How Does Identity Affect My Sense Of Personal Identity

Every year I look back on the previous and I see how much I have changed. I see the friends I have gained and lost. The heartbreak and the happiness. Despite how rough times have gotten, it has truly made me stronger. Everything has shaped who I am today, it has shaped my identity. Identity is a complex topic because it consists of changeable and unchangeable traits and outside internal influences; my own identity has been shaped by going from private to public school, young life camp, and my current friends.

A person's sense of individual identity is always changing in response to the experiences in life. How we feel, how we act and how we perceive ourselves and our surroundings can influence change in identity. Identity can be defined as a set of personal or behavioural characteristics by which an individual is recognized or known as by a group. The horrific and heart breaking story of what my friend experienced is a perfect example of how our circumstances and experiences can alter our identities. About two years ago, my friend began to change. Not just how she acted but her appearance too. She looked upset all the time, was skipping school, drifting away from friendships and spent a lot of time in one of the teacher's offices. It took a while

No matter how much a person desires to live according to their personal autonomy, he or she will never escape the influence of societal forces. Explicitly or subtlety, these forces shape our individuality. One intriguing manner that these societal forces manifests itself in is our name. As Ruth Graham writes, “It’s becoming increasingly clear today that names carry a wealth of information about the world around us, the family we arrived in, the moment we were born—and that they mark us as part of cultural currents bigger than we realize.” Names alone provide evidence that individuals are made by interactions with social institutions and groups. Ultimately, the inescapable nature of society’s influence demands individuals to ponder how much personal autonomy is actually autonomous and to what extent does the pursuit of personal autonomy lead to a life of emptiness and vanity.

Now, almost a decade later I have learnt what is really important to me. It is important to step back and listen to yourself instead of looking at others. Today, with a bigger distance to my highschool years I can see what was happening to me and why I acted the way I did. I was fantasising about who I could become to be loved and acknowledged by the people around me. I thought defining myself would make me feel more secure about myself. Looking around me I can see the phenomenon of the search for identity almost everywhere.

Personal identity is essential in the human experience. Identity is complex and can be broken down into two main groups: introspective identity, and bodily identity. Introspective identity is based off of the groups, mentalities, or beliefs that you align yourself with, and bodily identity is based off of the physical side of yourself. Whether physical or introspective, your identity impacts every action you take. Whether choices ranging from what colors you prefer to which college you want to attend are primarily based off of your introspective identity, which is a combination of both memory and consciousness, physical identity impacts how others perceive you. Consciousness is mainly the awareness of bodily identity as well as continuous introspective identify, while memory is awareness of introspective identity. These two different facets of identity are imperative in the distinction between bodily identity and introspective identity. In means of personal identity introspective identity (which is evident in memory), is essential, while bodily identity (based partially in consciousness) has less credit.

Having the freedom to go out and find oneself in a society of conformity is an amazing opportunity not young people have. Having the courage to try different things in the search for happiness is a uncommon thing in the real world. The best way to find one identity is to define it. Identity is an internal, ever mover construe of drives, history, aptitudes and belief system. (Marica,2014) Being able to move on and explore multiple paths to become a well-adjusted adult. (Belsky,

One can be influenced by various factors such as culture, media, interest, friends, experiences, and beliefs. Although the most significant impact on my identity is my family, as it has affected my morals, personality, and occupational identity.

In the novel Americanah written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, it can be agreed that the author has used characters such as Ifemelu and Obinze and the issues that they face throughout their lives in order to discuss certain situations that society faces. Situations that affect ones relationships and identity in terms of how you see yourself as a person with the status that society has given you.

At first glance you can label me many things. Throughout my life I have been placed many labels that I agree with and some I do not but this is with everyone I believe. As I continue to grow up my identity will continue to alter however, as a child, I never understood this and caused this to be an issue. Self-identity helps you become who you are and guides you to be the person you aspire to be. My identity was always something I struggled with because I didn’t understand that I could classify as something more than just a Hispanic, girl, living in a bad community.

All throughout our lives, we wrestle with the question of who am I and what do I want in life? However, it is usually during the adolescent years that this issue really comes to a head and we begin a more earnest search into finding ourselves and deciding the direction we want to take with our lives. One of the theorists who studied this idea of identity formation was James Marcia. Marcia proposed that there were four different stages or statuses in the development of identity which he labeled Identity Diffusion, Identity Foreclosure, Identity Moratorium, and Identity Achievement. In this essay, we will briefly summarize his four different stages and then apply his theory to my own identity development during the adolescent years.

I think perspective of identity have its good and bad side to it when its co-exists with communicative because you will always have people who try to make their norms or behaviors cultural more superior than others. In my experience I think group- associated identities is like a double edges sword because it put people together in a group that they don’t want to be in. In addition, a group- associated identity is like telling someone what he or she is in one or a few words. Which is bad because people are many things not just one thing. How people label or identities everyone will think that people just like that, even if it not true.

My purpose is to show my individuality and to express myself. This is for others including myself, to see and to remind us that our identity is very complex.

Everybody has an identity, it makes them individual and unique, and it defines who you are as a person. This project about my identity showed me what makes me unique. I would have never known how much my friends mean to me or how my identities connect with each other. I have three identities that make me who I am, cultural, personal, and social. A specific quality that covers my cultural identity is being Czechoslovakian. Both sides of my family have at least a part of Czech in them. My great-grandparents are from Czech Republic and my grandpa was the first generation in America, he was born in Ohio. This is very important because I have always identified as Czech and it is a big part of me, as I am so interested in ancestry. For my personal identity, the biggest part is my personality, being loud and outgoing, has always been important to me. The reason being, it is how people view me. A lot of people know me as the loud person or the person who talks a lot. That is meaningful to me considering I like people to view me in a certain way The last identity, social, is one of the most important to me because it involves my friends, and through this project, I learned how vital they really are to my social identity. I realized that I have a good amount of friends in this project. It is nice to have people as a support system and to relate with. These qualities show that I value being loud and outgoing. It also says that I value my family and they are a big part of life. The last one, social, ties in with the first one because it shows I am outgoing and friendly.

Many people question themselves, what is it exactly that makes them unique? What is it that defines them as a unique person that no one in the world possesses? In philosophy, these questions do not have just one answer, and all answers are correct depending on which theory appeals most and makes sense to you. In general, there are two ways people approach this question, some say that a person’s identity is the “self” that carries all of their experiences, thoughts, memories, and consciousness (ego theorists), and some say that a person’s identity is just a bundle of experiences and events that a person has been through in their life, these people deny that the “self” exists (bundle theorists). In this paper, I will be arguing that a person’s identity is just a bundle of experiences, denying the self and the memory criterion.

Although American society provides us with much, it hurts our identities. There is an expectation to act a certain way and fit in. Technology has made us impressionable and tells us what to think, not allowing for personal opinions. School, a big part of society, does not allow people to pursue other activities and parts of their identities. American society tries to tell us how to act, what to think, and doesn’t allow time to discover ourselves.