Chapter 11B - Identity Development

Question 1

IDENTITY

Answer 1

IDENTITY is a self-portrait composed of many pieces, including career identity, religious identity, political identity, gender identity, physical identity, relationship identity, ethnic identity and so forth.

Question 2

The DEVELOPMENT of IDENTITY

Answer 2

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT is the process through which people understand who they are, the moral and political values they want to endorse and the relationships they want to establish.

This process emerges in INFANCY with the development of a sense of self, of attachment and of early forms of independence.

EARLY CHILDHOOD is crucial as children strive between newly acquired autonomy and conformity to social roles to which they are exposed in new social environments - such as primary school. An important process is that of IDENTIFICATION, through which children try to act, look and be like people they interact with.

Question 3

ERIK ERIKSON’s PSYCHOSOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY

Answer 3

ERIK ERIKSON proposed a life-span PSYCHOSOCIAL theory of identity development comprised of several milestones, or NORMATIVE CRISIS - his work with Anna Freud strongly influenced his work towards a psychodynamic perspective. These stages are qualitatively different and follow an invariant and hierarchically ordered sequence.

He included the influence of BIOLOGICAL PREDISPOSITION, PERSONAL EXPERIENCE and CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT on identity development and argues that these factors influence meaning, shape and structure of identity.

Such 8 stages are:

1) TRUST vs MISTRUST (first year), in which the infant forms a lifelong expectation of whether the world will be a pleasant place to live - in this pre-attachment phase, the infant develops a sense of trust when interactions provide reliability, care, and affection.
2) AUTONOMY vs SHAME and DOUBT (1 to 3 years), in which toddlers start to understand their sense of independence - also on physical skills, such as control over urinary functions - and can developed feelings of shame if punished too harshly.
3) INITIATIVE vs GUILT (3 to 5 years), in which children encounter the social world and face new challenges that require active behaviour - feelings of guilt may arise if the child is irresponsible and is made to feel too anxious. Executive functions develop at this age.
4) INDUSTRY vs INFERIORITY (6 to 10 years), in which children master knowledge and intellectual skills - poor performance may lead to feelings of inferiority. The child’s peer group gains greater significance and becomes a major source of the child’s self-esteem - children ask themselves questions such as “Am I successful or worthless?”.
5) IDENTITY vs ROLE CONFUSION (10 to 20 years), in which adolescents face the challenge of finding out who they are - that is, developing an identity - and where they are going in life. Adolescents may explore different roles, activities, and behaviors.
6) INTIMACY vs ISOLATION (20s, 30s), in which individuals face the task of forming intimate relationships.
7) GENERATIVITY vs STAGNATION (40s, 50s), in which people experience a need to create or nurture things that will outlast them. Failure results in STAGNATION, the feeling of having done nothing.
8) INTEGRITY vs DESPAIR (60s onward), in which a person reflects on the past and takes stock of her achievements. Success will lead to feelings of wisdom, failure to a deep sense of regret.

Question 4

MARCIA’s IDENTITY MODEL

Answer 4

James MARCIA expanded on Erikson’s model, especially focusing on adolescence - he conducted interviews with young people and asked them about their ideas concerning occupation, ideology, and decision making.

He maintains that two dimensions influence identity formation in adolescence:

1) EXPLORATION - engagement in different possibilities;
2) COMMITMENT - taking responsibility for an identity choice.

Four IDENTITY STATUSES result from these two dimensions:

1) FORECLOSED IDENTITIES result from high commitment and low exploration - it typically is the result of compliance to parental or cultural expectations, usually due to social pressure.
2) ACHIEVED IDENTITIES result from both high commitment and exploration - it is the optimal condition;
3) DIFFUSED IDENTITIES result from both low commitment and exploration - it is the condition in which individuals disengage from the process of identity development.
4) MORATORIUM result from high exploration and low commitment - individuals in this condition have not made up their minds yet, still they allow themselves to freely explore many possibilities.

It is important to notice that these statuses are not inherently positive or negative, for the environment in which they develop needs to be taken into consideration. Cross cultural research shows that statuses different from achievement are not necessarily linked to psychological maladjustment - it may be that compliance with family expectations and traditions is socially desirable and thus, foreclosure may be linked to good adjustment.
Furthermore, age needs to be taken into consideration - it is perfectly typical for a 12 year old to be in the moratorium condition, which would not be ideal for a middle aged man.

Extended research shows that achievement identities increase with age, whereas diffusion and moratorium identities decrease.