Identity + Self
Vocabulary:
Identity crisis: A challenge people go through in Erik Erikson’s Identity vs role confusion stage, comprised of many unique facets, changing over time. Resolved through exploration and commitment
James Marcia (1980): Referenced Erickson and determined that a specific identity crisis wasn’t always necessary, created 4 classifications/cognitive styles that can be shifted between based on statuses of commitment and exploration
Identity achievement: Exploration has been done and a few have been settled on, “good”. Higher self esteem, view school and work with purpose and value, better sense of well being and psychological health
Identity moratorium: High exploration but low commitment, exploration of many identities but no confined values, “good”, very open to new experience. Cognitive style tries to gather information and find goals in life, increased risk of negative and risky behaviors like unsafe sex and drugs if exploration is with breadth and not depth, helps move to identity achievement
Identity foreclosure: Low exploration but high commitment, future determined without an identity crisis, path committed based on what others have determined, “bad”. May occur with someone who never challenges religion or political beliefs instilled by family. Inflexible cognitive style, resists information that threatens personal beliefs. May fear rejection and fall into roles for affection
Identity diffusion: No exploration or commitment, lack of purpose, “bad”. No opinions, apathetic, no concern and no steps made towards understanding themself. May feel situationally overwhelmed and unable to think about the bigger picture, maladaptive if this state is long-term, avoidant coping styles. Apathy may reflect hopelessness and helplessness. Least mature attitude, apathetic. Most likely to develop substance abuse and display antisocial behaviors. Risk of depression and suicide
Well-being: Includes things like high self esteem and comes from identity achievement or moratorium, there is a greater sense of control and are proactive about achieving things in their life, resilient to negative life events
Ethnic identity: Encompass beliefs and attitudes about the ethnic/racial group(s) that they belong to. Different components (below). Positive development is limited by discrimination. Subject to strong parental influence by rejecting discrimination and negative stereotypes
Ethnic awareness: Understanding of own and other ethnic groups
Ethnic self-identification: Understanding of what groups someone falls under
Ethnic attitudes: Ideas about one’s own group
Ethnic behaviors: Cultural behaviors specific to one’s own group
Bicultural identity: Aspects of present and native cultures, important for immigrant children or those with parents who are immigrants
Acculturation: The process of balancing a bicultural identity
Ethnicity: Relationships and experiences a child has linked to ancestry/culture/language
Self-awareness: The idea of self, assessed in infants via attachment and self-recognition (rouge test) at 18-20
Rouge test: Discretely placing a mark on a child’s face (with lipstick maybe), if the child sees the mark in the mirror do they interact with the mirror or reach for themself (self-recognition if they reach for themself). Also passed by animals like dolphins, elephants, and magpies
Self-concept: Has a pre-requisite of self-recognition, defines as the attributes, abilities, attitudes, and values an infant uses to describe themself.
Preschool: Base it off of observable characteristics. They focus on basic emotions and like/dislikes, but not personality traits.
6-10: There are personality traits in this and descriptions are more balanced, understanding that a description may apply but not be accurate 100% of the time (usually nice). Utilization of social comparison, at this time a sense of ideal self is developed and compared to their real self, larger discrepancies lead to low self esteem. Children identify with social groups (whether friends or official like girl scouts or soccer team).
Adolescence: More abstract traits of personality are used, along with the use of contradictory traits. More emphasis on social virtues, influenced by the development of abstract thought. Personal fable and imaginary audience are present
Personal fable: A form of adolescent egocentrism, the idea they feel like they are very unique with feelings/thoughts/behaviors and they are the protagonist of their own story, no one else understands (main character syndrome)
Imaginary audience: A form of adolescent egocentrism: The idea that everyone else is watching you and judging appearance and behaviors
Self-esteem: Judgments and feelings about self worth, influenced by self concept and used to help predict future behavior and future adjustments, may emerge around 8 though debated. Higher self esteem leads to better moods and being hopeful with a positive self-concept, low self esteem leads to worthlessness and loss of hope for the future. More likely to have depression, commit suicide, lead to aggression, substance abuse, or social withdrawal. Strongly impacted based on what is viewed as important within a culture. Black people have higher self-esteem than white people (possibly due to culture and protective families, or strong ethnic identities). If someone feels like they are represented and not alone, they will have a higher self-esteem. Parenting also contributes to this, better parenting styles (warm and responsive) lead to better self-esteem in children, overly controlling parents lead to low self-esteem and more aggression and antisocial behaviors. If a parent is too indulgent or doesn’t set boundaries for a kid they may have too high of a self esteem, leading to overconfidence and risk. Parenting can boost self-esteem if they set realistic goals that are attainable but require work for their child. In adolescence, this is also based off of new dimensions like romantic appeal and job aptness. Drops with transitions (Middle to high school), continued effect of parenting style. Forms based on peer comparison and feedback based on 4 categories
Academic competence: Includes things like performance in various subjects, like ELA, Math, and science
Social competence: Girls tend to be higher in this, in terms of behavioral conduct and moral-ethical values
Physical/athletic competence: Boys tend to be higher in this
Physical appearance: The most important predictor of self esteem due to the social pressure around how important this is
Attribution: Everyday explanations for causes of behavior.
Mastery-oriented: Children who attribute their success to ability feel capable and when they mess up they feel they can change it, helps to set a child up for success and promote good self-esteem
Learned-helplessness: Children who attribute their success to external factors (did good because of their partner or they’re just smart of lucky) and when they fail they think it is their inability (not good enough) and don’t feel that they can improve
Suicide: Second leading cause of death for youth, risk varies based on age, gender, and social influences. Around half comes from gun access. Other factors are mental health problems, substance abuse, impulsive behavior, negative life events, family history of mental problems substance problems or suicide, family violence, having a previous attempt, incarceration, guns in home, exposure to suicidal ideation in peers
Things that impact identity:
Personality: Impacts identity, those who assume truth is always attainable are close-minded, those who have an open mind and are open to failure are more likely to have achievement
Parenting: Impacts identity, warm parenting leads to moritorium/achievement, more parental control leads to forclosure and less opportunities for independence and achievment and individuation. Lowest warmth/support along with open communication leads to diffusion
Peer interactions: Social influence, what is socially acceptable. Diverse values and identities that are interacted with help youth explore
Community: Can hinder/support by offering opportunities for exploration, influence of teachers on pursuing higher education