NEGATIVE TRAIT THESAURUS

COCKY



Never struggle with Show-and-Tell again. Activate your free trial or subscribe to view the Negative Trait Thesaurus in its entirety, or visit the Table of Contents to explore unlocked entries.

CHOOSE MY PLAN

HELPFUL TIP:

Characters with this flaw will be extra sensitive to certain emotions, so think about how events in your story might specifically trigger these feelings to generate compelling tension and conflict. Another idea is to give a supporting character a positive attribute that is an opposite of this flaw, which will get under the skin of both characters and cause friction in their relationship.
DEFINITION:
Brazenly or rudely self-confident

SIMILAR FLAWS:
Over-confident, swaggering

POSSIBLE CAUSES:
Over-affirming parents
Consistently escaping the consequences for one's actions
Having an overly confident view of oneself
High self-esteem
A history of usually being right
Desiring attention or popularity
Having realized frequent, competitive successes

ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORS AND ATTITUDES:
Peppering comments with sarcasm
Bragging
Vanity
Smirking and sneering
Feeling excessive pride in one's accomplishments
Adapting an air of fearlessness
Playing practical jokes that teeter on the edge of being inappropriate or hurtful
Sparring verbally, mouthing off
Participating in activities that affirm one's prowess (sports, intellectual battles, etc.)
Pointing out the inferiority of others
Dismissing those one views as inferior
Expressing anger when one's ego takes a hit
Showing off or boasting
Extreme competitiveness
Surrounding oneself with people of similar interests who encourage the cocky behavior
...

ASSOCIATED THOUGHTS:
...

ASSOCIATED EMOTIONS:
...

POSITIVE ASPECTS:
...

NEGATIVE ASPECTS:
...

EXAMPLE FROM FILM:
...

OVERCOMING THIS TRAIT AS A MAJOR FLAW:
...

TRAITS IN SUPPORTING CHARACTERS THAT MAY CAUSE CONFLICT:
...