Arrogance: Definition, Quotes, & Examples​

By Charlie Huntington, M.A., Ph.D. Candidate
Arrogance is an unrealistically positive opinion of one’s abilities and importance. Why do some people develop an inflated sense of self?
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To me, it is very important to be humble when the moment calls for it. There are a handful of times in my life when I have gotten way too big for my britches. When I recall these moments with some sense of guilt or shame, I try to instead shift my perspective to amusement and a sense of gratitude for the opportunity to learn about my own limits.
​
The most humbling of these experiences came in graduate school as I learned,​
repeatedly and painfully, that I could not simply read through the materials for complex psychological assessment techniques and expect to be effective or accurate in using them with children. I have been blessed with the ability to learn many things quickly and with little effort, but these techniques far exceeded that skill of mine, and it took some time for me to acknowledge my arrogance and change my ways. Like a teenager learning that they are not invincible after an impulsive decision leads to a physical injury, I had to admit that there were limits to my intellectual abilities. (This has made it easier to keep acknowledging those limits as they continue to show up in my life.)​

Why did I develop that intellectual arrogance in the first place? Why do we become conceited in general, and how do we know when we are acting from arrogance? Let’s see what the psychological research says.
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What Is Arrogance? (A Definition)​

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, arrogance is “a high or inflated opinion of one’s own abilities, importance, and so on, that gives rise to presumption or excessive self-confidence, or to a feeling or attitude of being superior to others” (Oxford University Press, 2023). We can see from this definition that arrogance incorporates a couple different attitudes that are related to each other. From a conceited view of oneself comes a belief that one is better than others—or at least an unrealistically high degree of self-confidence.
 
This perspective, unfortunately, naturally lends itself to a bit of an antisocial orientation to the world (Wiggins & Broughton, 1991). Think about it: If you are pretty sure you’re better than other people, wouldn’t you naturally deserve more than other people do? Wouldn’t you be tempted to take things for yourself, even if it means other people go without? After all, aren’t you just a bit more worthy than they are of having that thing? Arrogance can naturally lead to putting oneself first, and that can cause real social harms down the line.
 
Arrogance is similar to the concepts of hubris and false pride (Hayward & Hambrick, 1997). False pride is pride that goes beyond what we have actually accomplished. When our pride is an accurate reflection of what we have done, we are not in danger of being arrogant. However, false pride, and the overconfidence it results in, can lead to hubris, or the negative consequences of acting with more confidence than one should. Unfortunately, most people are only aware that they have been acting from false pride after the damage is done and their arrogance has been revealed to them.
 
Another angle on arrogance suggests that there are three types: individual, comparative, and antagonistic (Cowan et al., 2019). In individual arrogance, we ignore the truth about our own abilities and accomplishments. In comparative arrogance, we inflate our own abilities compared to other people’s. In antagonistic arrogance, we actively look down on others because we perceive ourselves as superior to them.
 
I think this is a helpful breakdown of how arrogance can manifest in our lives. In the example I shared earlier, I was engaged in individual arrogance. I was not comparing myself to others but simply overestimating my own ability to learn critical psychological skills. At the same time, I notice in myself a comparative arrogance around therapy, where I sometimes believe, without much evidence, that I am better at helping people than my colleagues are, although I would never say this to them. One place I have seen myself verge on being antagonistically arrogant is when I play games with friends that have an intellectual element to them; if I beat you at Scrabble, I may have a hard time resisting the urge to glory in my apparently powerful and superior brain.​

Opposite of Arrogance​

The opposite of arrogance is humility, or a realistic self-assessment of one’s abilities, traits, and accomplishments. While it is possible to be too humble and to underestimate one’s abilities, psychologists sometimes think about our sense of self as existing on a continuum from humble to arrogant (Rowatt et al., 2006). People who are high in the trait of humility tend to have better relationships with other people compared to those who are instead high in arrogance (Peters et al., 2011), even when other aspects of their personalities are taken into consideration.

Causes of Arrogance

One clear cause of arrogance, or perhaps a reinforcing factor in people’s arrogance, is that it can motivate them to pursue their personal goals (Wiggins & Broughton, 1991). Although acting from arrogance can cause people to respond with hostility and worsen relationships, it is also to some extent an effective character trait for getting your needs met. This brings to mind a saying: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” If you consistently ask for resources because you’re certain that you’re worthy of them, you may rub some people the wrong way, but you will also likely find that people give in to your demands.

Examples of Arrogance

Arrogance is happening whenever a person’s self-portrayal or their expectations of themselves far exceed their actual performance. For example, in one psychology study, participants high in arrogance rated themselves as favorably and with the same amount of confidence as participants who were much more competent at the task at hand (Kleitman et al., 2019). Moreover, these people showed little insight into how inaccurate their self-perceptions were.

How might this look outside of a psychology study? One common example is boasting: People who are arrogant not only have an inflated sense of self, but they do not recognize how voicing this belief might turn other people off. Another example is the belief that they have the best opinions: If you disagree with an arrogant person about which restaurant to go to, you might get an earful about how you know less than they do, have less experience, and clearly need to get out more. This is a form of dismissive behavior that often strikes other people as arrogant, even if the arrogant person does have some expertise in the topic at hand (Milyavsky et al., 2017).​

Signs of Arrogance

If someone becomes much more involved or active when it seems like there is an opportunity to demonstrate their expertise or talents, this may be a sign that they are acting from arrogance (Robinson et al., 2012). Arrogance is a self-perception that needs to be regularly reinforced by feedback from the environment, so people high in arrogance jump at the chance to strut their stuff. They may also seek out or insist on getting positive feedback after sharing or performing.

Justified Arrogance​

People sometimes wonder if arrogance is ever justified. Perhaps Larry Bird, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, was right when he said, “It ain’t bragging if you can back it up.” I would argue that arrogance, by its very definition, involves an unrealistic and inflated sense of self, so it is never justified. People can have a justifiably high view of themselves—if they have earned it through actual accomplishments.

Arrogance and Narcissism

Arrogance is a hallmark trait of narcissistic people (Emmons, 1987). People high in the trait of arrogance are more likely to also possess the other traits—such as a sense of entitlement, self-absorption, and a drive for authority—that underlie narcissism. Even narcissists who do not occupy positions of power are driven by a sense of arrogance; they just struggle more because they exist in environments that will not validate their sense of arrogance for them.

Etymology of Arrogance

Arrogance comes from the Latin word arrogans, which means overbearing. While this is not a perfect match with our modern-day understanding of arrogance, it does reflect the experience of being around an arrogant person. They take up a lot of your space and time, push their needs on you, and generally feel like “too much.”

Arrogance vs. Pride

We perceive people as appropriately prideful, rather than arrogant, when the way they talk about their accomplishments seems commensurate with the nature of those accomplishments (Tracy & Prehn, 2012). For example, an Olympic athlete who, medal in hand, describes their own hard work, but also the help and support of friends, family, coaches, and fellow athletes, is unlikely to seem arrogant, while an Olympic athlete who takes all the credit would definitely come across as arrogant.
 
In this sense, arrogance is also different from confidence. Confidence can be realistic and well-earned, while arrogance is by its nature somewhat divorced from reality. For a longer take on the difference between confidence and arrogance, I recommend watching this video:​

Video: The Difference Between Confidence and Arrogance

Psychology of Arrogance

Psychologists have two overlapping perspectives on arrogance: It is a failure of self-perception, perception of others, or both at the same time (Cowan et al., 2019). (Spoiler alert: When there are competing theories in psychology, it’s almost always an “and” situation rather than an “or” situation.) Some research suggests that it is perception of others, not self-perception, that can drive arrogance (Logg et al., 2018). In this sense, it may be that comparative arrogance is what really drives arrogance as a personality trait.

Arrogance of Power

People high in arrogance are drawn to seeking power, and power seems to make people more arrogant over time (Fetterman et al., 2015). This makes sense to me: If you already have an inflated ego and the world keeps reinforcing it for you by giving you more power, wouldn’t that ego just keep growing?

Is Arrogance a Disorder?

Arrogance is not a disorder, but it is a personality trait with a range of accompanying behaviors that show up in several psychiatric disorders (Hareli & Weiner, 2000). For example, perceiving one’s success as entirely driven by internal factors without taking into account any external variables is a behavior often seen in people with narcissistic personality disorder. This kind of behavior, along with a range of other arrogant behaviors, creates all kinds of interpersonal problems (Cowan et al., 2019), which is why arrogance can be considered a mostly negative trait but not something that in and of itself constitutes a psychiatric disorder.

Arrogance in the Workplace

Arrogant supervisors make for employees who are less satisfied, have low morale, and are more susceptible to burnout (Borden et al., 2018). While a healthy company culture can make up for the effects of an arrogant manager or boss, employees who are subordinates to arrogant people at work often have few options for dealing with that arrogance.

Quotes on Arrogance

  • “Arrogance really comes from insecurity, and in the end, our feeling that we are bigger than others is really the flip side of our feeling that we are smaller than others.” — Desmond Tutu
  • “Arrogance grows best on the dunghill of ignorance.” — Walter Ludin
  • “No one is further from the truth than the one who knows all the answers.” — Zhuangzi
  • “An arrogant person considers himself perfect. This is the chief harm of arrogance. It interferes with a person’s main task in life—becoming a better person.” — Leo Tolstoy
  • “The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is arrogance.” — Albert Einstein

Articles Related to Arrogance

​Want to learn more? Check out these articles:

Books Related to Arrogance

If you’d like to keep learning more, here are a few books that you might be interested in.

Final Thoughts on Arrogance​

We can think of arrogance as a mostly ineffective, but sometimes self-supporting, way of perceiving oneself relative to the world. It may feel positive and empowering to imagine that we are special and better than others, but it usually rubs other people the wrong way and makes social connection more difficult. If there are arrogant people in your life, I encourage you to set firm boundaries around your interactions with them. You do not have to agree with their perceptions, validate their sense of superiority, or make their needs a priority.

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