The term "identity crisis" was coined by Erik Erikson (1909 - 1994) a German-Jewish psychologist who was educated and was analyzed by Anna Freud, Freud's daughter. Erikson is famous for his contributions to personality and developmental psychology. He proposed that development occured in a series of 8 psychosexual stages. Each stage proposed a certain dilemma or "crisis," and healthy psychological functional depended on the successful resolution of each crisis.
Age / Crisis / Resolution
0-1 / Basic Trust vs. Mistrust / Hope
1-3 / Autonomy vs. Shame / Willpower
3-6 / Initiative vs. Guilt / Purpose
6-12 / Industry vs. Inferiority / Competence
12-19 / Identity vs. Indentity Confusion / Fidelity
20-25 / Intimacy vs. Isolation / Love
26-64 / Generativity vs. Stagnation / Care
65+ / Integrity vs. Despair / Wisdom
The 5th stage, as you can see from the "chart" above corresponds to identity formation. In this stage, the individual undergoes the identity crisis and must make decisions regarding occupation, values, political orientation, sexual orientation, and group affiliation. You can think of identity as an internal, self-contructed organization of aspirations, skills, beliefs and experiences that each of us lugs around in our heads. In other words, it's the way you think of yourself.
Canadian psychologist James Marcia! Marcia! Marcia! expanded on Erikson's work and further divided the stage into 4 distinct states. The state one falls into depends on where they are in their crisis and what type of decisions they're made. Marcia was careful not to call them stages because he didn't believe people worked through them serially.
Marcia's four states are:
1. Identity Foreclosure - A person in this state has accepted the identity that's been foisted upon them by their friends, family, and significant others. They have not undergone a crisis, but have accepted the identity they've been assigned. They tend to be authoritarian (conventional, obediant to authority and dominating subordinates) and show little autonomy. They also tend to have low self-esteem.
2. Identity Diffusion - Diffusers don't know who they are and are not actively seeking to figure it out. They generally have low self-esteem and poor relationships, but show an ability to think independently.
3. Identity Achievement - These folks have undergone a crisis, searched for their own identity and have developed personal values and self-concepts. They have resolved the crisis successfully. These people have a positive self-image, think for themselves, are moral and reject authoritarianism. They are, in psychologists' view, teh awesome.
4. Identity Moratorium - People in this stage as in an actual crisis and searching for themselves but have not yet fully committed to an identity. They tend to be more fearful and uncertain about the future than the Achievers.
Some people never reach Identity Achievement. You might be able to think of some right now. It's interesting to reflect on your own life using Erikson and Marcia's scheme. For more reading, check out Chapter 4 of Social Problems and Social Context.
2 comments:
I love how you broke it down here. Super interesting to see a blueprint or map of the process. One theory, at least.
I'm interested in how you get from Moratorium to Achievement. What compels or impels PROGRESS?
-A
I think that's a good question. I would assume that introspection marks the difference between stagnation and progress -- taking an inventory of your life, beliefs, history, and patterns and determining who you ALREADY ARE, rather than who you want to be.
I read something interesting in a book about raising toddlers a few weeks ago. A mom was asking about helping her toddler diet. In response, the author chided the mom and said that the child's job was not to become the person the mom wanted to become, but to be herself, whomever that may be.
Thanks for the comment mah bruthu.
Post a Comment