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All of us have encountered over confident people at some

point or the other. Whether it's a relative, friend, colleague,

boss or even an acquaintance. Such individuals areconstantly bragging about their knowledge, achievements

and their ambitious plans for the future. They tend to

overshadow others around them, be it their siblings,

friends and colleagues. So, does this sound very much

like you? If yes, then you seem to be brimming with over

confidence. Though, over confidence may seem a positivething but it can have undesirable repercussions. Read on

to find out more...

What's is over-confidence?

There is a thin line which separates confidence from over

confidence. Clinical psychologist Varkha Chulani says,

"Overconfidence is a kind of arrogance where one

believes that he/she is better than others. Here, the

person believes that he/she as a human being is superior.

So, he/she often has a condescending, disdainful attitudetowards people and looks down on most."

Psychologist Chandni Mehta says that this trait of over

confidant behaviour is more common amongst men than

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women, especially successful businessmen. Where

women are concerned, the highly ambitious, career driven

and very good looking women tend to be over confidant.

Such people are generally loud and flamboyant about

expressing their opinions on say a topic like cricket or

stock markets. They might not have the accurate

information on such topics but they will confidently express

their opinions on the same. They also tend to mock and

contradict others opinions.

Causes of this behaviour

There are various factors that cause over confidence to

creep into people's psyche. Psychiatrist Dr Anjali Chhabria

says, "Affluence, higher education, higher positions of

parents or natural personality will make people to become

over confident. Our own abilities and a high success rate

triggers over confidence in general. Narcissistic

personality types have been found to be more over

confident." She says that some individuals actually have alow self esteem and just to prove themselves and increase

their self worth they tend to be over confident. They end

up taking more tasks than they can handle but in reality

they may not be sure about themselves.

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Mehta says that sometimes individuals who have achieved

success, for eg. in their professional life give them an air

of superiority. They gauge their self-worth based on their

achievements. Also, the upbringing of a person can lead

them to becoming an over-confident individual. Parents

who have never criticised their child, praised them

excessively for their achievements and kept them on a

high pedestal, makes the child grow into an over confidantadult.

Effects of over-confidence

Since people who are over confident by nature see

themselves as 'I know it all' types, they generally not liked

by many people. Chulani says that an air of arrogance and

superficial confidence envelopes them. They are often

difficult in their interpersonal encounters and find it hard to

get along with people. Their ego is easily punctured and

they feel slighted easily. Yes, on the one hand, theyproject superiority but actually they are fragile and have a

vulnerability about them.

Professionally, she says that such persons think they are

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special. So they slip into a comfort zone and don't believe

that they need to brush up their skills or knowledge. To

that extent, they fall short of being up with their work and

may thus, suffer setbacks because of their

overconfidence. Also, since they are difficult people to get

along with, they get alienated by their colleagues and may

have poor professional interaction with them.

Mehta says that individuals who are over confident are fullof themselves and constantly express their opinions from

topics like fashion, politics, sports to even weather. They

don't care about other's opinions, especially of those who

are their subordinates and those who they think are

inferior to them. As for relationships, they are the more

dominant person. They generally want partners who will

be subservient to them.

How to cope with it

Being full of oneself is not a desirable trait and this tendsto affect their relationships with their family, friends,

colleagues and even acquaintances. And since this

behaviour has its own set of repercussions, it needs to be

checked. Chulani suggests one must realise that titles,

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jobs, marks, money do not define a person. Likewise,

inabilities, deficiencies, setbacks, do not devilify a person.

As long as you are you, you will always remain human -

not superior or inferior. Rate your abilities and

achievements but do not rate yourself as a person, based

on these.

Most of the time, overconfident are not aware of their

behaviour. Therefore, the family and friends of such

individuals need to make them aware of it. Dr Chhabriasuggest the following tips:

1. Acknowledge that each individual has their own

respective skills and qualities. One should not think that

they are the only ones who know and do everything right.

2. Don't take things for granted, even if you have had a

high success rate in business or personal decisions.

3. Be flexible and open to learning. No individual can

possibly know everything about anything.

4. Be practical and realistic about your goals and dreams.

5. Accept your weaknesses. Yes, even you can make a

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mistake. Just because you are good at one thing, it does

not make you good at everything else.

6. Appreciate others for their abilities- one may be better

than you at certain situations and work methods. Know

that the efficiency of the situation is vital.