Disturbance". This book puts a lot of things about psychopathology into very plain terms with useful examples to make the points perfectly clear. It is useful not only for detecting pathological thinking in others, but for observing the self and inferring things about one's own core beliefs by one's behavior.
*****************Quote Excerpts****************
Here's one of the central tenets of the cognitive-behavioral paradigm: An inextricable relationship exists between a person's core beliefs, the attitudes those beliefs engender, the patterns of thinking various beliefs and attitudes predispose, and the ways the person will tend to behave as a result of his thinking.
How we think greatly influences how we act.
Disturbed characters don't act the way most people do largely because they generally don't think the way others do. They often don't hold the same values, harbor the same attitudes, share the same core beliefs... Their way of thinking is marked by a "distorted" view of reality and an impoverished sense of accountability.
How disturbed characters think is always reflected in the ways they act. Their ways of thinking can also be discerned from the things they say, but to a much lesser extent. That's because the things they say don't necessarily reflect beliefs they hold with genuine conviction. This is a very important fact to remember. {The Mask of Sanity}
The cognitive distortions of disordered characters can represent actual but erroneous beliefs. Sometimes, they have developed these beliefs with total obliviousness to the ways that most other people think about things. But my experience has taught me that disturbed characters can also entertain their twisted views with full awareness of how most people might think about the same situation.
I'm also struck by how often the research literature will categorize the types of thinking errors disturbed characters engage in based simply on the things they frequently say. This is problematic because: What they say does not necessarily reveal how they really think!
Sometimes they say things to make other people believe that they think a certain way, as a manipulation technique. In reality, their behavior is a much more reliable indicator of their true thoughts and attitudes.
Some disordered characters were truly raised in environments so impoverished in multiple dimensions that their beliefs about the nature of the world, and how to operate within it, understandably, became quite skewed. So, they developed patterns of thinking and attitudes that most responsible people don't share. {For example, the problems of Adult Children of Alcoholics. They really do NOT know what "normal" is.}
Ask such people what they were thinking when they engaged in some troublesome behavior, and what they tell you is actually what they believe, as irrational as it might sound. But with many disordered characters, the things they tell you, as well as the things they tell themselves, are nothing more than part of an elaborate "con game." Such folks are very aware of how most people tend to think, and how out of step their purported way of thinking is. But they tenaciously protest their contrary point of view to justify themselves and their actions. They try to manipulate others into the notion that their behavior had some rational basis other than the simple intent to victimize.
Sometimes, after lying so often they might even succeed in duping themselves about the distorted perspectives they advance; but they will often back off their ridiculous contentions when firmly challenged. For example, a repeat wife beater might very well know how society at large feels about abusive spouses' violence toward women. Nonetheless, he might try to justify his behavior by constantly complaining that his wife is a vindictive "bitch" who constantly eggs him on. So she rightfully "had it coming" when she finally heaped more "disrespect" on him than anyone could possibly stand. This type of offender might very well know how most people would look at his situation. And he probably also knows full well who the victimizer is and who is the real victim. Nevertheless, such a person might do all he could to convince another to adopt the point of view that he was a victim of sorts and therefore "justified" in his actions; not so much because he needs or wants validation, but because if he can get you to buy into at least part of his argument, he succeeds in casting himself in a slightly more favorable light. You might then see him as an ignorant and perhaps misguided soul who simply "doesn't get" how to view women; he needs only to learn better. He's not really a person who already "gets it" just fine yet vehemently resists adopting the standards he knows society wants him to accept. In reality, he doesn't want to be correctly pegged by others for the dangerous person such an attitude makes him.
I can't overstate the importance of being skeptical about what disordered characters say. Remember, a great deal of the time they're engaged in a game of manipulation and impression management.
Early in my work, I interviewed several child molesters who tried to advance the notion that their inappropriate touching of their victim was not motivated by aberrant sexual desire; rather it was a foolish or misguided attempt to "teach" the child about sexual behavior. I asked myself, "Do they really believe what they're saying?" The treatment manuals I had read seemed to regard this type of thinking as a truly held belief, needing correction by "illuminating" the offender. Adopting this perspective, the goal of treatment became to educate him about the damage caused the child and help him overcome the "denial" he was experiencing about other motives, such as his deviant urges. But I eventually learned that most of the time, child molesters that said such things didn't really believe what they were saying. They hoped that I would believe they did, so that I would neither ascribe the appropriate degree of malevolence nor the correct motivation (e.g., sexual interest in a child) to their behavior. If I bought their excuse, I might, for example, see them as an undereducated, poorly guided soul who made a stupid mistake, instead of as a predatory pedophile or a heartless psychopath. So, the thinking they reflected with their talk was not truly a belief. More importantly, their misrepresentations weren't based in "denial," shame, or guilt. In fact, genuine guilt or shame would likely have kept them from offending in the first place. Rather, the "twisted" justification they were providing was merely an attempt to manipulate and impression-manage others.
A child molester enrolled in a required treatment program readily volunteered to me that he knew his thinking process was "twisted." He told me that prior to treatment, he had the erroneous belief that his actions were actually okay. Incestuous behavior, he said, was so common throughout his extended family that he truly believed it was normal." This made some rational sense. But being the skeptic I've learned to be, I did some digging. I learned that not only was such behavior not "normal" in his family, but, because of the outrage and suspicion of family members, he'd gone to great and elaborate lengths to keep his actions under the radar. After I confronted him, he reluctantly reported that he knew very well that it "sounded better" to cast himself as the product of an abnormal environment who simply didn't know better. Once again, his actions (the things he did to guard against discovery) were the more reliable indicator of his true thinking.
Some Major Thinking Errors
In the various character-disturbed personalities, some thinking errors are more common than others and some tend to cluster with others. The major problematic thinking patterns are:
Egocentric Thinking — The disturbed character is almost always concerned with and for himself. Whatever the situation, it's always about him. He frequently finds himself thinking about things that he wants, because that's what's important to him. He hardly ever thinks about what someone else might want or need, because he attaches so little importance to that. Because he thinks the entire world revolves around him, he believes it's the duty of others to place what he desires or what interests him above everything else.
When he wants something, the disordered character also doesn't consider whether it's right, good, legal, or if his pursuit of it might adversely affect anyone; he only cares that he wants it. His constant concern for himself and the things he desires promotes an attitude of indifference to the rights, needs, wants, or expectations of others. Such an attitude fosters a complete disregard for social obligation. In some cases, as Samenow notes, there's an ardent disdain for and total refusal to accept obligation. As self-centered as he is, the disturbed character believes the world owes him everything and that he owes the world nothing. Such thinking is the reason the disturbed character develops an attitude of entitlement. He has extremely high expectations for everyone else, but feels no sense that he should submit himself to the expectations of others or society in general. His egocentric thinking patterns, attitudes, and their resultant behaviors prompt him to lead an extremely self-centered lifestyle.
Possessive Thinking — Disturbed characters tend to view their relationships as possessions that they rightfully own; they should be able to do as they wish with these people. This type of thinking frequently accompanies Heartless Thinking: The disturbed character tends to objectify others (i.e. view them as mere objects or pawns to manipulate as opposed to individuals of worth with whom one has to form a co-equal relationship). Possessive and heartless thinking promote a dehumanizing attitude. This makes it more likely that the disturbed character will view others, not as human beings, but as objects of pleasure, vehicles to get things he wants, or simply potential obstacles in his path that must be removed.
Possessive and heartless thinking make it all but impossible for the disturbed character to view others as individuals with rights, needs, boundaries, or desires of their own, and beings of dignity worthy of respect and consideration. Such thinking is carried to a most pathological extreme in the Predatory Aggressive or "Psychopathic" personality.
Extreme (All-or-None) Thinking — Disturbed characters frequently see things in terms of black and white, all-or-none. They might take the position that, if they can't have all that they ask for, they won't accept anything. If someone doesn't agree with everything they say, they will frame it as not being valued or listened to at all. If they don't see themselves completely on top and in total control, they will cast themselves as being on the bottom and under someone else's thumb. This erroneous way of thinking makes it virtually impossible for them to develop a reasonable sense of give and take in their relationships. It promotes an uncompromising attitude that impairs their ability to develop any sense of moderation in their behavior patterns.
Inattentive Thinking — Some researchers describe this thinking error as the "mental filter"" because disturbed characters selectively "filter" what goes on around them, paying attention to and heeding only the things they want to, and disregarding all the rest. They hear what they want to hear, remember what they want to remember, and learn what they want to learn. They invest themselves intensely in the things that interest them; but they actively disregard the things they don't care about, even though they may be quite aware that others want them to pay more attention to these things. They use the responsibility-avoidance tactic of selective attention (discussed later): They "tune out" someone who's trying to teach them a lesson, or only half-listen whenever they hear something they don't like. They do this most often when others are urging them to submit themselves to pro-social values and standards of conduct. So this erroneous way of thinking is a major reason they develop both lackadaisical antisocial attitudes. In turn, their devil-may-care and antisocial attitudes predispose them to chronic and unyielding behaviors that conflict with major social norms.
Deceptive (Wishful) Thinking — Disturbed characters are prone to seeing things as they want instead of as they really are. Two of their core characteristics — the ease with which they lie, and their resistance to demands placed on them by their environments -prompt them to distort the reality of most situations. It's not that they don't know the truth, but they simply don't want reality to get in the way of what they want. They lie to themselves with the same ease that they lie to others. They alter their perceptions and distort the reality of situations so they don't have to alter their stance, change their point of view, or question their usual way of doing things. Sometimes they live in a world of their own fantasy, adhering to the belief that "thinking makes it so." Their determination to make reality what they want it to be breeds a pervasive attitude of disregard for the truth.
Self-Deceptive thinking is not the same thing as the "defense mechanism" of Denial. The latter is an unconscious defense against unbearable emotional pain. Deliberate, self-serving twisting of facts and misrepresentations are bad habits for sure, as well as ways to avoid responsibility; but they're not the result of an altered psychological state.
Many times, self-deceptive thinking accompanies the responsibility-avoidance and manipulation "tactic" of denial (i.e. deliberate denial of responsibility or malevolent intent for the purpose of manipulating or impression-managing others). We'll discuss this in the next chapter. But again, that's an entirely different kind of denial.
When doing the research for my first book, In Sheep's Clothing, I counseled many individuals of disturbed character who initially balked at the notion that they had any real problems. For example, a person referred for Anger Management Training (which, by the way, I always translate into aggression-replacement training) might assert, "I've really thought about this, doc. If you want to know the absolute truth, I really don't think there's a problem here." He might make this assertion despite a virtual mountain of evidence to the contrary presented by those who pushed him to seek counseling in the first place. He might even maintain the assertion despite a litany of problems in relationships dating back many years that testify to his lack of emotional self-control. This kind of thing always raises the question in the minds of others: "Does he simply not see the problem?"
Actually, most of the time he sees it just fine; but he isn't really motivated to deal with it or change it, so he tries to justify himself and get others off his back by suggesting there is no problem. Other times, he's lied to himself so long and so often that he has begun to believe his own lies. Then again at other times, he has so twisted and so distorted so many aspects of life's realities, it's become hard for him to tell what's real anymore.
Here's one of the benefits of counseling disturbed characters within the Cognitive-Behavior Therapy paradigm: By focusing on behaviors that can be objectively verified as issues of concern, a person's distorted beliefs automatically become evident. Once the problem behaviors are identified and out in the open, attention can be given to the erroneous ways of thinking that led to those behaviors in the first place.
Impulsive Thinking — Disturbed characters think primarily about what they want at the moment. They don't bother to think long-range or about the likely eventual consequences of their behavior. They don't think before they act. They act first and sometimes think afterwards. Some disturbed characters never regret their impulsive acts. Some, however, do experience some after-the-fact regret. They might even know from past experience that they'll end up regretting making an impulsive choice; but that's never a serious consideration at the time they want something. They don't spend time thinking about the potential impact of their behavior before they act. They think only of what they want and how to get it now. This type of thinking predisposes them to think short-range and to ignore potential long-term consequences. It also promotes a "devil-may-care," lackadaisical attitude, and attitudes of indifference, uncaring, or nonchalance.
Egomaniacal Thinking — Disturbed characters think far too much of themselves. At times they think they're so smart, clever, or "special" that they can do what most others wouldn't even dream of trying and somehow get away with it. They tend to think of themselves as so important or superior that they deserve things others don't deserve. They often consider it a testament to their greatness if they can use their wits or manipulative skill to take things as opposed to really earning them. This erroneous way of thinking about themselves, along with their pathologically grandiose sense of self-importance, inevitably engenders attitudes of arrogance, superiority, and most especially, entitlement. In some extreme cases, their sense of entitlement can predispose them to commit acts of unspeakable cruelty toward others.
In recent years, big changes in cultural norms have reinforced the tendency toward egomaniacal thinking. It's not uncommon for young persons to be bombarded with messages that they're "special" simply because they have a heartbeat. That's because well-meaning individuals (e.g., teachers, parents, and even mental health professionals), steeped in old-school psychology, thought it simply wasn't possible for a person to have too much self-esteem, and that everyone would be emotionally healthier if they got frequent messages of validation. But what these well-intentioned folks probably haven't considered is this: When we heap praises upon people for what they are as opposed to what they do, we do them a great disservice insofar as developing a healthy sense of self-worth.
*****************Quote Excerpts****************
Here's one of the central tenets of the cognitive-behavioral paradigm: An inextricable relationship exists between a person's core beliefs, the attitudes those beliefs engender, the patterns of thinking various beliefs and attitudes predispose, and the ways the person will tend to behave as a result of his thinking.
How we think greatly influences how we act.
Disturbed characters don't act the way most people do largely because they generally don't think the way others do. They often don't hold the same values, harbor the same attitudes, share the same core beliefs... Their way of thinking is marked by a "distorted" view of reality and an impoverished sense of accountability.
How disturbed characters think is always reflected in the ways they act. Their ways of thinking can also be discerned from the things they say, but to a much lesser extent. That's because the things they say don't necessarily reflect beliefs they hold with genuine conviction. This is a very important fact to remember. {The Mask of Sanity}
The cognitive distortions of disordered characters can represent actual but erroneous beliefs. Sometimes, they have developed these beliefs with total obliviousness to the ways that most other people think about things. But my experience has taught me that disturbed characters can also entertain their twisted views with full awareness of how most people might think about the same situation.
I'm also struck by how often the research literature will categorize the types of thinking errors disturbed characters engage in based simply on the things they frequently say. This is problematic because: What they say does not necessarily reveal how they really think!
Sometimes they say things to make other people believe that they think a certain way, as a manipulation technique. In reality, their behavior is a much more reliable indicator of their true thoughts and attitudes.
Some disordered characters were truly raised in environments so impoverished in multiple dimensions that their beliefs about the nature of the world, and how to operate within it, understandably, became quite skewed. So, they developed patterns of thinking and attitudes that most responsible people don't share. {For example, the problems of Adult Children of Alcoholics. They really do NOT know what "normal" is.}
Ask such people what they were thinking when they engaged in some troublesome behavior, and what they tell you is actually what they believe, as irrational as it might sound. But with many disordered characters, the things they tell you, as well as the things they tell themselves, are nothing more than part of an elaborate "con game." Such folks are very aware of how most people tend to think, and how out of step their purported way of thinking is. But they tenaciously protest their contrary point of view to justify themselves and their actions. They try to manipulate others into the notion that their behavior had some rational basis other than the simple intent to victimize.
Sometimes, after lying so often they might even succeed in duping themselves about the distorted perspectives they advance; but they will often back off their ridiculous contentions when firmly challenged. For example, a repeat wife beater might very well know how society at large feels about abusive spouses' violence toward women. Nonetheless, he might try to justify his behavior by constantly complaining that his wife is a vindictive "bitch" who constantly eggs him on. So she rightfully "had it coming" when she finally heaped more "disrespect" on him than anyone could possibly stand. This type of offender might very well know how most people would look at his situation. And he probably also knows full well who the victimizer is and who is the real victim. Nevertheless, such a person might do all he could to convince another to adopt the point of view that he was a victim of sorts and therefore "justified" in his actions; not so much because he needs or wants validation, but because if he can get you to buy into at least part of his argument, he succeeds in casting himself in a slightly more favorable light. You might then see him as an ignorant and perhaps misguided soul who simply "doesn't get" how to view women; he needs only to learn better. He's not really a person who already "gets it" just fine yet vehemently resists adopting the standards he knows society wants him to accept. In reality, he doesn't want to be correctly pegged by others for the dangerous person such an attitude makes him.
I can't overstate the importance of being skeptical about what disordered characters say. Remember, a great deal of the time they're engaged in a game of manipulation and impression management.
Early in my work, I interviewed several child molesters who tried to advance the notion that their inappropriate touching of their victim was not motivated by aberrant sexual desire; rather it was a foolish or misguided attempt to "teach" the child about sexual behavior. I asked myself, "Do they really believe what they're saying?" The treatment manuals I had read seemed to regard this type of thinking as a truly held belief, needing correction by "illuminating" the offender. Adopting this perspective, the goal of treatment became to educate him about the damage caused the child and help him overcome the "denial" he was experiencing about other motives, such as his deviant urges. But I eventually learned that most of the time, child molesters that said such things didn't really believe what they were saying. They hoped that I would believe they did, so that I would neither ascribe the appropriate degree of malevolence nor the correct motivation (e.g., sexual interest in a child) to their behavior. If I bought their excuse, I might, for example, see them as an undereducated, poorly guided soul who made a stupid mistake, instead of as a predatory pedophile or a heartless psychopath. So, the thinking they reflected with their talk was not truly a belief. More importantly, their misrepresentations weren't based in "denial," shame, or guilt. In fact, genuine guilt or shame would likely have kept them from offending in the first place. Rather, the "twisted" justification they were providing was merely an attempt to manipulate and impression-manage others.
A child molester enrolled in a required treatment program readily volunteered to me that he knew his thinking process was "twisted." He told me that prior to treatment, he had the erroneous belief that his actions were actually okay. Incestuous behavior, he said, was so common throughout his extended family that he truly believed it was normal." This made some rational sense. But being the skeptic I've learned to be, I did some digging. I learned that not only was such behavior not "normal" in his family, but, because of the outrage and suspicion of family members, he'd gone to great and elaborate lengths to keep his actions under the radar. After I confronted him, he reluctantly reported that he knew very well that it "sounded better" to cast himself as the product of an abnormal environment who simply didn't know better. Once again, his actions (the things he did to guard against discovery) were the more reliable indicator of his true thinking.
Some Major Thinking Errors
In the various character-disturbed personalities, some thinking errors are more common than others and some tend to cluster with others. The major problematic thinking patterns are:
Egocentric Thinking — The disturbed character is almost always concerned with and for himself. Whatever the situation, it's always about him. He frequently finds himself thinking about things that he wants, because that's what's important to him. He hardly ever thinks about what someone else might want or need, because he attaches so little importance to that. Because he thinks the entire world revolves around him, he believes it's the duty of others to place what he desires or what interests him above everything else.
When he wants something, the disordered character also doesn't consider whether it's right, good, legal, or if his pursuit of it might adversely affect anyone; he only cares that he wants it. His constant concern for himself and the things he desires promotes an attitude of indifference to the rights, needs, wants, or expectations of others. Such an attitude fosters a complete disregard for social obligation. In some cases, as Samenow notes, there's an ardent disdain for and total refusal to accept obligation. As self-centered as he is, the disturbed character believes the world owes him everything and that he owes the world nothing. Such thinking is the reason the disturbed character develops an attitude of entitlement. He has extremely high expectations for everyone else, but feels no sense that he should submit himself to the expectations of others or society in general. His egocentric thinking patterns, attitudes, and their resultant behaviors prompt him to lead an extremely self-centered lifestyle.
Possessive Thinking — Disturbed characters tend to view their relationships as possessions that they rightfully own; they should be able to do as they wish with these people. This type of thinking frequently accompanies Heartless Thinking: The disturbed character tends to objectify others (i.e. view them as mere objects or pawns to manipulate as opposed to individuals of worth with whom one has to form a co-equal relationship). Possessive and heartless thinking promote a dehumanizing attitude. This makes it more likely that the disturbed character will view others, not as human beings, but as objects of pleasure, vehicles to get things he wants, or simply potential obstacles in his path that must be removed.
Possessive and heartless thinking make it all but impossible for the disturbed character to view others as individuals with rights, needs, boundaries, or desires of their own, and beings of dignity worthy of respect and consideration. Such thinking is carried to a most pathological extreme in the Predatory Aggressive or "Psychopathic" personality.
Extreme (All-or-None) Thinking — Disturbed characters frequently see things in terms of black and white, all-or-none. They might take the position that, if they can't have all that they ask for, they won't accept anything. If someone doesn't agree with everything they say, they will frame it as not being valued or listened to at all. If they don't see themselves completely on top and in total control, they will cast themselves as being on the bottom and under someone else's thumb. This erroneous way of thinking makes it virtually impossible for them to develop a reasonable sense of give and take in their relationships. It promotes an uncompromising attitude that impairs their ability to develop any sense of moderation in their behavior patterns.
Inattentive Thinking — Some researchers describe this thinking error as the "mental filter"" because disturbed characters selectively "filter" what goes on around them, paying attention to and heeding only the things they want to, and disregarding all the rest. They hear what they want to hear, remember what they want to remember, and learn what they want to learn. They invest themselves intensely in the things that interest them; but they actively disregard the things they don't care about, even though they may be quite aware that others want them to pay more attention to these things. They use the responsibility-avoidance tactic of selective attention (discussed later): They "tune out" someone who's trying to teach them a lesson, or only half-listen whenever they hear something they don't like. They do this most often when others are urging them to submit themselves to pro-social values and standards of conduct. So this erroneous way of thinking is a major reason they develop both lackadaisical antisocial attitudes. In turn, their devil-may-care and antisocial attitudes predispose them to chronic and unyielding behaviors that conflict with major social norms.
Deceptive (Wishful) Thinking — Disturbed characters are prone to seeing things as they want instead of as they really are. Two of their core characteristics — the ease with which they lie, and their resistance to demands placed on them by their environments -prompt them to distort the reality of most situations. It's not that they don't know the truth, but they simply don't want reality to get in the way of what they want. They lie to themselves with the same ease that they lie to others. They alter their perceptions and distort the reality of situations so they don't have to alter their stance, change their point of view, or question their usual way of doing things. Sometimes they live in a world of their own fantasy, adhering to the belief that "thinking makes it so." Their determination to make reality what they want it to be breeds a pervasive attitude of disregard for the truth.
Self-Deceptive thinking is not the same thing as the "defense mechanism" of Denial. The latter is an unconscious defense against unbearable emotional pain. Deliberate, self-serving twisting of facts and misrepresentations are bad habits for sure, as well as ways to avoid responsibility; but they're not the result of an altered psychological state.
Many times, self-deceptive thinking accompanies the responsibility-avoidance and manipulation "tactic" of denial (i.e. deliberate denial of responsibility or malevolent intent for the purpose of manipulating or impression-managing others). We'll discuss this in the next chapter. But again, that's an entirely different kind of denial.
When doing the research for my first book, In Sheep's Clothing, I counseled many individuals of disturbed character who initially balked at the notion that they had any real problems. For example, a person referred for Anger Management Training (which, by the way, I always translate into aggression-replacement training) might assert, "I've really thought about this, doc. If you want to know the absolute truth, I really don't think there's a problem here." He might make this assertion despite a virtual mountain of evidence to the contrary presented by those who pushed him to seek counseling in the first place. He might even maintain the assertion despite a litany of problems in relationships dating back many years that testify to his lack of emotional self-control. This kind of thing always raises the question in the minds of others: "Does he simply not see the problem?"
Actually, most of the time he sees it just fine; but he isn't really motivated to deal with it or change it, so he tries to justify himself and get others off his back by suggesting there is no problem. Other times, he's lied to himself so long and so often that he has begun to believe his own lies. Then again at other times, he has so twisted and so distorted so many aspects of life's realities, it's become hard for him to tell what's real anymore.
Here's one of the benefits of counseling disturbed characters within the Cognitive-Behavior Therapy paradigm: By focusing on behaviors that can be objectively verified as issues of concern, a person's distorted beliefs automatically become evident. Once the problem behaviors are identified and out in the open, attention can be given to the erroneous ways of thinking that led to those behaviors in the first place.
Impulsive Thinking — Disturbed characters think primarily about what they want at the moment. They don't bother to think long-range or about the likely eventual consequences of their behavior. They don't think before they act. They act first and sometimes think afterwards. Some disturbed characters never regret their impulsive acts. Some, however, do experience some after-the-fact regret. They might even know from past experience that they'll end up regretting making an impulsive choice; but that's never a serious consideration at the time they want something. They don't spend time thinking about the potential impact of their behavior before they act. They think only of what they want and how to get it now. This type of thinking predisposes them to think short-range and to ignore potential long-term consequences. It also promotes a "devil-may-care," lackadaisical attitude, and attitudes of indifference, uncaring, or nonchalance.
Egomaniacal Thinking — Disturbed characters think far too much of themselves. At times they think they're so smart, clever, or "special" that they can do what most others wouldn't even dream of trying and somehow get away with it. They tend to think of themselves as so important or superior that they deserve things others don't deserve. They often consider it a testament to their greatness if they can use their wits or manipulative skill to take things as opposed to really earning them. This erroneous way of thinking about themselves, along with their pathologically grandiose sense of self-importance, inevitably engenders attitudes of arrogance, superiority, and most especially, entitlement. In some extreme cases, their sense of entitlement can predispose them to commit acts of unspeakable cruelty toward others.
In recent years, big changes in cultural norms have reinforced the tendency toward egomaniacal thinking. It's not uncommon for young persons to be bombarded with messages that they're "special" simply because they have a heartbeat. That's because well-meaning individuals (e.g., teachers, parents, and even mental health professionals), steeped in old-school psychology, thought it simply wasn't possible for a person to have too much self-esteem, and that everyone would be emotionally healthier if they got frequent messages of validation. But what these well-intentioned folks probably haven't considered is this: When we heap praises upon people for what they are as opposed to what they do, we do them a great disservice insofar as developing a healthy sense of self-worth.
