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The Development of Identity

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Erikson also noted that identity is not only developed by the individual but also, through interaction with, recognition and confirmation of friends and family. Showing how just like in particular Internet sites, children learn social competence through “cliques” and large crowds of people who impose various types of influences (Schöpflin). This concept relates back to two assumptions based on identity. “Identity” is currently used in two concurrent senses, one of which is “personal” and the other “social” (Schöpflin). In the first aspect of identity, an individual’s identity is some distinctive trait, or a fixed category, that that person views as socially significant but more-or-less unchangeable. In other words, an identity is given to you. One of the key principles of developmental psychology, applicable to personal identity change, is continuity and discontinuity. In simple terms, this discusses what changes and what stays the same within an individual over time. From the moment of birth to the last day of life, people change along numerous parallel pathways, including association, cognizance, social skills and emotion. Discontinuity occurs when differences between a person of one age and either earlier or subsequent ages appear rather brusquely rather than steadily. Discontinuity tends to be seen when children hit ‘milestones,’ like their first steps and words. Just the day prior, the child did not have these behaviors but they still emerged with little warning. Some

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