Entitled People: Pictures Showing Some Truly Over-The-Top Behavior

As the moderators state, this subreddit is the place for "stories from your lives about people who think the rules don't apply to them and they should get what they want." It is a sister subreddit of a similar page called Entitled Parents, which is dedicated to sharing specific stories of moms and dads who think that having kids gives them the right to everything.

Since its creation in 2016, Entitled People has reached more than 200K members. Most of them had the "pleasure" of meeting such individuals in real life and decided to share their experiences with the rest of us. It might be difficult to know how to react to specific situations when people think they deserve special treatment and might not understand that their actions are hurting someone else.

One of the biggest characteristics that entitled people have is the "you owe me" mentality. It seems that they fundamentally believe in their superiority over others; they see themselves as more important, smarter, and overall better in life. So naturally, they expect bigger benefits from life which are often upsetting for those surrounding them.

While we're not yet sure why some people have this kind of attitude, there could be a few explanations. We are all affected by social factors such as the environment we grew up in or how our parents and other adults treat us. According to psychotherapist and psychoanalyst F. Diane Barth, L.C.S.W., it's "a normal part of a child’s psychological development to think that he or she is the center of the world." So it all comes down to the parent who should help their kid recognize that the wants and needs of others are just important as their own.

Another reason for entitlement might come from feeling mistreated. You might think you have the right to more gifts from the world because you were deprived of the things you needed earlier on. "Often, individuals who have been mistreated or disrespected exhibit a sense of entitlement when they start to feel that they deserve better than they have been getting. This is part of a healthy shift towards self-respect. Yet they, too, eventually need to find a way to balance self-respect with respect for others," Barth said.

What people expect of the world varies widely. And there's a special kind of people who think their time is worth more than others'. Cruising through life choosing ways that make life easier is definitely more comfortable for them. People who show up when they feel like it, not even apologizing for making others wait, state that other peoples' priorities are not worth taking into account. "By keeping others in suspense, individuals high in this quality demand that others follow their schedule rather than comply with social niceties," Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D., a professor emerita of psychological and brain sciences, explained.

"It’s just that, for whatever reason, they’ve come to adopt a style that has worked for them. If they can navigate the world according to their own time schedule, and no one has called them on that, then why should they change? Call them on it and let them know that this is not okay. Even more to the point, what would happen if you didn’t wait for them? Might they realize that you’re a person who can’t and won’t be treated this way?"

Not only do such people waste others' time and don't consider their needs, but they also can't seem to control their anger. In a series of studies, researchers found that those who have higher levels of psychological entitlement actually felt victimized when they experienced bad luck. They examined about 200 participants by asking them if they feel things should go their way.

After measuring levels of entitlement, psychologists gave them a task. "The participants then were told that they had been “randomly” assigned to complete a dull task (counting letters in a paragraph) rather than a fun one (rating a comic strip). Before beginning the boring task, participants indicated the degree to which it felt unfair that they had to complete this task, rather than rate the comic strip, and the amount of anger they felt in response," they explained.

"As predicted, we found that more entitled people expected better luck, and felt cheated, and in some cases angry, that they had been given the dull task." After conducting several similar studies with even more people, the researchers found that "the greater the entitlement, the greater the self-reported anger, but only when the participant himself was impacted. When it was another person’s hardship, highly entitled people were no angrier than those who were less entitled."

We all have met a person like this at one point or another. Whether it was your co-worker, relative or a good friend, you need to know how to deal with such attitudes. When it comes to ill-temper, "it’s best to remember that the entitled person’s anger doesn’t necessarily mean that you or anyone else has wronged them. Although we can sympathize, their sense of victimization and outrage may simply be due to getting dealt a bad hand rather than the great one they feel they deserve."

All of this may seem like a never-ending cycle. First, thinking that the world owes you certain things, then getting angry when certain expectations are not met. Finally, fixing the situation you're in which will only give you more self-confidence that you really deserve everything you've ever wanted. The good news is that this is easily changeable and we can think of a few ways on how to break this pattern.

You can start by practicing treating others the way you would like to be treated. Take a step back, evaluate the situation from a different point of view, and think: is it really fair for other people to drop everything that they're doing because you need it? It's not, right? Well, most importantly, remember to have respect for others and treat them kindly because you might be unaware of the struggles they have to deal with on a daily basis.

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