Pride: the 6 common traits of vain people

The Personality traits form one of the most interesting fields of study in the field of psychology. However, many of the adjectives that we normally use to refer to the way of being of the people around us do not correspond to a scientifically created category.

However, that does not mean that there are not certain nuances in the personality that may not be of interest. This is the case of pride, a term that is used to designate vain and somewhat arrogant people. However, the psychological implications of this trait go far beyond the bad image that it has been given socially.

Personality traits associated with pride

The personality traits that define arrogant people are especially related to two characteristics: the narcissism and a tendency to megalomania. Both psychological dimensions are closely linked, and they speak to us of a need to maintain a highly idealized self-image that serves to justify a series of irrational beliefs (that is, they do not fit with what is being verified about the reality). Among these beliefs is that you have control of practically all aspects of daily life-

What is narcissism?

Narcissism is a propensity for feelings of grandiosity when evaluating oneself.

Narcissistic people are always aware of what others think about them, but at the same time, they believe that they have more value than most. Although it seems paradoxical, they are obsessed with making everyone behave as if they were very special and highly relevant people while undervaluing others.

In addition, they consider that their point of view is the most correct and they tend to treat others with a certain paternalism for this reason: they try to teach them that they are wrong, without first considering whether they are the ones who have fallen into the error. They generally do not pale as easily as non-narcissistic people. They are not usually people with too much tact or deference towards others.

What is megalomania?

Megalomania is a concept very similar to narcissism, although has a somewhat more pathological nuance because it includes a relationship with the delusions that a person holds in order to believe that he is capable of doing things that, really, he can hardly achieve.

Megalomaniacal people greatly overestimate their abilities and, as a consequence, tend to want to drink control of everything that happens in your life: including the projects that other people carry out between hands. For example, they may believe that they can get a large company to hire a relative despite not knowing no one who works there, or assume that they will receive special treatment from the police if they commit a infringement.

• You can read more about megalomania in this article: "Megalomania and delusions of grandeur: playing God"

The characteristics of proud people

Now that we've had an idea of ​​how superb people are generally defined, we can move on to exploring their personality in more detail. These are some of the specific characteristics that vain people tend to present.

1. They believe that by default they are almost always right

As we have seen, pride takes from narcissism this irrational belief that one is always right for the simple fact of being who one is. That is why markedly arrogant people sometimes try to argue and defend their point of view using the fallacy of authority.

2. They are aware of their public image, although without being noticed

Vain people they need to have a feedback constant about the image they give to others, although they try to appear indifferent about it. The reason is that they know that naturalness and spontaneity are valued positively.

3. Angers produced by pride

The fact of having to carry with such an idealized version of themselves makes that when it comes to interacting with this type of people they can easily jump sparks. That is they can get angry over small details. For example, when they believe that they are not being paid enough attention, they may unconsciously tend to look for an excuse to confront the other person.

4. Theatricality in his way of presenting himself

People who stand out in pride attract attention in ways that sometimes seem to belong more to the performing arts, especially if you want to stand out from a group of people. That is to say, they have a certain tendency to dramatize and spectacularize some moments of their daily life.

5. The importance of social networks

The emergence of the massive use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter makes many young people adopt behavioral dynamics that define superb people, although in a new way.

Rivalry is created for the number of followers, strategies are created to have more visibility on the Internet and sometimes these virtual profiles are only used to try to give this desired image of oneself, and not so much to really communicate with others, as a person would famous.

For example, a button: adolescent boys and girls from Barcelona who go to a trendy nightclub (interesting from minute 0:57):

6. The instrumentalization of others

If narcissism has a clear relationship with psychopathy, it is because these two characteristics of the personality reify the rest of human beings with whom one has a direct relationship; namely, they are treated as objects.

Conceited people can pay so much attention to their image that they cannot help seeing others as a means to make its "grandeur" expand, reaching higher levels of power (economic or social) through they.