In the words of Craig Malkin, we can define the ecological personality as follows: “The less special people feel, the more modest they become until they have so little sense of themselves that they feel useless and helpless. Shall I call them eco-ists? ( Malkin 2015: 11).
In other words, having an eco-responsible personality does not mean being modest, but being afraid to project an egocentric, narcissistic and selfish image that provokes rejection and criticism.
- As a result.
- These personalities try to completely silence their “I” and their needs.
- In other words.
- They don’t want others to feel special; in fact.
- When this happens.
- They can feel very uncomfortable and even get angry.
“Eco was a nymph that lived in the forest. She had a beautiful, sweet voice and she loved to talk. In her eloquence, Eco always wanted to have the last word.
One day, the goddess Hera punished Echo for cheating on her and declared he angry:
? From that moment on, you won’t be able to say what you want, and since you like to have the last word, will you repeat only the last word you hear?
One day, as he walked through the woods, Echo met Narcissus, a handsome young shepherd, whose nymphs were all in love, but he turned them down.
Echo was deeply in love with him and decided to follow him through the woods, suddenly Narcissus heard a noise between the branches and asked:
? Is anyone here?
? There? echo said.
? Happen? Narcissus shouted.
? Happen? repeated Echo
And when they met, Echo hugged Narcissus, who rejected him as he was accustomed.
The goddess Nemesis punished Narcissus and, while drinking from a crystalline spring, he could see his own image, thought that his reflection was a real being and he was deeply in love with himself.
From then on he cared nothing and stayed there for fear of losing his image. Gradually, Narcissus has become a beautiful flower.
Echo took refuge in caves and mountain peaks, where his physical body disappeared due to hunger, leaving only his voice, which always repeats the last word someone says.
Psychology was inspired by a myth to name the narcissistic personality, but everyone has forgotten about the Nympha Echo, at least so far.
American psychologist Craig Malkin was fascinated by echo’s role, as it represented the antithesis of narcissism, and found similarities to the characteristics of some people.
So he decided to focus on finding what he called an ecological personality.
“We must proceed in a way that does not embarrass us. “Baltasar Gracion.
The eco-responsible personality fears being perceived as vain or being the center of attention, and never wants to monopolize the gaze of others, even for good reasons.
The characteristic feature of ecoists is the fear of projecting a narcissistic image, to look very full of themselves, so they tend to feel uncomfortable when they receive attention, especially if it is positive attention, so these people prefer to go unnoticed.
Environmentally friendly people never express their wishes in their personal relationships. As Craig Malkin points out: “They are afraid to become a burden, and it is no exaggeration to say that they hate to feel needs. “That way, they hide them.
They firmly believe that to earn the love of others, they must demand as little as possible and give as much as possible, this leads them to neglect their needs, to give themselves too much to others, which often generates dissatisfaction and unhappiness, because their emotional needs continue to exist, but are not satisfied.
Ecoism is intimately linked to emotional sensitivity. It is common for these people to show extreme sensitivity from birth, and because they are so sensitive, they are very embarrassed when they are punished or scolded.
In fact, there is an assumption that ecoism is a kind of defensive introversion. These people think, “If I go unnoticed, no one can humiliate me, embarrass me, or hurt me. “
“If the soul cares about embarrassing and overcoming it, it cannot feel pleasure. “Stendhal.
The ecological personality is linked to low self-esteem, feeling abnormal or thinking that you do not deserve to be considered implies a negative image of yourself.
This lack of confidence in one’s own abilities becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, so these people will rarely encourage themselves to undertake projects or pursue their dreams, they have so little love for themselves that life ends up devouring them.
People with an environmentally friendly personality strive so hard to meet the needs of others and hide their own desires that they may lose connection to their “I”, so if someone asks them what they want, they may feel lost.
This inability to connect with their needs makes them more likely to develop emotional dependence on others, who want to avoid.
According to Malkin in an article for Psychology Today, these patterns of behavior lead to a common constant in the life of ecoists: they tend to fall in love with narcissists.
This is because environmentalists are so afraid of being the center of attention that “having a loved one occupying the whole environment is a relief. “
The problem, the psychologist says, is that when narcissists become abusive, do eco-ists blame themselves for the abuse?With phrases like “I wait too long,” “Am I too sensitive?” Or “I shouldn’t have come back. “