The Identity Crisis: The Concept Of Identity And Social Identity

Decent Essays
Identity is the concept, beliefs, qualities and expressions that differentiate us from the people around us. Identity is something that we develop into; that makes us different than anyone else. The way we define ourselves, through self-identity, is essentially the basis of our self-esteem and self-worth. Our social identity, is constructed through the opinions of others, with groups/labels we are associated into. Our identities are influenced by positive and negative of social identities.
Erik Erikson, made an argument that during adolescence, we experience an identity crisis; titled “Identity vs. Identity diffusion.” This is a point in which the adolescence begins to rethink their life, and tries to figure out where they would like life to take them. These attributes include; careers, relationships, sexuality, religion; over all to fit themselves in a label for society. The identity crisis is when the adolescent begins to experiment with different things, such as political choices, education,
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Identity diffusion is when adolescence have not made a clear definitive identity, the choices for college or a career have not been made yet; some may never get out of this unless they experience a crisis. Identity foreclosure is making a predisposed decision, without exploring any option. For example, this occurs if everyone on your mother’s side of the family was a nurse, then you would feel like you want to become a nurse, without even considering the other options. Identity Moratorium is a time where the adolescent explores their options of identity, while having a very low commitment to a particular identity. This is a point in time where the person becomes resistant towards authority (parents), while they also need their support as they freely explore their identities. Identity achievement is when one has made a commitment to an identity after truly exploring their

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