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Self and identity - Coggle Diagram
Self and identity
Rosenberg sequences of self identity older
▪ As children grow older and enter adolescence
they start defining themselves in terms of more abstract, internal characteristics and interpersonal traits
E.g. 'I am friendly and sociable'
'I am well liked by others'
'other people find me difficult to get on with
What is self identity
Our sense of who we are as an individual = key factor in social,emotional, and personal development.
• How we make sense of who we are as individuals is known in psychology as ‘self-identity’
• When forming our self-identity we are aware of our own subjective experience and our relationships with others.
• Adolescence is a particularly important period for developing our dentities as so many physical and cognitive changes happen during this stage of life which can impact on how our identity forms
Rosenberg’s study- early on
Rosenberg’s study of self-descriptors found that:
children initially define themselves in terms of concrete,attributes eg I am girl, I am 8, I have freckles, I can run fast etc
Internet back in day- less people, more anonymous- easier to create ‘new persona’
can be liberating but not homogeneous (all of us same) - can be way of reinventing selves- Turkle believes can have multiple selves not unitary, continuous self (but not complete schism between selves)
Support- new ways of looking at online identities- rather than impersonal where people can only relate in (illusory, hostile) manner
feminist scholars hopeful individuals can escape gender norms here
Critique- Turkle no longer believes in utopia she hoped for- believes now causes more solitude- - depleted by how there’s so much- Gergen- ‘fragmented self’- self increasingly fragmented-
Aspects of identity
identity comprises various different aspects (e.g. personality, religion, politics, career)
The importance of these different aspects may change across time and place, as we grow older and form new relationships in life
In psychology we have different abels for different aspects of identity
• Erikson saw identity as comprising a consistent set of attitudes and values about oneself
Marica (1980, 1991) extended Erikson's work to consider the processes involved in achieving identity
Marcia believed identity to be a developmental task that is
constantly being re-formed as an individual vacillates (waver) between
phases of achievement and moratorium (prohibition of activity) throughout their life eg life events divorce, chronic illness- can’t do things you used to- basically things can come along that knocks self confidence
Table- high commitment- high exploration- can find identity- roles
high commitment low exploration eg know what role you want to perform tied to identity- don’t need to look that hard
Low commitment high exploration- moratorium
low commitment low exploration-
Erik Erickson - German psychoanalyst- focussed on identity development for work and own life- wrote about identity confusion he experienced
Blonde and blue eyed raised Jewish bullied from both groups- fled Austria due to Nazis only accepted psychoanalytic identity when gave himself name Erickson not stepfathers last name
Different aspects of identity examples: intellectual, gender, sexual, relationships, ethnic, cultural, physical,vocational, religious, political ideology, personality- all but last 2 have identity on end
Erickson stages of psychosocial development- each stage figuring something out-
Social psych perspectives- some agree with Erickson based on individual identities- others focus more on group membership/ sense of belonging with in-group and out - group- largely believed identity composed of both aspects- once again identity not static- expression can alter around diff groups
Is identity universal concept- self challenged by Indian concepts
ubuntu perspective - Zulu term- Pan African concept- person is person through other people- self located in collectives- living and ancestors
western more individual focussed than other regions-
ethical responsibility to collective not individual- have to acknowledge we interact w/ others and are influenced by people- also can alter identity expression eg in church no5 going to express as heavily you’re metal fan
few more slides look on ppt- lecture 5