And Identity FormationBy John DavenportErik Erikson With James Marcia

BiographyBorn June 15, 1902Born in Frankfurt, GermanyBiological father was Danish and left before he was bornBlonde and blue-eyed, was made fun of by his Jewish counterparts.Jewish, he was rejected by his gentile counterparts.Feeling that he didn’t fit into either cultures, he began his identity crisis very early.

Brief Education and Vocational Backgroundo Was an artist in the late 1920s when he met Anna Freud.o Began to study child psychoanalyses from her at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute.o In 1933, when he completed his certification, he fled from Germany to Boston as Nazism was on the rise.o Taught in many schools including: Harvard Medical School, Yale, & Berkley.

Crisis (Stage) Development

Noted for being the father of psychoSOCIAL development.

Influenced by Sigmund Freud.

Expanded Freud’s stages of growth to include life span development.

Focused less on libido and more on adaptive functions of the ego.

8 stages viewed as crises.

‘Crisis’ refers to the individual facing a decision to choose meaningful alternatives.

Trust vs. MistrustAges 0-1

Deals with the Orality of infants and the maternal relationship (or caretaker).

Virtue = Hope

Main Question: Does the child believe its caregivers to be reliable?

Autonomy vs. ShameAges 2-3

Deals with Freud’s anal stage.

Child must develop a sense of self-control without a loss of self esteem.

Virtue = Will

Main Question: Can I do things myself or must I always rely on others?

Initiative vs. GuiltAges 4-6

Follows Freud’s phallic stage

Deals with the child’s realistic sense of responsibility and purpose.

Virtue = Purpose

Main Question:

Am I good or am I bad?

Industry vs. InferiorityAges 7-12

Deals with the importance for the child to develop a sense of competence in something, where creativity is stressed and there is danger in the child becoming a slave of industry and competition where efficiency eliminates creativity.

Virtue = Competence

Main Question:

How can I be good?

Identity vs. Role ConfusionAges 13-24

(Adolescence)Deals mostly with understanding ‘who you are’

Emphasis is placed on relationships between family, peers, and cliques that define identity.

Virtue = Fidelity

Main Question:

Who am I and where am I going?

Intimacy vs. IsolationAges 25-40

(Young Adulthood)

Deals with relational intimacy as it relates to vulnerability, personal disclosure, and willingness to provide emotional support.

Virtue = Love

Main Question: Am I loved and wanted? or Shall I share my life with someone or live alone?

Generativity vs. Stagnation

Ages 45-65(Middle Adulthood)A shift of outlook and worldview occurs, usually from the self-centered or family to the community and others.

Virtue = Care

Main Question:

Will I produce something of real value?

Integrity vs. DespairAges 65-Death

(Old Age)

Shift of perspective, and a sense of acceptance or a fear of morality.

Virtue = Wisdom

Main Question:

Have I lived a full life?

James Marcia and Identity StatesMarcia expanded on Erikson’s Identity crisis.He developed four states.All adolescents will occupy one or more of these states, at least temporarily.Each state is determined by two factors:

Is the adolescent committed to an identity?Is the individual searching for their true identity?

James Marcia and Identity States

Foreclosure – means that the adolescent blindly accepts the identity and values that were given in childhood by families and significant others. The adolescent's identity is foreclosed until they determine for themselves their true identity. The adolescent in this state is committed to an identity but not as a result of their own searching or crisis.

Diffusion – the state of having no clear idea of ones identity and making no attempt to find that identity. These adolescents may have struggled to find their identity, but they never resolved it, and they seem to have stopped trying. There is no commitment and no searching.

James Marcia and Identity States

Moratorium – adolescent has acquired vague or ill-formed ideological and occupational commitments: he/she is still undergoing the identity search (Crisis). They are beginning to commit to an identity but are still developing it.

Achievement – the state of having developed well-defined personal values and self-concepts. Their identities may be expanded and further defined in adulthood, but the basics are there. They are committed to an ideology and have a strong sense of ego identity.

Identity and Media

According to Erikson

Erikson’s View On Media Erikson felt that the advent of adolescence occurs because the

advancement of technology places an extended period of time between early education and specialized work. This gap created a stage where children weigh their genital maturation and their uncertainty with their later adult roles in life. This causes them to concern themselves with fads and society. “[adolescents] are preoccupied with what they appear to be in the eyes of others as compared with what they feel they are, and with the question of how to connect the roles and skills

cultivated earlier with the ideal prototypes of the day”

Questions?o Does the media shape identity more now than in the previous

generations?o What/who are the main factors/people that shape identity?o Does the media hinder the youth of today from making the necessary connections in the real world to form a complete identity?o Where does today’s society leave our adolescents in accordance with Marcia’s four stages of identity?

Hypothesiso I think that the media plays more into the development of identity than it did in previous generations, particularly with society’s obsession with celebrities and with the advent of social networking websites.o I believe that famous people and superstars are the icons and role

models that the youth of today chose to form their identities around rather than the generations before them, who chose people they had ready access to or were more influential in moral ways, such as a parent or grandparent or a religious or political leader.o I also believe that the media hinders identity formation by preventing youth from engaging in personal relationships with a superficial online alter-ego of their peers.o In this light I believe that many children are left with identity diffusion and foreclosure, rather than using adolescence as a time of moratorium to gain achievement.

Assumptions To Answer!I believe more women will answer the questionnaire than men.

I believe that more students from the catholic school will answer the questionnaire.

I believe that there will be more students that will cite a media personality as an influence than there will be in the adult group.

I believe that more women will be concerned will marriage than men.I believe that men will be more concerned with politics and careers than women will be.I believe that television and movie stars will influence more women. I believe sports stars will influence more men than women.

Procedure For Me:Take questionnaire to students.Have students take questionnaire home to fill out with their parent.Pick up the completed questionnaire on a scheduled date.Analyze data into percentages.ABSOLUTELY NO INTERACTION WITH THE SUBJECTS.

Procedure For Subjects:Take questionnaire home and have parent and student fill out consent form.Questionnaire is set up with 86 questions all on a Likert scale from 1 to 5. (1 meaning NOT influential, and 5 meaning VERY influential.)There are 80 people listed from 8 categories. (Sports figures, Bands, Family and Friends, Religious figures, TV actors, Solo Recording Artists, Political figures, and Movie Stars.)They are to rate on the Likert scale, the amount of influence each of these people have on them.The parents must answer the questions from the age perspective of their child.Turn in questionnaire and consent forms.

RESULTS!!!I received 68 usable responses.39 students.29 parents.

Of the students, 31 were female and 8 were male.Of the parents, 24 were female and 5 were male.

RESULTS!Students

Age 14 – 3

Age 15 – 6

Age 16 – 15

Age 17 – 10

Age 18 – 5

Grade 9 – 11

Grade 10 – 7

Grade 11 – 13

Grade 12 – 8

ParentsAge 40 – 1

Age 42 – 1

Age 44 – 1

Age 45 – 1

Age 46 – 1

Age 47 – 1

Age 48 – 3

Age 49 – 4

Age 50 – 2

Age 51 – 4

Age 52 – 5

Age 53 – 2

Age 56 – 1

Age 50s-60s – 1

RESULTS!Students

12 from Southlake, Tx

13 from Texas

El Paso, Grapevine, Westlake, Bedford, Houston

New York, Canada, Florida, Washington, Georgia, Utah, South Carolina, Chicago.

Parents10 from Texas (Southlake, El Paso, Dallas, Houston)

Miami, Baton Rouge, Florida, Alabama, California, L.A., New Orleans, Oklahoma, Seattle, New York, Shreveport, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Connecticut

Germany, Iran, Israel

RESULTS: Important Aspects

M-Stu F-Stu Stu Total

M-Par

F-Par ParTotal

MaleTotal

FemaleTotal

Career 48.39 %Very

50 %M - V

48.72 %Very

40 %SW - M

33 %SW

34.48 %SW

46.15 %Mostly

38.18 %Very

Marriage

48.39 %Very

50 % Mostly

43.59 %Very

80 %Very

66.67 %Very

68.97 %Very

46.15 %Very

56.36 %Very

Parents 80.65 %Very

50 %Very

74.36 %Very

80 %Very

58.33 %Very

62.07 %Very

61.53 %Very

70.9 %Very

Religion 58.06 %Very

37.5 %SW

48.72 %Very

60 %Very

37.5 %Very

41.38 %Very

30.76 %Very

49.09 %Very

Politics 38.71 %SW

37.5 %N - R

33.33 %SW

60 %SW

29.17 %NOT

27.59 %SW

30.76 %SW

30.9 %SW

ParentRESULTS!

Male Female

Total

Sports 14 % 2.08% 4.14 %Bands 12 % 7.5 % 8.28 %Family 40 % 44.17

%43.45 %

Religious 10 % 8.75 % 8.97 %TV 2 % 2.5 % 2.41 %Artists 8 % 3.75 % 4.48 %Politicians

2 % 2.08 % 2.07 %

Movies 2 % 4.17 % 3.79 %Other - 3.75 % 3.10%

• Family is the most important influence on parents.

• Sports is more influential to men than women.

• TV and movie stars are more influential to women than men.

• Religion is more influential on women than men.

Student RESULTS!

Male Female

Total

Sports 8.75 % 1.94 % 3.33 %Bands 22.5 % 5.81 % 6.67 %Family 31.25

%44.19 %

41.54 %

Religious 2.5 % 9.03 % 7.69 %TV 10 % 4.84 % 5.9 %Artists 11.25

%6.13 % 7.18 %

Politicians

1.25 % 3.23 % 2.82 %

Movies 20 % 5.81 % 8.72 %Other 3.75 % 2.9 % 3.08 %

• Family is the most important influence on students! WOW!

• Sports is more influential to men than women.

• TV and movie stars are more influential to men than women.

• Religion and Politics are more influential on women than men.

Comparative RESULTS!

Students

Parents

Sports 3.33 % 4.14 %Bands 6.67 % 8.28 %Family 41.54 % 43.45

%Religious 7.69 % 8.97 %TV 5.9 % 2.41 %Artists 7.18 % 4.48 %Politicians

2.82 % 2.07 %

Movies 8.72 % 3.79 %Other 3.08 % 3.10 %

• Family is the most important influence!

• Movie and TV stars are more influential to students than their parents.

• Sports, Bands, and Religious leaders were more influential than their children.

DO PARENTS MATTER?

MOM = 79.41 %

Dad = 60.29 %

Best Friend = 55.88%

Grandmother = 47.05 %

Favorite Teacher = 35.29 %

Grandpa and Sis = 33.82 %

Brother = 32.35 %

Aunt = 26.47 %

Uncle = 22.05%

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

YES!YES!

Was I right?o I think that the media plays more into the development of identity than it did in previous generations, particularly with society’s obsession with celebrities and with the advent of social networking websites.

o YES AND NO!

o I believe that famous people and superstars are the icons and role models that the youth of today chose to form their identities

around rather than the generations before them, who chose people they had ready access to or were more influential in moral ways, such as a parent or grandparent or a religious or political leader.

o NO!

Was I right?o I also believe that the media hinders identity formation by preventing youth from engaging in personal relationships with a superficial online alter-ego of their peers.

o INCONCLUSIVE!

o In this light I believe that many children are left with identity diffusion and foreclosure, rather than using adolescence as a time of moratorium to gain achievement.

o INCONCLUSIVE!

How About My Assumptions!

I believe more women will answer the questionnaire than men. RIGHT

I believe that more students from the catholic school will answer the questionnaire. WRONG

I believe that there will be more students that will cite a media personality as an influence than there will be in the adult group. WRONG

I believe that more women will be concerned will marriage than men. RIGHTI believe that men will be more concerned with politics and careers than women will be. WRONGI believe that television and movie stars will influence more women. RIGHT & WRONG I believe sports stars will influence more men than women. RIGHT

Do it again ?

I would like to be give it orally to ensure clarity.I would interact more and make the questionnaire longer and more probing.I would want to track answers and see how each parent matched up to their own child. See if there is any correlation.More variation of SES.More comparison of Private vs. Public.

Works Cited:Crain, William (2011). Erikson and the Eight Stages of Life. In Jeff Marshall (Ed.), Theories of Development {Concepts and Applications} (pp. 281-305). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Erikson, Erik H. (1963). Childhood and Society. New York City, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Marcia, James (1993). Ego Identity: A Handbook for Psychosocial Research. New York City, NY: Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

Cowie, Leslie. (2010, April 29). How Does Maintaining an Online Identity Affect Adolescent Identity Formation? Retrieved from http://lcowie.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/social-medias-influence-on-adolescent-identity/. (2011, Feb. 22)

Erikson, Erik H. (1968). The Life Cycle: Epigenesis of Identity. In Identity: Youth and Crisis. New York City, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.