Identity formation

Identity formation is the development of the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity (known as personal continuity) in a particular stage of life in which individual characteristics are possessed and by which a person is recognised or known (such as the establishment of a reputation). This process defines individuals to others and themselves. Pieces of the entity's actual identity include a sense of continuity, a sense of uniqueness from others, and a sense of affiliation. Identity formation leads to a number of issues of personal identity and an identity where the individual has some sort of comprehension of him or herself as a discrete and separate entity. This may be through individuation whereby the undifferentiated individual tends to become unique, or undergoes stages through which differentiated facets of a person's life tend toward becoming a more indivisible whole.^{[citation needed]}

Theory of developmental stages

In developmental psychology, a stage is a distinct phase in an individual's development. Many theories in psychology characterise development in terms of designated stages. Most stages are distinct, yet may overlap. Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, expanding on Freud's psychosexual stages, defined eight stages that describe how individuals relate to their social world. James W. Fowler's stages of faith development is seen as a holistic orientation and is concerned with the individual's relatedness to the universal. Sigmund Freud's psychosexual stages describe the progression of an individual's unconscious desires. Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development to describe how individuals develop in and through reasoning about morals. Jane Loevinger developed a theory with stages of ego development. Margaret Mahler's psychoanalytic developmental theory contained three phases regarding the child's object relations. Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development describes how children reason and interact with their surroundings. James Marcia's theory focuses on identity achievement and has four identity statuses. Maria Montessori's sensitive periods of development is concerned with the series of leaps in learning during the preschool years.^{[citation needed]}

Self-concept

Self-concept or self-identity is the sum of a being's knowledge and understanding of his or her self. The self-concept is different from self-consciousness, which is an awareness of one's self. Components of the self-concept include physical, psychological, and social attributes, which can be influenced by the individual's attitudes, habits, beliefs and ideas. These components and attributes can not be condensed to the general concepts of self-image and self-esteem.^{[citation needed]}

Cultural identity is the (feeling of) identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as she/he is influenced by her/his belonging to a group or culture. Cultural identity is similar to and has overlaps with, but is not synonymous with, identity politics. There are modern questions of culture that are transferred into questions of identity. Historical culture also influences individual identity, and as with modern cultural identity, individuals may pick and choose aspects of cultural identity, while rejecting or disowning other associated ideas.

An ethnic identity is the identification with a certain ethnicity, usually on the basis of a presumed common genealogy or ancestry. Recognition by others as a distinct ethnic group is often a contributing factor to developing this bond of identification. Ethnic groups are also often united by common cultural, behavioral, linguistic, ritualistic, or religious traits.

Processes that result in the emergence of such identification are summarised as ethnogenesis. Various cultural studies and social theory investigate the question of cultural and ethnic identities. Cultural identity remarks upon: place, gender, race, history, nationality, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and ethnicity.

National identity is an ethical and philosophical concept whereby all humans are divided into groups called nations. Members of a "nation" share a common identity, and usually a common origin, in the sense of ancestry, parentage or descent.^{[citation needed]}

A religious identity is the set of beliefs and practices generally held by an individual, involving adherence to codified beliefs and rituals and study of ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as faith and mystic experience. The term "religious identity" refers to the personal practices related to communal faith and to rituals and communication stemming from such conviction. This identity formation begins with association in the parents' religious contacts, and individuation requires that the person chooses to the same--or different--religious identity than that of his/her parents.^{[citation needed]}

In business, a professional identity is the "persona" of a professional which is designed to accord with and facilitate the attainment of business objectives. A professional identity comes into being when there is a philosophy which is manifest in a distinct corporate culture - the corporate personality. A business professional is a person in a profession with certain types of skills that sometimes requires formal training or education.

The career development of an individual focuses on how individuals manage their careers within and between organisations and how organisations structure the career progress of their members, and can be tied into succession planning within some organizations.

In sociology, gender identity describes the gender with which a person identifies (i.e., whether one perceives oneself to be a man, a woman, or describes oneself in some less conventional way), but can also be used to refer to the gender that other people attribute to the individual on the basis of what they know from gender role indications (social behavior, clothing, hair style, etc.). Gender identity may be affected by a variety of social structures, including the person's ethnic group, employment status, religion or irreligion, and family.

Interpersonal identity development

Social relation can refer to a multitude of social interactions, regulated by social norms, between two or more people, with each having a social position and performing a social role. In sociological hierarchy, social relation is more advanced than behavior, action, social behavior, social action, social contact and social interaction. Social relations form the basis of concepts such as social organization, social structure, social movement and social system.

Interpersonal identity development is composed of three elements:

• Categorisation: Labeling others (and ourselves) into categories.
• Identification: Associating others with certain groups.
• Comparison: Comparing groups.

Interpersonal identity development allows an individual to question and examine various personality elements, such as ideas, beliefs, and behaviors. The actions or thoughts of others create social influences that change an individual. Examples of social influence can be seen in socialisation and peer pressure. This is the effect of other people on a person's behavior, thinking about one's Self, and subsequent acceptance or rejection of how other people attempt to influence the individual. Interpersonal identity development occurs during exploratory self-analysis and self-evaluation, ending at various times with the establishment of an easy-to-understand and consolidative sense of self or identity.

Self, other, and interaction

Main article: Hegelian dialectic

During the interpersonal identity development an exchange of propositions and counter-propositions occurs, resulting in a qualitative transformation of the individual in the direction of the interaction. The aim of the interpersonal identity development is to try to resolve the undifferentiated facets of an individual. The individual's existence is undifferentiated but this, upon examination, is found to be indistinguishable from others. Given this, and with other admissions, the individual is led to a contradiction between self and others, thus forcing the withdrawal of the undifferentiated self as a truth. In resolution of this incongruence, the person integrates or rejects the encountered elements. This process results in a new identity. During each of these exchanges which human beings encounter as they go through life, the person must resolve the exchange and then face future exchanges. The exchanges are recurring, since the changing world constantly presents exchanges between individuals and thus allows individuals to redefine themselves.

An individual is also influenced by their family, whether they be biological, extended or even adoptive families. Each has their own influence on identity through the interaction that takes place between the family members and with the individual person. "Information regarding possible identities of possible selves comes from various contexts that surround adolescents and temporal commitments are tested and practiced in interaction with others." Researchers and theorists basically state that an individual's identity(more specifically an adolescent's identity) is influenced by the people around them and the environment in which they live. Also if a family does not have integration this seems to help create identity diffusion (this is one of James Marcia's 4 identity statuses, meaning that an individual has not made commitments and does not try to make commitments.) This is true for both males and females. These concepts prove that a family has influence on an individual no matter if the influence be good or bad.

Affiliation

Individuals gain a social identity and group identity by their affiliation. This is from membership in various groups. These groups include, among various categories,:

• family
• ethnic
• education and occupational status
• friendship
• dating
• sex roles
• religion

The term collective identity is a sense of belonging to a group (the collective) that is so strong that a person who identifies with the group will dedicate his or her life to the group over individual identity: he or she will defend the views of the group and assume risks for the group, sometimes as great as loss of life. The cohesiveness of the collective goes beyond community, as the collective suffers the pain of grief from the loss of a member.

Identity Formation in Management

It is a Management Task that enhances leadership, by creating an environment where all team members know and assume responsibility for their roles. Employees' Self-concept and Affiliation are managed to be aligned with their roles in the organization.

Training is a well known form of Identity Setting, since it has not only effects on knowledge, but also effects on the team member's Self-concept. Knowledge, on the other hand, introduces a new path of less effort to the trainee, prolonging the effects of training toward a stronger Self-Concept.

Other forms of Identity Setting in an Organization include Business Cards, Specific Benefits by Role, Task Forwarding, ....

See also

• Erving Goffman
• Genealogical bewilderment
• George Herbert Mead
• Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
• Lev Vygotsky
• Moral development

• Identification (psychology)
• Identity crisis (psychology)
• Self-Schema
• Social identity
• Social theory
• Symbolic interactionism
• Otium

External articles and references

Further reading

• A Erdman,A Study of Bisexual Identity Formation. 2006.
• A Portes, D MacLeod, What Shall I Call Myself? Hispanic Identity Formation in the Second Generation. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1996.
• AS Waterman, Identity Formation: Discovery or Creation? The Journal of Early Adolescence, 1984.
• AS Waterman, Finding Someone to be: Studies on the Role of Intrinsic Motivation in Identity Formation. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 2004.
• A Warde, Consumption, Identity-Formation and Uncertainty. Sociology, 1994.
• A Wendt, Collective Identity Formation and the International State. The American Political Science Review, 1994.
• CF Schryer, Genre Theory, Health-Care Discourse, and Professional Identity Formation. Journal of Business and Technical Communication 19.3 (2005):249-278.
• CG Levine, JE Côté, JE Cãotâ, Identity Formation, Agency, and Culture: a social psychological synthesis. 2002.
• DL Blustein, Relationship between the Identity Formation Process and Career Development. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1989.
• HD Grotevant, Toward a Process Model of Identity Formation. Journal of Adolescent Research, 1987.
• G Robert, C Bate, C Pope, J Gabbay, A le May, Processes and dynamics of identity formation in professional organisations. 2007.
• HL Minton, GJ McDonald, Homosexual identity formation as a developmental process.
• I Abu-Saad, State-Controlled Education and Identity Formation Among the Palestinian Arab Minority in Israel. American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 49, No. 8, 1085-1100 (2006).
• JE Côté, Sociological perspectives on identity formation: The culture-identity link and identity capital. Journal of Adolescence, 1996.
• L Craig-Bray, GR Adams, WR Dobson, Identity formation and social relations during late adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 1988.
• MC Boyes, M Chandler, Cognitive development, epistemic doubt, and identity formation in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 1992.
• MD Berzonsky, Self-construction over the life-span: A process perspective on identity formation. Advances in personal construct theory, 1990.
• RB Hall, (Reviewer) Uses of the Other: 'The East' in European Identity Formation (by IB Neumann) University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1999. 248 pages. ISBN 0816630828 International Studies Review Vol.3, Issue 1, Pages 101-111
• RM Sabatelli, A Mazor, Differentiation, individuation, and identity formation. Adolescence, 1985.
• SJ Schwartz, WM Kurtines, MJ Montgomery, A comparison of two strategies for facilitating identity formation processes in emerging adults. Journal of Adolescent Research, 2005.
• T Postmes, SA Haslam, RI Swaab, Social influence in small groups: An interactive model of social identity formation. European Review of Social Psychology, 2005.
• VC Cass, Homosexual identity formation: a theoretical model. J Homosex, 1979.
• VC Cass, Homosexual identity formation: Testing a theoretical model. Journal of Sex Research, 1984.
• VC Cass, Sexual orientation identity formation: A Western phenomenon. Textbook of homosexuality and mental health, 1996.
• WR Penuel, JV Wertsch, Vygotsky and identity formation: A sociocultural approach. Educational Psychologist, 1995.

Websites

• A positive approach to identity formation of biracial children". ematusov.soe.udel.edu
• Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research. "Identity" is the official journal of the Society for Research on Identity Formation.

"Maria Karim :)"