Identity And Identity Essay

Much like Maeve’s trial and error phase, Erikson’s theory of identity versus role confusion explains psychological conflict of adolescence. This theory states that this conflict is resolved positively when adolescents achieve an identity after a period of exploration and inner soul searching. If a young person’s earlier conflicts were resolved negatively or if society limits their choices to ones that do not match their abilities and desires, they may appear shallow, directionless, and unprepared for the challenges of late adulthood. (p. 314). Maeve luckily didn’t make many choices that were resolved negatively. These social and emotional changes weren’t always easy for the rest of the family to deal with, but they were a part of her growth. With us there to provide nurturing support, she was able to develop her own healthy identity after her period of “soul searching.”

Erik Erikson named the stage of adolescents “identity versus role confusion” (Sigelman, C. & Rider, E. pg. 343). This is a pivotal time in an individual’s life where many future endeavors; personal, academic, and professional, depend on the outcome of this stage. During this time, adolescents are trying to refine the many facets of their personality such as, political, sexual, religiousness, just to name a few. This is an arduous

Discussions about identity most often than not begins with Erikson’s formulation of the eight psychosocial stages of human development. Each success that is achieved is caused due to the completion or overcoming of a task or crisis. When a child grows into adolescence, he/she arrives at the fifth stage of human development. Identity versus role confusion is examined and experienced as the young adult either overcomes the task by developing an identity or by facing a crisis of confusion. At this point, the teenager is dealing with a “unified and consistent sense of self that integrates pubertal changes into a mature sexual identity, assumes adult social and occupational roles, and established personal values and attitudes” The adolescent is

Identity crisis was a temporary period of distress as they (teenagers) experiment with alternatives before settling on values and goals. (Berk,2013, p. 469). Based on Erikson’s psychosocial developmental theory, individuals are faced with various challenges throughout their lives. Some examples of these challenges are, the ability to trust others in infancy, establishing a clear sense of identity in adolescence and through the transition to adulthood, and establishing an intimate relationship with a life partner in early adulthood. (Sneed, Whitbourne, Schwartz, Huang, Duberstein 2012)

Every person, or group of people, has an identity and a culture. An ‘identity’ is the image that one project out into the rest of the world, and ‘culture’ is the image which one has of themselves. Countries are no exception; every country over their course of history has created an identity and culture for themselves. It has been said that the worst act one could perform on another would be to strip them of their identity, and deny them of their culture. This is why, in order for a country to become a great nation, their culture and identity must be formed so that it is able to strive. History and the changes made to history are two of the main things that could create the identity and culture of a country. The Canadian Film Industry,

Basically, I’m the basic white, heterosexual, abled, female. I was given these identities at birth alongside many others that were given to me, before I even knew who I truly was. Many of the topics we have covered such as: race, gender, ability, class, etc., has opened my eyes to those in opposition to me and how I my whole life I have been privileged. What happens in our private life determines where we stand in society and is out of our control, due to the structured society we live in. This can be categorized as “personal is political”. Before understanding the true meaning of this phrase, I never realized the affected it had on my identities, explicitly, my gender, race, and ability.

During adolescence and sometimes even to late adulthood, people are searching for their identity, a relatively clear and stable sense of who one is and what one stands for (Weiten & Lloyd, 2006). Identity formation is the central task of adolescence, according to Erik Eriksons’s theory of psychosocial development (Bernstein, 2008). Erikson believed that identity emerges from an identity crisis, which is the phase when one attempts to develop a self-image as a unique person by using knowledge from childhood. Based off of Erikson’s work, James Marcia formed the four identity statuses of identity development: identity diffusion, identity foreclosure, identity moratorium, and identity achievement

Erikson developed the psychosocial stages based on his personal experiences, as Erikson felt like a minority, both within his peer group and stepfamily, particularly during adolescence—the stage Identity versus Role Confusion (Adelson, 1980). For the purpose of this review, the paper is to focus on this stage due to its relevance in adolescent identity development. Erikson, specifically notes that this stage in development is, “The sense of continuity with previous experience and a hope for the future are the crux of the adolescent’s task of identity formation” (Adelson, 1980) Meaning, there is an expectation for the past and future identity to share some congruence; natural divergence creates this developmental tasks.

After I left home to go to school, I had to directly face my identity confusion. I felt like I had no commitments to my future. Every day during beast I had to rethink about what I was all about. I questioned whether or not West Point was worth committing to. I was confused and felt alone in my decision. Erikson says that this stage I was facing is the adolescence stage and ranges from age ten-twenty. Before I left for school, I was still in the same stage. I was under the pre conceived notion that I am what I do and I am how many people know me. What I mean by that is: I was doing things that set me apart from others in my age group, and I thought these things I was doing made me who I was. James Marcia expanded onto Erikson’s theory and added four statuses of identity development. They are: Identity Diffusion, the adolescent has not made a commitment to how he or she will live the rest of his or her life and he or she does not have a sense of having choices; Identity Foreclosure, the adolescent seems willing to commit to some relevant roles, but he or she have not experienced an identity crisis; Identity Moratorium, when the

Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory consists of eight distinct stages of human development; Stage 1: Basic Trust Versus Basic Mistrust, Stage 2: Autonomy Versus Shame and Doubt, Stage 3: Initiative Versus Guilt, Stage 4: Industry Versus Inferiority, Stage 5: Identity Versus Role Confusion, Stage 6: Intimacy Versus Isolation, Stage 7: Generativity Versus Stagnation, and Stage 8: Ego Integrity Versus Despair. Erikson asserts that each stage of human development is a crisis and that successful coping in each stage allows the human to advance to the next stage of life with mental health. For the purposes of comparison, the focus will be on Stage 5: Identity Versus Role Confusion, as this stage addresses the crisis of the adolescent years.

Another milestone in adolescents is finding their identity. According to Erik Erikson, he says that there are eight total stages humans go through, each one corresponding with a particular time/age in a human’s life, and each having a psychological crisis. During the time of adolescents, it is a search for their identity or end up in a state of role confusion. Furthered by Kail and Cavanaugh (2016), to develop identity, it is facilitated through parental discussion and encouragement. Through this discussion and encouragement, the child will have a better grasp of who they are, thus being able to make tough decisions and able to handle a variety of situations, that they know will be the best route for them. Their identity development also affects their career and interpersonal relationship development.

This paper will consist of psychological based research, containing the development of adolescence and how it relates to my own life. From identity vs. role of confusion, real life scenarios will be interpreted. The research will analyze concepts based on Erik Erikson 's new and exciting work on identity and (related to how people think and treat each other) development in the 1960s and Canadian developmental psychologist James Marcia refined and extended Erikson’s model, primarily focusing on adolescent development. There will be four identity statuses covered based on psychological identity development from James Marcia. The work shown in this paper will display certain choices made by an individual, and how much he or she displays a commitment to those choices. Implications of the results for the developmental period of adolescents research will be discussed.

Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development suggests that one’s psychological and social development can be categorized into eight distinct stages throughout their lifespan (Karkouti, 2014). Each stage has its own unique crisis that is vital to the gradual growth of one’s psychosocial identity, depending on the outcome (Sokol, 2009). This theory is observed in my life development from ages 0 to 19, which is then analyzed to the psychosocial identity I have developed today.

Adolescents are involved in the difficult task of identifying themselves and making important life decisions. (Smits, Soenens, Vansteenkiste, Luyckx, & Goossens, 2010). The support from parents seems to greatly assist adolescents in their identity formation process. Two theories that have been used in research to examine adolescent identity are the psychosocial development of adolescents and Bandura’s social learning theory. Psychosocial development as theorized by Erikson has eight stages through which a healthily developing human should pass from infancy to late adulthood (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2010). Adolescents fall into stage five, Identity vs. Role Confusion, in which the question of “Who am I” is trying to be answered. In trying to

The teen shows signs of identity confusion as described by Erik Erikson’s (1950,1968) theory and falls into the fifth developmental stage he called identity versus