Lectures Adolescent Development Exam 2
Lecture 1- Self and Identity
Why is identity an adolescent issue
Biological changes
- Puberty
- Appearance
- Changes on the outside have an impact on how one perceives oneself
Cognitive changes
- More self-conscious
- Develop a future orientation
Social changes
- Norms and values
- Social choices
- Educational choices
Personal Identity→ who am I? in terms of a sense of self. Identifying of someone who…
central is the process of figuring out who one is
Social identity→ who am i in terms of group memberships. Identifying with….Central is
one’s sense of belonging to social groups.
Self-concept→ mental image that one has about oneself. Self-esteem, self-competences.
Values, attributes, goals, self-concept clarity→ the extent to which individuals describe
themselves in a positive and consistent way and the extent to which they are sure about
themselves.
Erik erikson
People go through life through different stages in their psychosocial development.
Adolescence is characterized by the psychosocial moratorium (time gap between childhood
security and adult autonomy). Adolescents experiment with numerous roles and identities.
Exploration phase. Crisis in adolescence: identity diffusion (failure to form a stable and
secure identity) versus identity achievement (establishing a clear and definite sense of who
you are and how you fit into the world around you). Outcomes: 1. People successfully cope
with conflicting identities and discover who they really are 2. Don’t resolve identity crisis and
stay in this unsecure place of who they are forever.
Achieving a balancing coherence sense of self:
- Mental and emotional capacity adolescents have to deal with this
- Interactions with others; others serve as a mirror, through social comparison people
learn who they are
, - Exploration (trying out possibilities); role experimentation can only take place in an
environment that encourages it.
- Commitment (making choices among alternatives)
Marcia’s 4 stages model
Extension of erikson’s psychosocial theory
low crisis, low commitment: identity diffusion → i haven’t given the future a lot of thought. Im sure
something will come along to push me in one direction or another. People in this stage are
associated with different characteristics: no direction/it doesn’t matter, unstable self-esteem, feeling
alienated, apathy, hopelessness, suicidal thoughts.
Exploration present, commitment absent: moratorium stage→ i like psychology and am taking a
variety of courses to determine whether i want to major in it or not. Open, flexibility, no direction, it
depends, collecting information, external doubt, anxious.
No exploration, commitment: identity foreclosure stage→ i am going into the military because that
is what everyone in my family does when they finish high school. Knowing what you want from an
early age and not exploring and considering other options. Dogmatic, inflexible, intolerant, black and
white thinking, authority sensitive, obedient, sensitive to rejection.
Exploration, commitment: identity achievement→ i want to help people and am good at science, so i
decided to be a nurse. Open, flexibility, creative, abstract and critical thinking, high self-esteem, high
moral reasoning.
Decline with age when talking about individuals who are in moratorium or diffusion.
Proportion of individuals who are in a state of identity achievement is very low. Identity
achievement is much more often seen in early adulthood or after.
- Identity achievement generally not established before age 18
- College years prolong psychosocial moratorium
- Over time, diffusion and moratorium decrease and achievement increases.
Dual cycle models (critique on erikson)
Crocetti (dynamic process)
- Adolescents do not begin with a blank slate. Much of the identity formation is
starting much earlier than adolescence. Not that when you enter adolescence, the
identity formation starts
- Identity is not a static status process but a cyclic process
- Identity formation is a process of continuous interplay between commitment,
reconsideration and in-depth exploration.
- Identity formation occurs in several domains (educational and interpersonal) and
becomes increasingly complex over time).
Identity maintenance cycle→ keeping evaluating their commitments, reflecting on current
commitments. You find out that your current commitments are validated, keep investing in
them.
, Reconsider commitment→ comparing present commitments to possible alternatives.
Interplay between commitment and reconsideration.
Summary
- Personal identity refers to identity search and commitment
- Goal is a coherent sense of self
- Continuous across time and place
- Develops through exploration and commitment on various domains
Less research on social identity. Social identities; fundamental theory is social identity theory
Social identity theory
- Persons’s sense of who they are is based on identification with groups that gives us a
sense of belonging.
- Beliefs, interests and actions are aligned with those of the group
- Strive to positive self and group evaluation drives group comparison and favorable
bias towards ingroup. People need ingroups to survive.
- Identifying with multiple groups: gender, peer group, ethnicity, religion, teams, ses,
humanity
Gender identity
One of the first social groups children belong to.
Gender identity→ one’s sense of oneself as male, female, or transgender
Sexual orientation→ whether one is sexually attracted to individuals of the same sex, other
sex or both
Gender-role behavior→ the extent to which an individual behaves in traditionally masculine
or feminine ways
Childhood
Gender as an identity develops early. Labelling around 2. Preference for gender-congruent
toys, play mates, future professions, accomplishments.
Compared to girls, boys have stronger gender-identity, are more content with their gender,
place more pressure on themselves to conform to the expected gender roles.
Adolescence
- Sexual orientation develops
- Beliefs about gender roles become more flexible
- Societal pressure for gender-stereotypic behavior increases (gender intensification
hypothesis)
Gender differences decrease again. Girls helpful and kind behavior doesn’t decrease as much
as boys’. During adolescence boys show a drop in emotional expressiveness (gentle and
