Identity: Creating Who You Are One Stage at a Time
By Daniel Dombrowski
EDI 550/551 Psychology of Adolescent Students
School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
May 27, 2009
One of the interesting parts about today’s class was when we were going over the stages of Erikson’s model. It was intriguing to note that some people did not agree with the placement of the Identity vs. Role Confusion stage. Even though it states that stage should be happening during high school, I feel that people can experience this stage in college. I know that is true for me.
During high school, I did not really feel that I was searching for myself. All I needed was a clean start from junior high. I felt that once I entered college, this search for who I was subconsciously started. I went to college not knowing anyone around me and I was living on my own. Once I started making friends, I noticed how certain people, or groups of friends, could have influence over a person. Some of it could be good or even bad for you. But the important thing was that I started to notice that I was changing, my friends’ opinions influenced me very heavily, and I would catch myself being effected by this. I would ask myself “why are you doing this?” I felt that my identity was formed through a trial and error process and to a point, it still is today.
As we were learning about the two different identity models in class, I agree more with Marcia’s model due to the fact that his model shows the identity forming process as not linear, but as an open model where not everyone is going to be in the same stage at certain points in their life. Also, I agree with how his model shows that a person can always be fluctuating through different stages of the identity process their whole life.
I believe that a person’s identity is never complete, but constantly evolving to suite that person at that point in time. We might be the same person years down the road, but we will be a little different due to a range of circumstances such as maturity, lifestyle, and/or even family.
Long Island University, C. W. Post
May 27, 2009
One of the interesting parts about today’s class was when we were going over the stages of Erikson’s model. It was intriguing to note that some people did not agree with the placement of the Identity vs. Role Confusion stage. Even though it states that stage should be happening during high school, I feel that people can experience this stage in college. I know that is true for me.
During high school, I did not really feel that I was searching for myself. All I needed was a clean start from junior high. I felt that once I entered college, this search for who I was subconsciously started. I went to college not knowing anyone around me and I was living on my own. Once I started making friends, I noticed how certain people, or groups of friends, could have influence over a person. Some of it could be good or even bad for you. But the important thing was that I started to notice that I was changing, my friends’ opinions influenced me very heavily, and I would catch myself being effected by this. I would ask myself “why are you doing this?” I felt that my identity was formed through a trial and error process and to a point, it still is today.
As we were learning about the two different identity models in class, I agree more with Marcia’s model due to the fact that his model shows the identity forming process as not linear, but as an open model where not everyone is going to be in the same stage at certain points in their life. Also, I agree with how his model shows that a person can always be fluctuating through different stages of the identity process their whole life.
I believe that a person’s identity is never complete, but constantly evolving to suite that person at that point in time. We might be the same person years down the road, but we will be a little different due to a range of circumstances such as maturity, lifestyle, and/or even family.
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