Introduction
The dark side is not just for vampires and certain bad guys. Everyone who has lived for more than a few years possesses it. It is normal for a human to experience different types of behavior, and no one can project solely positive emotions. People get angry and upset, which is considered an expression of their dark side. Even though individuals attempt to hide their negative traits, they may be aware that such qualities as confidence may be destructive as well.
Understanding Persona and Shadow in Human Behavior
Any person experiences various emotions throughout the day, conditioned by internal and external conditions. Their reactions to a specific event are based upon character traits. For instance, a shy individual will try to hide their anger towards a distressing situation, while a choleric one may easily shout at the wrongdoer. However, hiding some feelings and traits is sometimes destructive, yet it is normal to have a so-called dark side. It can be explained through the prism of the persona and the shadow proposed by an analytic therapist, Carl Gustav Jung.
The psychologist offered a series of archetypes that reflect one’s personality. A persona is an image a person creates to interact with the surrounding world and the earth. Everything that a persona considers reasonable in themselves contributes to the dignity and what others approve of (Roesler, 2021).
Meanwhile, shadow contains all the most unpleasant, negative, rejected things that a person has, what he knows about himself, but does not want to show people around him. The shadow contradicts the persona, but a tremendous positive energy is hidden in it (Roesler, 2021). If one learns to manage this energy correctly, they can develop their personality effectively.
For one reason or another, each person has those parts of a human’s “I” that they do not like, or, as they believe, will not be accepted in society, so they drive them deep into the unconscious. The problem is that often people are not always aware of the part of their “I“ that they reject (Roesler, 2021). According to Jung’s theory, individuals psychologically distance themselves from behaviors, emotions, and thoughts that seem terrible and dangerous (Roesler, 2021). An interesting thing happens: instead of confronting what one does not like, their mind pretends it does not exist. Aggressive impulses, taboo mental images, shameful experiences, immoral urges, fears, irrational desires, unacceptable sexual desires – this is not a complete list of shadow aspects that people carry within themselves, but are afraid to admit.
The stronger one’s persona becomes, the more people identify with it and reject other parts of themselves. Freud primarily studied parts of what Jung calls the shadow in his studies on suppression and neurosis (Roesler, 2021). Jung discovered that suppressed material is arranged and structured around a shadow, which becomes a negative self, or the shadow of the ego (Roesler, 2021). Because the substance of the shadow is forcibly pushed from consciousness and oppositional to the conscious point of view, the shadow frequently appears in the experience of dreams as a dark, primal, unfriendly, or frightening figure.
When shadow material returns to consciousness, it loses many of its primordial and scary characteristics. The shadow is most dangerous when it goes unnoticed. In this instance, the person unconsciously projects his bad attributes onto others or is suppressed by the shadow.
The shadow archetype includes images of the enemy, the devil, and the concept of original sin (Roesler, 2021). When most of the shadow material becomes conscious, the smaller one will be unable to dominate. As a result, adopting a shadow into one’s life might be advantageous because it allows one to experience the world more vividly.
Individuals should be more aware of their shadows for personal development and be open to the notion that some are not as nice, righteous, and moral as others believe. Humans must consider that there may be unconscious aspects of themselves that control their behavior “behind the scenes.“ It is critical to dig deep within oneself and see that the conscious ego is not always in charge, but frequently assumes the authority of the shadow.
People must honor these dark characteristics as they grow more aware of them and find a way to integrate them into their lives (Roesler, 2021). Otherwise, the person will grow weak and forgetful. It is impossible to satisfy two inner motives without squandering power and energy. The shadow must be integrated into the conscious personality.
The dark side may be exemplified through the prism of qualities like confidence. Confidence is a firm, stable belief in the truth of something, the absence of doubt. It might seem strange that confidence can be a shadow, whereas it is supposed to bring many benefits to people. This trait will be viewed as the persona and the shadow to understand it correctly.
Implications of Overconfidence on Ethics and Decision-Making
The mother of all psychological biases is overconfidence. That is meant in two ways. First, overconfidence is one of the most widespread biases that can affect human judgment. For instance, 93 percent of American drivers believe they are better than the median, which is scientifically impossible (Logg et al., 2018). Overconfidence can lead to excessive stock market trading, high rates of entrepreneurial failure, legal conflicts, political partisanship, and even war.
Almost every component of a happy and satisfying life is connected to one’s level of self-confidence. Confident people achieve goals, most often make the right decisions, and feel satisfied. Taking modest actions that provide lasting achievement is the key to developing confidence.
One is well on their way when obstacles to learn a language, perfecting a skill, achieving a fitness goal, or doing anything else to get where they want to be are overcome. When confident, a person gains the abilities and coping mechanisms to deal with failure and setbacks. Confidence does not preclude occasional failure and may even strengthen one’s determination.
Even if it goes against logic, being more confident makes one less self-centered. We have been guilty of entering a room and immediately assuming everyone stares at us. They all believe that they are ugly and that everything they say is foolish. In actuality, everyone is preoccupied with their concerns and thoughts.
One can interact with people honestly once they can leave their heads behind. Therefore, being confident as an expression of persona implies not being concerned with the impression one leaves. In addition, it signified avoiding any comparison with other people, thus enjoying interactions more. Others will also feel comfortable around such an individual, which eventually helps establish stronger connections.
On the other hand, this quality entails some potentially destructive implications. Too much confidence can be an expression of a shadow. The overconfidence bias is the propensity for people to be surer of their skills than is objectively reasonable, including driving, teaching, or spelling.
Additionally, moral issues are involved with this arrogance. Most think they are more moral than their rivals, coworkers, and peers. For instance, a recent study found that 50% of businesspeople polled thought they were among the top 10% of people regarding ethics (Logg et al., 2018). The overconfidence bias causes people to downplay ethical concerns frequently.
Several types of confidence are differentiated, which helps solve each problem individually. To begin, individuals may overestimate their abilities, chances of success, or outcomes in absolute terms – a phenomenon known as overestimation. For example, a new business owner may overestimate his abilities and be overly optimistic about prospective revenues.
Second, people may exaggerate the same indications relative to other people’s indicators – a relative overestimation. For example, one may be overconfident in project indicators compared to the success of competitors’ similar projects. Finally, some could overestimate the correctness of their knowledge.
The same entrepreneur may overestimate their projections’ profitability and accuracy for a potential project. When faced with ethical dilemmas, they merely assume that because of their moral nature, they will act morally. According to studies, people overestimate how much and how frequently they will donate money or give their time to organizations. Therefore, acting without careful thought can result from too much faith in one’s moral character. Some individuals are most likely to act unethically at that time.
Moreover, a person who is too confident hears only themselves and no one else. They have only two opinions – theirs and the wrong one. Excessive self-confidence can lead to the fact that a person ceases to doubt the correctness of their behavior and actions (Logg et al., 2018). This pattern leads to such people being told only what they are pleased to hear, what seems pleasant and bright, and the truth is hidden (Logg et al., 2018). Gradually, others begin to catch on to what is happening. In this case, it is easy to overlook essential signals that allow one to reconsider communication and take action.
When individuals are confident, they will consider any of their actions correct. At the same time, they will not hear someone else’s opinion, even if the truth is hidden. Moreover, being afraid to argue with a self-confident person, people will hush up their own opinion, since they do not want to start a scandal (Sanchez & Dunning, 2018).
As a result, a self-confident person does not receive feedback, and many actions surprise them (Logg et al., 2018). For example, when people say bad things behind one’s back, and then it all comes out, it becomes unpleasant. Nonetheless, perhaps it was simply impossible for a person to say it directly and discuss it.
Recognizing and Managing the Dark Side in Personal Relationships
If a loved one shows excessive demands and categoricality, constantly talks about fictional achievements, lies, and devalues other people’s successes, and criticizes other people’s actions, this is a reason to think that they are asking for help with such behavior. Awareness of excessive self-confidence in rare cases comes to a person on their own (Sanchez & Dunning, 2018). Critical thinking decreases, but there is still a chance that introspection will allow one to assess the negative aspects of the character. In this case, working with a psychologist will be even more effective and will quickly produce positive results.
Cultural and Social Influences on Shadow Expression and Ethical Behavior
At work, the major cultural factor is nationality; in many cultures, expressing negative emotions towards others is common. For instance, when one’s dark side is anger, they cannot shout at their boss in a Chinese company. One of the key social forces at work is status – some people consider themselves capable of acting in any way since their social position is higher.
However, it is morally wrong as anyone can behave the same regardless of status. Therefore, there are grounds for ethical considerations, specifically when applying shadow theory to practice. For instance, some individuals may justify their criminal deeds by shadow expression, which entails a psychiatric investigation. In addition, the other issue is harm potential; it signifies that if a person trespasses on their dark side, they may cause damage to themselves and society.
Conclusion
In conclusion, character can change throughout life and undergo different trait formation. It is indispensable to remember that people easily have the so-called “negative“ qualities and suppress them because they contradict societal norms. However, if integrated appropriately, they may become helpful in different situations. For instance, confidence can become destructive if used excessively and inappropriately. Therefore, it should be controlled and applied when necessary to succeed.
References
Logg, J. M., Haran, U., & Moore, D. A. (2018). Is overconfidence a motivated bias? Experimental evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147(10), 1445–1465. Web.
Roesler, C. (2021). The archetype concept of C. G. Jung: Theory, research, and applications. Routledge.
Sanchez, C., & Dunning, D. (2018). Overconfidence among beginners: Is a little learning a dangerous thing? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114(1), 10–28. Web.