Throughout life, a person can expect to endure many challenges, trials, experiences, accomplishments and disappointments. How one recovers, from those challenges, and can set the lifespan is a lifelong process from birth to death and includes the formation of identity (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015). I will cover in the paper six life events that influence my identity development from childhood to middle adulthood. Each life event will be explained based on the significance of the event as well as the impact the event had on my development. Also, theories will be discussed as they relate to my development. Event I: 1973 Age 4 The first day of kindergarten My first day of kindergarten was not a happy day for me. I was scared and wanted to …show more content…
There are no words to describe what I witnessed. No child should ever have to witness the physical abuse of one parent onto another. It was gut wrenching. It was odd, and confusing at times, as a family we had everything. During that time, we were considered upper middle class. No one would have guessed the hell that my mother endured. It affected me the most because I am the oldest and would help my mother after my father’s physical attacks on her. As awful as this may sound, my father’s death was truly the beginning of life for my mother. However, for me I believe at that time my cognitive and emotional development were affected as a result of my father’s death. My As the years have passed, I do believe my father’s death had a profound impact on my emotional and social development, especially during my adolescent stage. It was during the adolescent stage of my life where my personality traits of shyness, introversion, and self-esteem began to manifest. I did not have a secure attachment to my father. My relationship with my mother felt more like I was attempting to protect her from my father. During my adolescent years we were not
During this stage, Erikson believes that the individual’s successful identity formation relies on social, cognitive and physical maturation (Pittman, Keiley, Kerpelman, & Vaughn, 2011). The individual tries out different roles for who they see in themselves and who they portray to others, eventually committing to their own personal role and occupational choice. Pittman et al. (2011) describe the identity formation as “consisting of decisions, investments, and commitments tied to current and future roles, goals, and relationships.” Additional considerations for identity formation include the context of the culture which is available to the adolescent during this time. After successful resolution of this stage during adolescence, individuals will typically progress into Erikson’s Intimacy versus Isolation stage during young
Identity is a group of characteristics, data or information that belongs exactly to one person or a group of people and that make it possible to establish differences between them. The consciousness that people have about themselves is part of their identity as well as what makes them unique. According to psychologists, identity is a consistent definition of one’s self as a unique individual, in terms of role, attitudes, beliefs and aspirations. Identity tries to define who people are, what they are, where they go or what they want to be or to do. Identity could depend on self-knowledge, self-esteem, or the ability of individuals to achieve their goals. Through self-analysis people can define who they are and who the people around them are. The most interesting point about identity is that some people know what they want and who they are, while it takes forever for others to figure out the factors mentioned before. Many of the individuals analyzed in this essay are confused about the different possible roles or positions they can adopt, and that’s exactly the reason they look for some professional help.
Identity is very important in a person’s life. It can induce pride or shame, provide a community or provide a way to distinguish one’s self from others. But, where does this identity come from? It is easy to assume we are who we are because of who raised us, but this is not the entire case. Andrew Solomon, author of “Far from the Tree” introduced two different forms of identity, vertical and horizontal. He defines vertical identity as the attributes acquired and shared by the people we are raised by and horizontal identity as the attributes different from those who raised us, but are shared and acquired through a peer community. These two types of identities generally do not intersect and, depending on the circumstance, one can greatly impact
Looking at my life through Erik Erikson’s Identity Theory perspective, I hope that I can grow old and enter the final stage of psychosocial development with a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction, believing I have coped with life’s victories and failures.
This year’s summer assignment topic was about identity. Identity is knowing for a fact who you are as a person and what your role is in the world. Most people don't figure out who they are and what their purpose is right away but they find it through experience and the events they go through. Influences around a person may also change someone as a person and may affect how they identify themselves in the world. Negative peer pressure from bad friends could lead someone from becoming a future leader and turn them into a local drug dealer or gangbanger. Identity can constantly change depending on how the person sees life and what they endure in their life.
During an evaluation at the age of 10 years old, I was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Camilla Sutter and Thomas Reid determined that many of the children in their case study were not simply mourning, but rather battle a sickness of their own. Many of the children in this study were diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress disorder. “PTSD is a debilitating disorder characterized by symptoms of avoidance, re-experiencing, and physiological arousal related to a particular traumatic event or experience.” This diagnosis explained why many of the children in this case study developed such negative coping mechanisms. After my father’s death, I felt that nothing made sense. I never had any experiences with my father, and with his death any chances I had of forming a relationship with him were taken from
The relationships with one’s family are typically the first an individual experiences, thus providing a foundation for identity formation. Consistent with Erikson’s model of identity development, Bosma and Kunnen (2001) suggest the outcomes of earlier developmental crises impacts the search for one’s identity. For example, positive outcomes from previous life challenges are more likely to produce a positive outcome in identity formation. In the early stages, parents help the individual develop a sense of trust by providing resources (e.g. food, water, shelter, etc.) and comfort when the individual enters the world. Similarly, the family also fosters autonomy and initiative in children when they allow children to make appropriate decisions and engage in new activities. Since family members play such a crucial role in the early experiences of children, it is easy to see the role that familial support plays in the formation of an individual’s identity. Successful negotiation of the early crises depends on support from the
“I have never thought that traits that are strong in childhood disappear; they may go underground or they may be transmuted into something else, but they do not vanish”(Davies). Identity is the very foundation for expression and interpretation of the human spirit which comes from the experiences and influences of life. Failure to develop social skills in childhood such as self worth, morality, and emotional expression has a detrimental effect on adult life. Robertson Davies fully explores the nuances of identity and the influence of upbringing in his novel Fifth Business. The inescapable influence of childhood ultimately shapes identity in adulthood.
Many philosophers and psychologist from Jean Piaget to William James have theorized what makes a person who they are, their identity. Jean Piaget believed that the identity is formed in the sensorimotor stage and the preoperational stage. This means that a child is forming his identity as late to the age of seven (Schellenberg, 29) However, identity is strongly impacted by society such as school, church, government,and other institutions. Through our interactions with different situations our personality develops (Schellenberg 34). "In most situations there is a more diversified opportunity for the development of social identities, reflecting what the individual wants to put forth to define the self as well as what others want to accept,"(Schellenberg 35). Therefore, humans, much like animals, adapt to different situations based on who they are with. Individuals are always changi...
Finding an identity is a hard thing to do when you spend so much time fighting against who you think you are and who you want to be. Finding myself has defiantly been a challenge, but after finding the critical turning points of my identity development, I am proud of the person that I think I am, and I regard that person as someone that has fought through the thick and thin to achieve an identity of a successful, gay scholar.
“I just want to be someone, mean something to anyone, I want to be the real ME”, by Charlotte Eriksson. The quest of my journey is to discover my real purpose, my real goal but most importantly, find my real identity. This is known as the “Identity versus Role Confusion Stage” or as described by psychoanalyst Erik H. Erikson, the fifth stage of the Eight Stages of Man. It occurs between the ages of 12 to 18, where every person battles to establish a certain roll or skill that provides one with a sense of a sturdy foundation in the adult society. I too am currently going through this stage of life, dodging many obstacles in order to seek out my identity. The hardest obstacle- my attempt to fit in with my peers, but the extremes I took to find it, may have scared me for life. Nonetheless, it showed me a piece of my real identity and helped me figure out how to grow through it and better myself; it showed me the real me. In the past as well as today’s society, individuality is vital. Each teen wants to create a unique identity for ones’ self, and the start to creating that identity is in high school.
In this paper I will be focusing on Erikson’s Theory mainly about identity versus role confusion. Finding one’s identity is not always an easy task. Everyone at some point in his or her life has had, as Erikson puts it, an identity crisis. Everyone experiences different struggles that can have either a positive or negative impact on their identity. On my path to identity, I have reached identity achievement, which means I have explored and made commitments. I will also be focusing on two articles highlighting a fifth possible outcome regarding identity and looking at identity statuses as developmental trajectories.
In conclusion, the formation of one’s identity has many components. Beginning at the onset of adolescence and continuing to expand, grow and form and reform as we live through the struggles or success of life. Many theorists have endeavored to clarify the development of identity formation. However, Erik Erickson offered one significant theory involving the formation of one’s identity. Expounding on Erickson theory, Marcia developed his Identity Status Model according to the existence or absence of crisis and commitments. These four statuses, diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium and achievement can combine in various ways to produce a self. One’s sense of identity is determined largely by the choices and commitments made, therefore, having a well-developed sense of self can provide an individual with insight to their strengths, weaknesses, and individual uniqueness. An individual that finds themselves
We are more than our identities. To know your inner self is to know your purpose, your values, your goals, and your motivations. Aligning with your inner thyself. Knowing your inner self comes from self-awareness, having a clarity of your inner self opens the consciousness and set up a solid focus in self-actualization. Referring to the need of personal growth and development that exists throughout their life cycle. Life is about pushing self in accomplishing goals although a challenge because of risky obstacles that always lands on our track of completion. An individual’s identity is molded by many diverse aspects. Family, culture, friends, personal interests and adjoining environments are all influences that tend to help shape a person’s
Starting at 12 years old I was begging to become more independent and desired to hang out with my own group and find my place in society. I can remember thinking about what my values were and questioning what I wanted to be when I grew up. The textbook, Exploring Lifespan Development, by Laura Berk defines this as an “Identity Crisis” which for many teenagers such as myself go through a time of distress and experimentation with alternatives before choosing values and goals (Berk, Pg. 318). I vouch for Erickson’s theory; I do remember feeling that this was a big crisis in my