Defined: Identity refers to having a clear and stable sense of who you are and what you stand for like your values. You have an individual, social, and cultural identity.

Individual Identity Refers to all the your personal characteristics including your name, gender, age, physical characteristics, talents, likes, emotions, beliefs, artistic activities, possessions, and educational interests. Examples include: “My name is Carl and I’m a strong man in his forties who has his Bachelor’s Degree who enjoys sporting events and concerts and believes in God.”

Social Identity Refers to how you identify yourself in relation to important people in your life, the roles you play, and the cultural, ethnic, and religious groups you belong to. Examples include: “I’m a mother of 3 children who is Mexican Catholic, and close to my relatives.”

Cultural Identity Refers to the behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, beliefs, ethics, ways of expressing yourself and traditions shared by a large social group. Examples include: “I’m an Accountant of a Jewish background. I’m a Democrat, upper middle class, and I believe we should all look out for each other and do good deeds.

Identity Statuses 1. Identity Conformity 2. Identity Experimenting 3. Identity Apathy 4. Identity Achiever

Identity Conformity The person unquestioningly adopts the values, roles, beliefs, and expectations prescribed for them by their parents/culture/society. They pursue the same career choices as the parent and conform to the parents’ religious and political leanings without trying to find the truth on their own. RESULT: While staying sheltered, they do not enjoy the discovery of their potential and understanding of the world. They are cognitively rigid. Example: If you are an artist in a family that encourages your business major, your talent will be wasted and you’ll probably be unhappy.

Identity Experimenting Between the ages of 12 and 20, the struggle to find one’s identity intensifies. There are 4 factors that for the person to experiment with different roles, beliefs, and values apart from parents are: 1) The physical changes of puberty 2) The start of Piaget’s formal operations in the brain. 3) The end of high school forces the person to make career/life decisions for their future. 4) 4) Peer pressure to decide to do drugs, date a particular person, become sexually active, politically involved, go to college, is felt. Attraction to rock, rap groups, etc., movie stars, and other charismatic figures provide a star like quality to achieve some personal identity apart from their parents. 5) RESULT: Struggling occurs because the exploration isn’t always accepted and they may be ridiculed or shunned.

Identity Apathy The person experiences a lot of self-doubt and doesn’t appear to do anything about their career, commitments and give up in the process. RESULT: If it lasts too long, the person stays in a confused and stagnate state of being. Their lack of commitment leads to an unproductive life in most aspects of life.

Identity Achievers This preferred status marks that the person has successfully passed through an identity crisis and now is able to make a commitment to a career, belief structure, intimate partner, and a strong personal philosophy. Because they chose to experiment, research, observe both negative and positive influences, interacted with others, and tried to discover their own “inner” and worldly truth from a distance, they gain a more clear sense of reality. RESULT: They are able to accept differences in others while remaining true to what they believe. They have a higher level of moral reasoning and ability to be emotionally intimate.