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Critically discuus identity formation essay
James marcia, identity development- aspects of identity
Critically discuus identity formation essay
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When are ideas of our parents, teachers, and friends shaped into our own values and beliefs? As we grow up we are constantly faced with challenges that we sometimes overcome and other times we do not. Each time we approach a new situation we develop a plan for the solution, and whether we succeed or fail shapes how we approach the topic the next time it comes around. In this way, not only how we act around others, but also when noone is watching defines our identity. These actions are formed by our experiences and interactions in our lives, and it can easily change over time to better fit our desires. As humans, we define our own identities by how we live our lives. Our identity is both our actions emotionally and physically. When focusing …show more content…
on the emotional side of identity, it is important to look at our values, and how we interpret such ideas because of it. When forming opinions about topics in today's society, we use a sense of caution because “we want to be known and understood by others,” (Ouellette). At a young age we are taught that it is better to conform to society, rather than to stand out and be yourself. Today I wonder, how much of your identity is your own thoughts and what are the ideas of others. We often change our thoughts to conform to what others around us believe. The physical aspect of identity involves our interactions with others and the way in which we carry ourselves. Jennifer Ouellette explains that there are many factors that go into the way we see others such as, “physical attractiveness, race, gender, facial symmetry, skin texture, or facial expressions and body language,” that are each interpreted into a negative or positive way (Ouellette). A person is more likely to talk to someone who yields confidence, and self respect, than someone who is shy and lacks confidence. With that being said our identities can often change to gain acceptance by others. Other people are a major contributing factor to our identities.
Julia Freud, a scientist who conducted an experiment on mice, explained that the, “ways in which we live our lives may make us who we are,” and also who we will become in the future (qtd in Castro). We live our lives focused on pleasing others by doing what society considers “acceptable”. Someone who is a vegetarian might eat meat at a business meeting, because they don’t want to be weird, or force the server to find you something else because of your own values. The term “roaming entropy” coined by Freud captures the importance of our actions in defining identity, the more social you are, the more your identity will be focused on pleasing others (Castro). Feud found that there is a correlation between how much time you spend out of the house, and what your personality is. Someone who spends their time at home eating popcorn and watching netflix will have a different identity than someone who spends everyday partying. Also an important part of the people around us is that way they influence our decisions. As kids, we know a small amount of knowledge that the world has to offer, and as we hear others stories, beliefs, and ideas we grow to shape our own opinions. The opinions that we have about people, places, and events shapes how we act, and show ourselves to
others. Our experiences directly affect the way we interpret the world, and what we do to change ourselves so we are accepted by others. Freud pointed out that, “our lives are a work in progress,” and as humans we do the best we can to satisfy ourselves and the people around us (Castro). As we grow up we discover what we want to do with our lives, such as if we want to focus on making a lot of money, or helping others, and then we figure out how we want to accomplish it. While reflecting on how far he came, Author Wes in The Other Wes Moore realizes that, “[he] searched for ways to fill that hole, sometimes in places [he] shouldn’t have looked” (Moore 179). Sometimes as humans, when we are trying to figure out who we look in the wrong places, but that does not define who we are, it just teaches us that we have yet to figure out who we are. As we continue experience more events, and go through different experiences we learn more about who we are. Also The Other Wes Moore,w hen Author Wes goes to military school, he realizes that it “[has] slowly grown on [him, and] so had academic life,” (Moore 130). The more time that Wes spent at Valley Forge Military School, the more his identity was altered by the new values her developed. Wes goes from a boy on the path towards the drug business and jail, into a highly successful student with a bright future. Without being held accountable for everything he did at military school, Wes may not have realized that he needed to change to be successful. Adults are constantly saying, “I wish I would have known that earlier,” because as we experience different things in life you learn what has worked and what didn't which alters your identity either by changing your actions, appearance, or way of looking at things. When you alter your identity it can be as subtle as wearing a T-shirt from a concert you went to over the weekend, or as dramatic as getting surgery to fix a broken bone. Identities change every day, and that change can either be positive or negative. As we live through our lives from day to day our identity is constantly changing. The environment, emotions, and actions shape who we are and who we want to become. Sometimes we change who we are for others, and sometimes we change who we are for ourselves. As we grow old we transfer our ideas to our friends, family, and children, and sometimes alter their identity.
Identity is the essential core of who we are as individuals, the conscious experience of the self-inside.
True identity is something people must create for themselves by making choices that are significant and that require a courageous commitment in the face of challenges. Identity means having ideas and values that one lives by” (Merton). Concurring with Merton, a person is not given their identity at birth or while developing as an embryo, rather it is something that you create for yourselves over the course of life through decisions and actions made by the individual. Identity is something that one may not be fully aware of or discover until the last breath. Identity can be influenced through associations with others, and environmental factors.
Before beginning the explanation of how an identity is formed, one must understand what an identity is. So, what is identity? To answer this, one might think of what gives him individuality; what makes him unique; what makes up his personality. Identity is who one is. Identity is a factor that tells what one wants out of life and how he is set to get it. It tells what kind of a person one is by the attitude and persona he has. And it depends upon the mixture of all parts of one’s life including personal choices and cultural and societal influences, but personal choices affect the identity of one more than the others.
Although the concept of identity is recurrent in our daily lives, it has interpreted in various ways.
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 within all of us. Without it, we would be nothing. It determines just about any personality trait, habit or manner one can think of. That humans have such varied attitudes is intriguing, but where does identity come from? People identify themselves using not only qualities within them, but through culture and family as well.
Everyone struggles with identity at one point in their life. It will eventually happen to everyone. Identity is how people see one another, it is one of the most important things about someone. Identity goes hand in hand with experience. One’s experiences can impact one’s identity.
I definitely identify most with modern American culture. Although I am half Hispanic and half white, I was raised more “white” than Hispanic (e.g. food, language, holidays, music, etc.). On the surface you can see a white American, English speaking, femininely dressed young lady, but I am much more than what is on the outside. Like I stated earlier I was raised more “white”, but I still identify a little with my Hispanic culture. In this paper I will be addressing 10 surface and 10 deep aspects of my cultural identity.
In today’s society there are many words that are used or said without giving it complete thought. For example, the word “identity” is something to which I have never really given much thought or even considered how I identify myself.
The concept of identity is central to the conception of self. National identity is something that became increasingly important as the world became more integrated, as the various cultures of the world began to interact. The culture of the individual is thereby a concept that is constructed both internally and externally through interactions with one’s country and also the world around it. Herein, the concept of the American identity will be explored related to the period of 1870 to 1930. As will be demonstrated, over the course of this period, American identity became a concept that was particularly difficult to achieve for African Americans given the lingering racial tension and racism lingering from the Civil War.
“It’s a blessed thing that in every stage in every age some one has had the individuality and courage enough to stand by his own convictions.” The part of me that sums up my identity best is not the adjectives given by family, or the faults I find in myself. My identity is my desire to better myself, and my passion for children. My identity is who I want to be and what I do to accomplish my goals My identity is the feelings and emotions I pour into my journal every day, and the way I feel when I do something right. My identity is not what others thing of me or what I think of myself after a bad day. My identity is the love and confidence I have in myslef, and the beauty inside.
Zora Neal Hurston’s book, Their Eyes Were Watching God, reveals one of life’s most relevant purposes that stretches across cultures and relates to every aspect of enlightenment. The novel examines the life of the strong-willed Janie Crawford, as she goes down the path of self-discovery by way of her past relationships. Ideas regarding the path of liberation date all the way back to the teachings of Siddhartha. Yet, its concept is still recycled in the twenty-first century, as it inspires all humanity to look beyond the “horizon,” as Janie explains. Self-identification, or self-fulfillment, is a theme that persists throughout the book, remaining a quest for Janie Crawford to discover, from the time she begins to tell the story to her best friend, Pheoby Watson. Hurston makes a point at the beginning of the novel to separate the male and female identities from one another. This is important for the reader to note. The theme for identity, as it relates to Janie, carefully unfolds as the story goes on to expand the depths of the female interior.
A person’s identity is shaped by many different aspects. Family, culture, friends, personal interests and surrounding environments are all factors that tend to help shape a person’s identity. Some factors may have more of an influence than others and some may not have any influence at all. As a person grows up in a family, they are influenced by many aspects of their life. Family and culture may influence a person’s sense of responsibilities, ethics and morals, tastes in music, humor and sports, and many other aspects of life. Friends and surrounding environments may influence a person’s taste in clothing, music, speech, and social activities. Personal interests are what truly set individuals apart. An individual is not a puppet on the string of their puppet-master, nor a chess piece on their master’s game board, individuals choose their own paths in life. They accomplish, or strive to accomplish, goals that they have set for themselves throughout their lifetime. Individuals are different from any other individual in the world because they live their own life rather than following a crowd of puppets. A person’s identity is defined by what shaped it in the first place, why they chose to be who they are, and what makes them different from everybody else in the world. I feel that I have developed most of my identity from my own dreams, fantasies, friends, and idols.
Imagine a place of complete control of every action during any given day. This unattainable goal goes under the rug; however, this elusive place is attainable only in one 's mind. The dictating factor of all human actions lies within the emotion which derives from the inner depths of the sea. The sea monster which swims through the human body, leeching on to our brains and controlling them. Through the sea monster antagonizing fear into human`s consciousness, this brief attack dictates everyday actions. Fear, expressed from human responses to stressful stimulus activates the flight or fight response inside our brain. This triggers without our conscious awareness as this occurs as an automatic response. A human response in which requires no
The philosophical problem of personal identity pertains to questions that arise about ourselves by virtue of our being persons. There is no single question that will sum up the problem, but rather a multitude of questions that are loosely connected to each other. Within this essay, the four most prominent problems will be explained and addressed. One of the most familiar is the question of “Who am I?” This regards to what makes one a unique individual. Another familiar question is, “What is it to be a person?” This concerns the necessary criteria for something to count as a person as opposed to a non-person. There is also the problem of persistence, relating to personal identity over time. An example of this would be to glance upon an old photograph of a childhood class, point and say, “That's me.” The questions arises of, “What makes you that one instead of one of the others?” The last problem to be explained is the one of evidence. How do we find out who is who? There are two separate sources of evidence used often in philosophy: first-person memory, pertaining to one remembering an action or event and therefore being the person who did such, and physical continuity, where if the one who performed the action or witnessed the event looks like you, then it is you.