The Value Of Personal Identity

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.

Self-identity has always been an integral aspect of human beings, allowing individualism and variety among the human race. However, difficulties in finding self-identity have been extremely common, especially towards the end of youth. Many families have set expectations on how an adolescent should behave. This may generate self-doubt upon the teenager and eventually result in unwanted conflict when the expectations cannot be achieved. Associating with influences from family members, many young adults have also experienced a negative interaction with peers due to contrasting personalities. The environment shared with the peers may become hostile, forcing a change, in a desperation to fit in. Society has taught young people that disobeying

The issue of personal identity is one of the most broadly treated problems in the philosophical community. “Who are we?” “Where do we come from?” “What makes us human?” are some of the inquiries that most people face during their lives. Consequently, because for the majority of people it is almost natural to ask themselves about the meaning of their own identity, it is understandable that most major philosophical figures have presented their own theories regarding this question (Olson). In the same manner, it is reasonable that there exist certain conflict between these ideas. One of the most negatively received theories of personal identity came from the mind of John Locke. Essentially, his theory equaled identity with a person’s

Hello Paige, I live in Edmonton as well. Your hobbies are really interesting! It's always rewarding to indulge in a healthy and calming outlet such as yoga or meditation. I admire your strong sense of identity, you seem incredibly comfortable and confident in yourself and your passions. Although my major is not Psychology, I did take a General Psychology course in high school and I'm enrolled in PSYCH 290 and I have to say it's an extremely fascinating subject; probably one of my favorites this semester. I believe that from reading even a brief introduction about you that such an endeavor truly fits your personality.

As I looked across the table, facing a man wearing a University of Wisconsin sweatshirt in the University of Michigan library, questions began to roll through my head. “What’s Chance doing here?” (which I will admit was a little harsh). To understand this fashion choice and its implications, I asked Chance the first question to come to mind, “So, where are you from?” Chance replied, “Well, I’m from Texas”. This only added to my confusion, but Chance quickly continued to answer, telling me “My family is from Texas, and I lived there for a short time, but eventually my family and I found ourselves in Madison, Wisconsin.” Continuing the conversation, I asked Chance to describe his own experiences in his youth. While Chance did mention his parents, a character that continually showed up in his past was his grandmother. Curious, I asked him “Could you tell me more about her?”

People’s worldview is shaped, in part, by the languages they speak and their ideologies on said languages. Each of my four grandparents grew up in a different country, so that has created in interesting mix of languages, cultures, and accents that I was exposed to at a young age. The languages I have been exposed to have ranged from religious studies,to self-learning, to an important language exam in high school. This tangle of different cultures not only makes family gatherings interesting, but it also plays an important part in my personal identity and beliefs.

Personal identity is an ambiguous concept that plays an essential role in the story of your life. Have you ever thought of who you are or what makes you up? Some believe that it is your body, mind, or even that your “self” does not exist. Identity can be defined as all of those things and an infinite amount of others. Self is made of your soul because your body and mind are physical and they deteriorate over time and your soul does not, you are yourself despite birth and death, even if your ideas and opinions change over time.

Personal identity is a challenging topic to understand, as there are numerous philosophers who have distinctive ways of defining identity. In this video the YouTuber is explaining five different philosophers and their description of personal identity. He is able to present the information in a manner that is easier to understand and relates it to people that I know. He begins his explanation of the material with Locke and states, “identity of persons is identity of consciousness.” Locke believes that memory is an essential component of identity. For example, if you recall yourself from a year ago, then you are still the same person you were a year ago. Reid’s version is similar to Locke’s interpretation, but is an expanded form. He describes

Our backgrounds is usually what defines; my background is my identity. Everything about my life, my background and weirdly I would like to think my future spells hardship. I on the other hand would like to think that my background prepared me for this. As I look on my childhood, I contemplate what exactly made it enjoyable. Childhood should be simple but as for me, I was consumed with responsibilities, however hopeful for what the future might hold for me. My childhood was instrumental (very significant) in shaping who I have become as a young woman:

I have always believed that the true nature of someone can only be found when there is nothing left other than their core. The only things at someone’s core is their heart and their mind. I still can’t speak eloquently, but I talk to my heart’s content. I barely have time for my own interests, yet I help anyone that are asking for help. I will never earn a Nobel Peace Prize, but I know I will always want to learn more and improve myself.

My family, church, and country are the three communities that have formed my understanding of the world and have helped shape my identity and values.

Personal identity is the unique numerical identity of a person in the course of his or her lifetime. Identification is necessary and sufficient conditions under which a person at one time and a person at another tie can be said to the same person, persisting through time. Personal continuity or also called personal persistence in psychology, is the uninterrupted connection that concerns between a particular person of his or her private life and personality. Personal continuity is the property of a connected and continuous period of time, it is also related with the person body of physical being in a single four-dimension continuum. With the decision theory, the primary subject would be rational choice. people have the decision to believe

“Some…memberships are more salient than others; and some may vary in salience in time and as a function of a variety of social situations” (Tajfel, 2-3) Salience of identity, in the way that we need to understand it in the case of perception and decision making, can be operationalized as the likelihood that a particular identity will be invoked within a certain situation that the individual is being faced with (Hogg, Terry, & White, 257). As mentioned previously, everyone holds various identities but salience is the process through which we subconsciously decide which we be used to base our decision making or preferences on. “The salience of a particular social identity for an individual may vary from situation to situation and indeed from

Our society tends to set standards for people in different social situations and expects them to comply to a certain degree with those set standards. Whether you identify as a man, woman, or specific sexual orientation places such as the work place, school, bars, or with a close loved one require different models of behavior that are deemed acceptable. Our dynamic and constantly shifting identities are a result of or contrast to the standards society put in place as a mean of defining the average behavior in said environments.

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.