Identity

Jean Phinney

Jean Phinney derived off of earlier research on racial identity as well as James Marcia’s work in Identity Status.

Three Stages of Ethnic-Racial Identity

Unexamined Identity
- youth have not yet figured out what it means to be a part of an ethnic group
- they most often will still follow parents or guardians in traditions, language, food, religion etc.
- do not reflect or identify differences between their culture and other cultures
- Some youth may stay in this stage

Identity Search
- In this stage. teens will start to think about or explore what it means to belong to their ethnic group.
- they may become more involved in activities that expose them to their ethnic groups' values, beliefs and customs

Identity Achievement
- In this stage, teens will have resolved any conflict between their ethnic identity and other ethnic identities
- By this Point, Teens will have acquired a secure ethnic identity.

Ethnic-racial identity is a multidimensional concept. This theory is the idea that the attitudes and beliefs people have about their ethnic/racial groups has an impact on their identity.

Lawrence Kohleberg

Lawrence Kohlberg was an American psychologist
- He was best known for his theory of stages of moral development.
- He served as a professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Chicago as well as the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.

Kohleberg took some influence from the Swiss Psychologist , Jean Piaget.
- Kohlberg proposed that with advancements in cognitive ability there would be stages of development for moral thinking

Levels and stages of Moral Development

Level 1—Preconventional
- Stage 1: Avoid punishment
- Stage 2: Gain rewards

Level 2 —Conventional
- Stage 3: Conform to social expectations of others
- Stage 4: Conform to law of the land

Level 3—Post-Conventional
- Stage 5: Social contract reasoning
- Stage 6: Universal ethical principles

Image from: pmhealthnp.com/pmhnp-topics/moral-development/

A search For identity

Individuals will sometimes make it though their crisis, finding who they are/their identify. and some don't, further confusing them.

Teens want the feeling of being individual.
- This is the time where teens will start questioning their values and belief.
- They will also compare their values and beliefs to others around them, whether it be friends, classmates or family members

Erik Erikson's Theory

Erik Homburger Erikson was a German-American developmental psychologist/psychoanalyst known for his theory on psychological development.

Adolescents are usually in stage 5: Identity vs confusion. This means;

- They are trying to figure out themselves and different aspects of them that make them unique
- They don't really know exactly what it is that makes them uniquely them. this can cause a lot of "follower behaviour" as they might copy other people's behaviours in place of their own.

Image Retrieved from https://medium.com/@conquer.from.within/my-thoughts-on-erik-eriksons-stages-of-psychosocial-development-39b56bb471ff

James Marica's Theory

Taken off of Erik Erikson's theory, Marcia added the four stages of identify status to coordinate with Erikson.

4 Stages of Identiy

Diffusion

Crisis/Exploration is low as well as commitment
- Teens may not be searching for answers to their identity (not committing to anything.
- EX. Teens that are not looking into colleges and programs during their last year in high school

Foreclosure

Crisis/Exploration is low BUT Commitment is high
- Teens go into something that interest them or feels right to them without exploring their options
- can work out, can not work out
- EX. a teen male joining the football team at high school because all of the men in their family played football in high school

Moratorium

Crisis/Exploration is high BUT commitment is low
- Teens in this stage focus more of experimenting than committing to one thing
- they may be involved in many different things during this time, picking in choosing things that they think and don't think work for them.
- EX. a young person taking a few college courses but then realizing it isn't for them.

Achievement

Both Crisis/Exploration and Commitment is high
- Teens that have spent time experimenting and experiment with their options/identity have finally found something that is right for them.
- they have found the proper identify and are no longer confused.

MAMA

Moratorium, Achievement, Moratorium, Achievement
- Can be considered to society as a midlife crisis
- This is when an individual has gone through exploration, found something of their identity that they love and stayed in that achievement for a while. Then, after a while, they go BACK into the Moratorium (exploration) phase and find another identity they agree with.