Ego and self-respect are two different human behaviors with a very thin boundary separating their meaning.
Key Takeaways
- Ego is the sense of self-importance or superiority that an individual may have, based on external factors such as wealth or status; self-respect is a positive view of oneself based on one’s values and achievements.
- The ego can be fragile and easily damaged by criticism or failure; self-respect is more resilient and can be strengthened by personal growth and success.
- Ego can lead to negative behaviours, such as arrogance or selfishness; self-respect is associated with positive behaviours, such as confidence and empathy.
Ego vs. Self Respect
The ego is a sense of self-worth that can be healthy or unhealthy, depending on the person’s attitude. An ego-oriented person may overvalue themselves but not always. Self-respect is the ability to value oneself while keeping in mind the standards of others and setting one’s standards.
Ego is a type of human behavior that makes one care and think only about himself, making them selfish. These people do not care about others and try to make them feel inferior.
They always look for comparisons and competition in everything they do.
Whereas self-respect, as the name describes, is an understanding of self-worth. It makes people confident about themselves.
People with self-respect value others’ opinions and feelings as much as they value their own.
Comparison Table
| Parameter of Comparison | Ego | Self-respect |
|---|---|---|
| Feelings | Thinks only about their own feelings and thoughts. | Thinks about others’ feelings and thoughts too. |
| Behavior with others | Always try to make everyone feel inferior and do not respect their opinions. | Believes in teamwork and respects others’ opinions too. |
| Things that matter | Success, competition, and comparisons. | Being a better person. |
| Fears | Failures and other people’s judgments. | Do not fear anything. |
| Emotions | Guides towards negative feelings and thoughts. | Guides towards positive feelings and thoughts. |
| Outcomes | Other people do not like them | Other people like to spend time with such people. |
What is Ego?
The ego is a human behavior that makes people think and care only about themselves. They do not consider anyone superior and always try to compete with others.
These people do not like to lose, and to achieve this; they do not hesitate to take the wrong path and make decisions. Other people’s feelings and opinions do not matter; all that matters to them is that their ego is always satisfied.
Egoistic people create an image about themselves in their mind, a powerful image, and they never want it to change. And because of this, they fear the outside world and other people’s opinions.
Ego fills one’s mind with negative thoughts and feelings like jealousy, anger, hatred, etc., towards other people; it makes them think they are the only one who is right. It also makes them greedy; they are never satisfied with anything and always want more than others.
People with egos are not good at handling criticism, they do not like being judged, but at the same time criticizing is all they do with other people. This is one of the biggest reasons why no one likes egoistic people.
What is Self-Respect?
Self-respect means respecting yourself; it is about knowing self-worth and value. People with self-respect value themselves and, at the same time, value others.
They never only think about themselves but stay aware of others’ wants and needs. They value themself but do not worship themself.
They do not believe in comparing and competing with others which might result in hard feelings between them and others; they also never make anyone feel inferior to them. These people always think about right and wrong before doing anything or making any decision.
Self-respect always guides people toward positive feelings and thoughts. They never harm anyone intentionally, never disrespects them, and never do anything wrong just for the sake of proving their point.
These people are not stubborn and appreciate criticism; it motivates them to be a greater person every day. They always share their opinions with others and listen to others, too, as they believe in teamwork.
They never fear failure and judgments by other people; for them, it is just another step towards success. They are always happy and appreciative of other people’s achievements and success.
This is the reason why other people like them.
Main Differences Between Ego and Self-Respect
- People with egos only think and care about themselves, whereas people with self-respect care and think about others too.
- Egoistic people do not respect others’ opinions and decisions; they always think they are the only ones capable of making the right decisions. While people with self-respect respect and consider others’ views too. They believe in teamwork.
- Success, competition, and comparisons are the only things that matter to self-centered people as it helps them satisfy their ego. Whereas for people with self-respect, these things do not matter as much. They only concentrate on making themself better.
- People with ego fears failure and other people’s judgment. At the same time, people with self-respect do not fear them.
- The ego fills one with negative feelings and thoughts, but self-respect guides one towards positive feelings and thoughts.
- People do not like a person with an ego, whereas they want to spend time with people with self-respect.
- Egoistic people do not mind hurting others in any way; in contrast, people with self-respect pay equal attention to others’ feelings as they do to their own.
- http://search.proquest.com/openview/c57f6b24bef68d8eaf13554cfddc24f4/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1819558
- https://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=IRP.005.0189A
Last Updated : 11 June, 2023
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Emma Smith holds an MA degree in English from Irvine Valley College. She has been a Journalist since 2002, writing articles on the English language, Sports, and Law. Read more about me on her bio page.
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