[1] However, Elkind pointed out that adolescents tend to focus mostly on their own perceptions – especially on their behaviors and appearance – because of the "physiological metamorphosis" they experience during this period.
Elkind used the term imaginary audience to describe the phenomenon that an adolescent anticipates the reactions of other people to them in actual or impending social situations.
Since an adolescent usually fails to differentiate their focus on their own perceptions and that of others, they tend to believe that they are of great importance to those around them (the imaginary audience), and consequently come to regard their feelings as something special and unique.
[1] This belief of personal uniqueness and invincibility contributes to an illusion that they are above the rules, disciplines and laws that apply to other people; isolation can be a way to show individuality in this mindset.
[4] Due to the existence of personal fable at some point, adolescents tend to substitute the roles of an idol, a hero or even a god with their own image.
[1] Accordingly, the two mental constructions that result from egocentrism, imaginary audience and personal fable, will gradually be overcome and disappear as formal operations become mature and stable.
An important theoretical assumption in Elkind's theory is that the emergence of adolescence egocentrism is a result of the development of formal operational thoughts.
[13] Galanaki (2012) performed a research to investigate the association of adolescent egocentrism with age, gender, pubertal development and formal operational thoughts.
The results revealed significantly higher scores obtained by females compared with males in the Transient Self subscale in IAS.
[16] Transient Self, as defined by Elkind and Bowen in 1979, refers to impermanent image of self that is mainly relative to one-time behaviors and temporary appearance.
[12] Thus, adolescent females have a higher tendency to consider themselves to be different from others, and tend to be more self-conscious in situations that involve momentary embarrassments (e.g. going to a party with a bad haircut), than their male peers.
[16] Another study conducted by Goossens and Beyers (1992) using similar measuring instruments found that boys have stronger beliefs that they are unique, invulnerable and sometimes omnipotent, which are typical characteristics of personal fable.