Identity Reflection Paper

Identity is what makes a person unique. It is the soul and the essence of a human being. People are not born with a fixed identity. Identity is inherently dynamic; it changes and evolves over time. A person’s identity is ultimately shaped by their decisions. My identity is different from those who surround me. I create my own identity.

8. What is identity? Is there a core to your self-identity independent of how others define you? How difficult would it be to remake any given person into someone with a new identity?

What is personal identity? This question has been asked and debated by philosophers for centuries. The problem of personal identity is determining what conditions and qualities are necessary and sufficient for a person to exist as the same being at one time as another. Some think personal identity is physical, taking a materialistic perspective believing that bodily continuity or physicality is what makes a person a person with the view that even mental things are caused by some kind of physical occurrence. Others take a more idealist approach with the belief that mental continuity is the sole factor in establishing personal identity holding that physical things are just reflections of the mind.

Identity is what defines us as a person. Everyone one on earth has their own unique identity. To showcase my identity, I created a collage of images and descriptive words, called an identi-kit. This identi-kit shows what I feel like is my identity to myself and the others. My identi-kit identifies me as a mixed martial artist. The identi-kit has images of a deadly shark with mixed martial arts gloves on that say mixed martial arts on the front and fight shorts with the words competitor and warrior on them. It also has descriptive words like “killer instinct” and “fight” which describe my spirit. There are three assumptions that come to question when asking about one’s identity. The first is if you were born with this

Do you know how you learn about your identity? Is it through eExperiences or people in your life? According to dictanory.com identity means being a who or what as a person or a thing. For example I have an identity, and you have identity. Identity is a really important thing. Individuals learn about himself through the people in their lives.

As you go throughout life, it is not very common to stop and question your own personal identity, because you are just you, there does not seem like that much to it. But, in the philosophical world, this topic is one of the most popular things to look into and try to understand. Surprisingly, the idea of personal identity is not as simple as it seems. Many philosophers seem to question if personal identity even exists, and if they do believe it exists, how exactly? In the most popular philosophical arguments, there are three theories of personal identity that stick out; psychological approach, ego theory, and bundle theory. These three theories discuss how personal identity can be identified, or if it even exists at all. There is no way to be one hundred percent positive that one of these theories is true, so there will be always be a mystery to personal identity. Even though we can never be sure, it is always interesting to look into each theory and discuss the possibilities to our own personal identity.

In many pieces of literature, identity is continuously a theme that pops up. Whether it is in movies from Disney, or books from Hawthorne, or even in life: identity has crawled its way into being one of the most important theme. As Elastigirl from The Incredibles once said, “your identity is your valuable possession. Protect it.” After thinking about that quote for hours, the one question that continuously kept running around in my mind was, how do we know what our identity is?

As we grow up we must discover who we want to be and how we want to live, but the only way to do that is to discover our identity. Identity is the qualities, beliefs, personality, and expressions that make a person. The process of identity can be creative or destructive. Throughout literature, authors warn us that society has a damaging impact on our identities.

Identity. Is it formed when you were first born? when you were givien a name. Is it formed over time, or possibly even as you grow older you start to relize who you really are as a person. We people have identities.

Who I am? Personally, I believe that a person’s identity can take only one of two routes. One, a person’s identity can change within that person’s life. Who I am now, is not necessarily who I was when I was younger. Experience can and will likely modify our identities. Therefore, experience can solidify our personal identification or it can weaken our personal identification. And as such, individuals and their perspectives are always evolving, or at the very least, they should evolve over time. Although there are some identities that evolve throughout one’s lifetime; there are some identities that remain consistent. Two, some identities cannot and will not change. So identities are socially and/or politically forces upon you, some identities are genetically assigned to you, and some you choose to keep. No matter the reason or reasons, these identities have been and will be consist within your lifespan. But, how you deal with them is up to you as an individual.

Social identity theory is a person’s sense of who they are based on their group membership(s) (Harwood, 2007). “In social identity theory and identity theory, the self is reflexive in that it can take itself as an object and can categorize, classify, or name itself in particular ways in relation to other social categories or classification” (Stets & Burke, 2000). The social identity theory has been known to let individuals find their own niche and group that they want to belong to. This could include what the individuals are active in or involved in. Research has also found that the groups that they classify themselves in can cause the participants to look down upon other groups that they are not involved in (Harwood, 2007). Negative attitudes are more of a complex issue, but interesting ideas come from explanations that emerge for social identity theory (Harwood,

What is personal identity? This question has been asked and debated by philosophers for centuries. The problem of personal identity is determining what conditions and qualities are necessary and sufficient for a person to exist as the same being at one time as another. Some think personal identity is physical, taking a materialistic perspective believing that bodily continuity or physicality is what makes a person a person with the view that even mental things are caused by some kind of physical occurrence. Others take a more idealist approach with the belief that mental continuity is the sole factor in establishing personal identity holding that physical things are just reflections of the mind. One more perspective on personal identity

However, it isn’t that way in real life. Social groups have a hierarchical power structure depending on where in the world you are. For example, if you are a black person you are likely to have a 10% longer sentencing for the same crime committed by a white person (Rehavi & Starr, 2012). With this being said, creating a strong group identity can help minorities feel more comfortable with their minority identity. A healthy connection to a group identity is crucial for developing a healthy individual identity because it helps individuals connect with the world around them and decide how they fit in the world. According to Martin and Nakayama the stages of minority identity development is as follows: 1) Unexamined identity, 2) Conformity, 3) Resistance and Separatism, and 4) Integration (Martin & Nakayama,

“We are not born knowing who we are or what our place is in the social landscape; we learn to be American or Japanese, male or female, husband or wife, or Amy, Richard, Micheal, Rachel, or Rebecca.” Our identities are constructed by this “social landscape”. The social construction of identity takes place by living life through first hand experiences and through certain social circumstances. Amartya Sen says,” Classification is certainely cheap, but identity is not. More interestingly, whether a particular classification can plausibly generate a sense of identity or not must depend on the social circumstances.” Identity is a complex matter but can be defined in simple terms. It is who you are. Your personality, the way you act in response to

Many theorists see Identity as something that is solid and unchanging - something that is true to your inner-self. Others argue that your identity is something that is constantly changing and adapting, and something that requires commitment and action to sustain. Problems that occur with finding an identity lie in that people seek to be accepted into that new identity and be validated by others.