eli5: What does having an overdeveloped ego mean, in psychological terms?
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Your “ego” is your psychological defence mechanism to protect your status quo, your core beliefs, that which you’ve learned by bitter experience defines your reactions.
When you say “I am …” < that’s your ego talking, can be either positive or negative or more normally a combination of both.
It’s your intellectual conceptualisation of who and what you are.
When you feel “outraged” and reactive, the behaviours you exhibit will be driven directly by your ego “program” if you will, not necessarily by those parts of you willing to listen to others, accept compromise and seek consensus.
Overdeveloped, could also mean underdeveloped in other areas, like humility, acceptance, reflection, satisfaction, looking for win/win, friendliness.
To reverse that, over developed ego drives behaviour that seeks to win (at all costs), be seen to be the best, to be listened to, to share their thoughts on others, to need more, expect the best (for themselves), to never lose, to remain so aloof that they can’t truly connect because that would take a sharing of vulnerabilities, which is not possible for people who’ve found themselves to be in full defence mode all the time.
The best way to think of it is “Ego Bound” – like a plant that can’t thrive when it’s pot bound, a person who’s ego drives the majority of their behaviour can’t grow because in order to grow, one must accept one’s own limitations.
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