Entitlement has been on the rise over the years and seems to be at an all time high. With entitlement on the rise of society, we at SEL4CT wanted to discuss what entitlement is, how to deal with entitled behavior, and most importantly how compassion can be used to defuse entitlement.
According to WebMD and VeryWell Mind entitlement can be defined as a personality trait where someone believes that they are deserving of things regardless of the work or effort put in to earn these things. For example when a person believes that they deserve a raise regardless of the effort put in or when a child believes that they deserve praise or a trophy regardless of their actions. As you might guess, entitlement does not positively impact anyone positively. According to PsychCentral a sense of entitlement can lead to a cycle of distress and causes not only anxiety and uneasy feelings within the individual themselves, but from those around them.
Although entitled behavior can be annoying and frustrating to deal with there are ways to work with entitled adults without losing your cool. According to HappierHuman it is important to understand that you need to set clear boundaries and time limits with entitled people. It is also important to not get caught into an argument with a person acting out of entitlement, but you can respectfully call out this person’s entitled behavior – but be prepared to use your calming and stress management skills to remain calm and cool-headed.
An important reminder, however, is that entitlement can be battled through the practice of compassion! So what is compassion? Compassion is defined by VeryWell Mind as empathy paired with altruism, or in other words the desire to help others due to the empathy you have for them. Compassion can be practiced in a variety of ways such as encouraging others, apologizing when a mistake was made, showing respect, and being happy for someone else’s success. It can also be used when wringing your hands in frustration as shared in this article on dealing with entitlement. Furthermore, it may be helpful to see entitled behavior rooted in unmet needs as described in NVC or Non-Violent Communication, also sometimes referred to as compassionate communication.
According to Calm4Kids it is important to model compassion and kindness for children to behave compassionate and kind to others. Similarly, it is important to talk to them about empathy and give them times of undivided attention. According to The Greater Good compassion can also be cultivated through meditation and self-awareness. VeryWell Mind also notes that to boost compassion for others is to let go of judgment and have respect for others.
We hope that this information helps you to better understand entitlement. But more importantly understand how compassion can not only decrease your own entitlement, but fight other’s sense of entitlement.
