Yeah, even when I can see the reason in something, there's a good chance I'll still ego-trip if the possibility is there. Not so much the pride above friendship part though since I have this tendency to do dumb things for the sake of friendship.
One time in highschool, on the way to school, one of my female friends looks at me and goes 'Hey Alex, should I flash the bus behind us?'. Being a normal male of 15, I shrug and tell her to go for it. So when we're in the principal's office getting scolded, I just stand up and say the whole thing was my idea and I put her up to it.
Out of school suspension for a week!
As for control above love...well...
Shit, I dunno. My whole thing with control comes into play only when it comes to planning things. My mom, brother and sister were all people who no sense of urgency at all, so I'm an asshole when it comes to being punctual about anything.
Then I went and made a lot of friends who like to do things at the drop of a hat.