Our egos (or our self-concept) form in the first several years of life in the context of our primary relationships. And as our egos form, relationship contracts form which can color all our future relationships. An ego contract is essentially an agreement about how a person will interact with other people. For example, a common ego contract is if I please you, I expect you to love me. Individuals with this ego contract become people pleasers later in life. There is nothing wrong with pleasing other people, of course, the issue with people pleasers here is that they ignore their own needs in their attempt to gain the approval, affection, and love from some other.

There are many other types and forms of ego contracts and the following module is dedicated to exploring this phenomenon: