Comparing My Life With Marcia's Theory

These past weeks I have visited a dear friend of mine with the purpose of getting this paper done. A friend that is already 85 years old and that has been part of my life since the day I was born. That friend is my grandpa, who is also the father of my mother. With the visits that I have done lately I have learned much more of him than what I knew before. As well as understanding some of his stages as indicated by Erickson’s Theory, and some of his identity statuses as indicated by Marcia’s Theory. My grandpa was my interviewee and I had him answer a set of questions that would portray moments of his life. I collected most of my data in my cellphone. He would talk while I would type everything out. At first he was unaware that he was undergoing through an interview, he just knew he was having a conversation with his grandson that wouldn’t let the cellphone. This was done in such manner so that his responses would be the most natural as possible. For the reason that many …show more content…
James Marcia created her theory and stated that identity development had four statuses. There is identity diffusion, identity foreclosure, identity moratorium, and identity achievement. Identity diffusion is when a person does not know who they want to be, and really don’t put attention to who they want to be. Whereas identity foreclosure is when a person knows who they are going to be, without looking for options. An example of such would be when a person knows who they are going to be because their parents have chosen for them. In Marcia’s Theory there is also identity moratorium. Which is when a person does not know what they want to be, they are currently choosing. And they sort of know where they want to go, or at times they still don’t have a clue of what they want to be. The last status in Marcia’s Theory is identity achievement. Which involves a person who has made a decision of who they