Chapter 11: Identity

Question 1

bicultural identity

Answer 1

Identifying both with one’s own ethnic minority group and with the majority culture.

Question 2

big five factors of personality

Answer 2

The view that personality is made up of five factors: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

Question 3

commitment

Answer 3

A personal investment in identity.

Question 4

contemporary life-events approach

Answer 4

The view that how a life event influences the individual’s development depends not only on the event itself but also on mediating factors, the individual’s adaptation to the life event, the life-stage context, and the sociohistorical context.

Question 5

crisis

Answer 5

A period of identity development during which the individual is exploring alternatives.

Question 6

ethnic identity

Answer 6

The subjective sense of ethnic group membership that involves self-labeling (Mexican American, for example) and evaluation of one’s ethnic group

Question 7

generativity versus stagnation

Answer 7

The seventh stage in Erikson’s life-span theory; it encompasses adults’ desire to leave a legacy of themselves to the next generation.

Question 8

identity achievement

Answer 8

Marcia’s term for the status of individuals who have undergone a crisis and have made a commitment.

Question 9

identity diffusion

Answer 9

Marcia’s term for the status of individuals who have not yet experienced a crisis (explored meaningful alternatives) or made any commitments.

Question 10

identity foreclosure

Answer 10

Marcia’s term for the status of individuals who have made a commitment but have not experienced a crisis.

Question 11

identity moratorium

Answer 11

Marcia’s term for the status of individuals who are in the midst of a crisis but whose commitments are either absent or vaguely defined

Question 12

identity versus identity confusion

Answer 12

Erikson’s fifth stage of development, which occurs during the adolescent years; adolescents are faced with finding out who they are, what they are all about, and where they are going in life.

Question 13

individuality

Answer 13

Characteristic consisting of two dimensions: self-assertion, the ability to have and communicate a point of view; and separateness, the use of communication patterns to express how one is different from others.

Question 14

narcissism

Answer 14

A self-centered and self-concerned approach toward others

Question 15

optimism

Answer 15

A style of thinking that involves having a positive outlook on the future and minimizing problems

Question 16

perspective taking

Answer 16

The ability to assume another person’s perspective and understand his or her thoughts and feelings.

Question 17

possible selves

Answer 17

What adolescents hope to become as well as what they dread they might become.

Question 18

psychosocial moratorium

Answer 18

Erikson’s term for the gap between childhood security and adult autonomy that adolescents experience as part of their identity exploration.

Question 19

racial identity

Answer 19

The collective identity of any group of people socialized to think of themselves as a racial group.

Question 20

selective optimization with compensation theory

Answer 20

The theory that successful aging involves three strategies: selection, optimization, and compensation.

Question 21

self-concept

Answer 21

Domain-specific evaluations of the self

Question 22

self-esteem

Answer 22

The global evaluative dimension of the self. Self-esteem is also referred to as self-worth or self-image

Question 23

self-regulation

Answer 23

The ability to control one’s behavior without having to rely on others for help

Question 24

self-understanding

Answer 24

The individual’s cognitive representation of the self, the substance of self-conceptions.

Question 25

trait theories

Answer 25

Theories emphasizing that personality consists of broad dispositions, called traits, which tend to produce characteristic responses