leo burghaus

When I was a child, I devoured Donald Duck comics. Every character had their own things, but Donald Duck itself was special, because Donald Duck had an Alter Ego.

Normal Donald is clumsy, immature, temperamental, resentful. His speech is off, and he’s not known for his charm, good luck or decision-making. But all this changes when he puts on his Duck Avenger costume (in German, Phantomias, which honestly sounds way cooler).

Donald becomes clever, calculated, assertive. Even classy. In his new persona, he fights crimes, and, occasionally, throws in a personal revenge. He gets the bad guys, is admired by the whole town, and is full of confidence.

Badass.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is another good example of the same phenomenon, in which Dr. Jekyll uses his other self to (SPOILER ALERT) murder. It doesn’t work out so well; he commits suicide because he’s not able to separate the two selves physically (yes, physically), and is forced to confront the consequences of his actions. The entire novel is about having two personalities, and how they complement each other (or don’t).

Fiction is full of Alter Ego’s: Tyler Durden (Fight Club), Hulk, Darth Vader, Voldemort, Spiderman, etc. The alter ego permits them to become villains, heroes, or schizophrenic fighters in control of an anti-capitalist organizations that want to create social chaos worldwide.

From a literary point of view, Alter Ego’s lets the author give the characters more depth and complexity. Is there a better way to illustrate the internal contradictions we all have than two characters sharing the same body? 

But Alter Ego’s are famous outside the fictional world too. We wouldn’t yield it so much space in fiction if it wasn’t speaking to something that we intuitively understand.

A lot of people have been using the Alter Ego phenomenon for a long time now, either consciously or unconsciously. Studies show the power of separating ourselves from ourselves to gain some perspective, and psychologists and coaches use it to help clients.

We’ve all heard about the famous Alter Ego’s Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie), Sasha Fierce (Beyoncé) and the Black Mamba (Kobe Bryant). But even if these are the famous ones, people competing on high level often say something along the lines of “’when I step on/into the court/stage/building/room, I become someone else”.

Most of us at some point have referred to ourselves in the third person to tell us that we have to focus, get something done, or stop negative thoughts.

Alter Ego’s might look something of a comic book, or exclusive for world-starts, but it comes natural to us humans. It became such a ‘logic’ element appearing in so many big fiction works because we all are familiar with the concept.

Let’s take a quick look over the topic. 

What is the ego?

The best way to understand the Alter Ego is to first look at what the ego is.

The ego is the perception we have of ourselves. It’s the set of beliefs, thoughts, attitudes, and values that we use to interact with the world around us. It is what mediates your impulses with the outside world, what keeps the balance so that you can function as a social being while being true to yourself.

Imagine the typical situation where there’s a piece of food left when you went for lunch with a friend. You’re not full, neither is your friend, but you both could eat it. The instinct is telling the two of you to take it for yourself. Just eat it.

But it’s also true that there are other elements to consider. Is it an action that will benefit my social relationships? Is this good for my body now? Is there a benefit for me if I offer it to the other person? What if we choose to give it to someone else that is more hungry? Can I feed this to a pet?

Your ego is the thing that will help you decide. It’s going to put the factors on a balance, and depending on your notions of who you are as a person, what you value, what you believe, your usual attitude in these kinds of situations… will give you an answer.

The fact remains: your ego is what you use to navigate the world.

So, the alter ego?

So, the alter ego is a secondary character we create for ourselves (sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously) with different traits than those of our original ego. It’s a set of traits that we feel will come in handy for a particular type of situation.

Take again the example of the food. Imagine that usually, in social settings, you’re someone with a strong inclination to share. You believe in giving those close to you a lot of what you have, show them that you care, and would typically insist they take the piece of food that’s left.

But, you also work in a very competitive company, and you are interested in raising to the top of a hierarchy that rewards toughness, determination, and egoism. You might develop an alter ego, so that at the workplace you act differently than you would at home or with your friends, because that’s what’s necessary. There, you will less open, friendly and prepared to give. Probably, part of that alter ego will also be that you will take that piece of food, because that’s the action that fits the traits of your alter ego.

Alter Egos start early

If you have ever played with children, you will have probably been able to observe the natural tendency to adopt alter egos. Children mimic: now they are one person, and the next moment they become the police, a waiter, their bigger sibling, a princess, a parent, a pirate, a football player. They change personality for the time being, and adopt different ways of being, interacting, reacting, etc…

In children, Alter Ego’s are disposable and serve the purpose to play, experiment, find out, and construct the self. Not consciously, but it’s a way to find out what types of behaviors and attitudes are beneficial for them in what contexts, and they build on those experiences.

Although children don’t construct and Alter Ego the same way adults do, the principle is the same: we all choose attributes that we don’t have currently, and that we would want to have in specific scenarios.

What makes it so effective?

The main motive why Alter Ego’s are so effective is because they help us see ourselves in third person. It’s a way of putting some distance between us and our internal dialogue, pretending for a while that we’re not who we perceive we are.

There are various studies showing how “distanced self-talk” affects us in different scenarios. Usually, these experiments work by comparing a control group that refers to themselves in first person, to a second group that talks of themselves in third person. Then, depending on the experiment, they compare things like cardiovascular activity before stressfull situations¹, emotional regulation², the way people represent the self³, how it affects different levels of athletes’ experience (i.e., affect and anger)⁴, or our ability to solve complex puzzles⁵. There’s a long list of experiments and studies showing the impact self-distancing can produce.

By thinking of us in the third person, we are able to create some distance from the self in order to think more rationally about what is needed, and have greater self-control. We disassociate our feelings and emotions from the situation.

It’s not the same for Donald Duck to confront a situation with all his insecurities and self-doubt, then for Avenger Duck to do what he needs to do. The upright citizen Mr. Jekyll might not be able to murder someone, that would hurt his status. But Mr. Hyde? Goodbye, Sir Danvers Carew.

Why should I care?

Well, do what you want. If you don’t care, you don’t.

What is interesting though are two elements for me:

1. Once you know about it, you’re going to recognize how present the Alter Ego is in so much fictional work. It speaks to us, and we believe in it. There’s something very powerful in showing two apparently different characters living together in the same body.
2. It’s very interesting to consider how you might be able to leverage the concept in your personal life. There’s probably one way or another you can start playing with the topic in the way that will benefit you.

Back to our two protagonists, the Alter Ego helps Donald Duck be cool for some hours, and it was the doom of the well respected Dr. Jekyll. To each their own, I guess.