Erikson's Identity vs. Role Confusion/Marcia Identity States
Summary
TLDRThis script delves into adolescent socio-emotional development, highlighting Erikson's theory of identity formation during the 'adolescent crisis.' It draws parallels between toddlers and teenagers, both experiencing rapid physical and cognitive changes, and the quest for independence. The discussion covers the stages of psychosocial development, emphasizing the process of adolescents trying on 'possible selves' to resolve identity versus role confusion. It also touches on James Marcia's identity status model, which categorizes adolescents into four states based on crisis and commitment, suggesting that identity achievement often occurs later than Erikson's proposed timeline.
Takeaways
- 🌱 Adolescence is likened to the 'toddler stage of adulthood', with both stages marked by rapid physical development and newfound freedoms.
- 📈 Both toddlers and adolescents experience significant physical changes, with adolescents undergoing dramatic growth spurts and the development of secondary sexual characteristics.
- 🗣️ Rapid development in verbal dexterity is observed in both toddlers and adolescents, with the latter gaining the ability for abstract thought and hypothetical reasoning.
- 🏋️♂️ The script emphasizes the struggle for independence in both age groups, with adolescents taking on part-time jobs and exploring their identities through various activities.
- 🚫 Both toddlers and adolescents push boundaries, testing limits until parental intervention sets necessary restrictions.
- 🔍 Erikson's theory of psychosocial development is discussed, with 'identity versus role confusion' highlighted as the key crisis of adolescence.
- 🎭 The concept of 'identity' is explored as a consistent definition of oneself in terms of roles, attitudes, beliefs, and aspirations.
- 🤔 Adolescents are described as balancing between selecting a single self and trying out many possible selves, exemplified by the personal anecdotes shared in the script.
- 🕰️ The script notes that the timing of identity formation may have shifted from Erikson's era, with many young adults not solidifying their identities until their mid-twenties.
- 🧠 Cognitive development in adolescence is characterized by the ability for formal operational thought, allowing for abstract and hypothetical thinking.
- 🌐 James Marcia's theory on identity states is introduced, offering a framework to operationalize Erikson's theory with four distinct identity states: achievement, foreclosure, moratorium, and diffusion.
Q & A
What is the key psychosocial crisis of adolescence according to Erik Erikson?
-The key psychosocial crisis of adolescence according to Erik Erikson is 'identity versus role confusion.'
How does the script compare the developmental stages of toddlers and adolescents?
-The script compares toddlers and adolescents by highlighting their rapid physical development, changes in verbal dexterity, and the process of learning to be independent, as well as pushing boundaries and exploring the world around them.
What does the term 'identity' in Erikson's theory signify?
-In Erikson's theory, 'identity' signifies a consistent definition of oneself as a unique individual in terms of roles, attitudes, beliefs, and aspirations.
How does the script describe the process of adolescents trying out different 'possible selves'?
-The script describes the process as adolescents exploring various roles and identities, such as being an athlete, joining a band, or adopting a 'goth' identity, to find what feels right and fits their sense of self.
What is the significance of James Marcia's theory in relation to Erikson's concept of identity?
-James Marcia's theory operationalizes Erikson's concept of identity by introducing the idea of 'identity states,' which categorize adolescents into four different stages based on their level of crisis and commitment.
What are the four identity states proposed by James Marcia?
-The four identity states proposed by James Marcia are achievement, foreclosure, moratorium, and diffusion.
How does the script illustrate the concept of 'foreclosure' in Marcia's theory?
-The script illustrates 'foreclosure' by describing a scenario where an adolescent commits to an identity, such as becoming a doctor like their parent, without actively exploring other alternatives or questioning the decision.
What does the term 'moratorium' in Marcia's theory refer to?
-In Marcia's theory, 'moratorium' refers to a state where an adolescent is actively exploring different identities and has not yet made a commitment to any particular one.
According to the script, why might adolescents in poverty have a harder time achieving identity achievement?
-Adolescents in poverty might have a harder time achieving identity achievement because they may not have the same access to resources and opportunities that facilitate exploration of different roles and identities.
How does the script suggest that the process of identity formation may have changed over time?
-The script suggests that the process of identity formation may have shifted to occur later in life, with many individuals not solidifying their religious, gender, political, and vocational identities until around age 25 or later, as opposed to Erikson's original timeline of 18 to 20.
Outlines
🧑🤝🧑 Adolescence as a Stage of Development
This paragraph introduces the concept of adolescent socio-emotional development by drawing parallels between the developmental stages of toddlers and teenagers. It emphasizes the rapid physical changes and newfound independence that both groups experience. The speaker likens adolescence to the 'toddler stage of adulthood,' highlighting the exploration and pushing of boundaries that are characteristic of this period. The paragraph also touches on the cognitive development of adolescents, noting their increased ability for abstract thought and argumentation, which contributes to their evolving sense of identity.
🧑🦰 Erikson's Theory of Identity Formation
The second paragraph delves into Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory, focusing on the 'identity versus role confusion' crisis of adolescence. It explains identity as a consistent definition of oneself in terms of roles, attitudes, beliefs, and aspirations. The speaker discusses the process of adolescents trying on various 'possible selves' to find their identity, using personal anecdotes and current examples. The paragraph also acknowledges the shift in societal norms regarding the timing of identity formation, suggesting that it now extends into the early 20s rather than being completed by age 20 as Erikson proposed. It touches on the various aspects of identity, including religious, gender, political, ethnic, and vocational identity, and how these are explored and solidified during adolescence.
🔍 James Marcia's Identity Statuses
The final paragraph introduces James Marcia's theory, which operationalizes Erikson's concept of identity formation into four distinct identity states based on the dimensions of crisis and commitment. These states are identity achievement, foreclosure, moratorium, and diffusion. The paragraph explains each state, providing examples and discussing the implications for adolescents and young adults. It also considers the role of parental encouragement and resources in facilitating identity exploration and the typical progression from diffusion or foreclosure in early adolescence to moratorium and achievement in young adulthood. The speaker concludes by mentioning a handout with vignettes for further exploration of the identity states.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Adolescence
💡Socio-emotional development
💡Erikson
💡Identity
💡Role confusion
💡Formal operational thought
💡James Marcia
💡Identity statuses
💡Moratorium
💡Achievement
💡Foreclosure
💡Diffusion
Highlights
Adolescence is the 'toddler stage of adulthood' with rapid physical and cognitive development.
Both toddlers and adolescents experience new-found freedom and independence.
Adolescents undergo significant physical changes, like body hair and shifting centers of gravity.
Adolescents' cognitive abilities develop through formal operational thought, allowing abstract and hypothetical thinking.
Eric Erikson's theory identifies 'identity versus role confusion' as the key psychosocial crisis of adolescence.
Identity is defined as a consistent sense of self in terms of roles, attitudes, beliefs, and aspirations.
Adolescents balance between selecting a single self and trying out many possible selves.
An example of an adolescent trying on possible selves is the story of the presenter's son with the black leather jacket.
Erikson believed identity formation was completed by age 18-20, but modern times may push this to around age 25.
Gender identity in Erikson's time referred to traditional roles, while today it includes transgenderism and sexual orientation.
James Marcia's theory operationalizes Erikson's concepts into four identity states based on crisis and commitment.
The four identity states are achievement, foreclosure, moratorium, and diffusion.
Achievement is reached when adolescents actively explore alternatives and make a commitment to an identity.
Foreclosure is commitment to an identity without active exploration, often adopting parents' or society's roles and values.
Moratorium is a state of active exploration without commitment, common in young adults.
Diffusion is a lack of commitment and crisis, where adolescents show no active exploration or concern for identity.
Parents who encourage autonomous exploration facilitate identity achievement in adolescents.
Moratorium and achievement are more common in young adults, while diffusion and foreclosure are typical of early adolescence.
Transcripts
hi class Welcome to our discussion of
adolescence we're going to introduce um
adolescent socio emotional development
by talking about Eric Ericson and his uh
sense that identity versus role
confusion is the key psychosocial crisis
of adolescence but first let's think
about
this can you see how in a sense
adolescence is the toddler stage of
adulthood let's think about that
Toddlers and that Ence both are
undergoing rapid changes in physical
development all of a sudden that little
toddler can stand up hang on to the
toilet and throw a toothbrush right in
that toilet and see what happens um
they're starting to be able to crawl
they can walk this is New Found freedom
for them right as they're able to get
away from Mom and Dad's arms and go
explore the world well teenagers are
undergoing a lot of physical development
too are they not um think about those
long gangly arms and legs think about oh
my gosh I've suddenly got breasts think
about I've got body hair where I never
had it before these are huge changes in
their physical development their
physical their um uh center of gravity
changes lots and lots of changes in
physical development for both Toddlers
and Adolescence rapid changes in verbal
dexterity what are toddlers doing well
they're learning to talk they're saying
their first words by age one by age two
or three they've got um they're starting
to do telegraphic speech by age three
they've got um a few thousand words what
are the Adolescent doing well thanks to
their new found cognitive abilities um
in terms of formal operational thought
think P right there they're able to do
things like hypotheticals they're able
to think
abstractly they get very argumentative
they see everything in Black and White
so they become um much more able to
express themselves
verbally Toddlers and adolesence are
also both learning to be independent
that toddler is trying everything out on
her own she's um moving farther and
farther away from mom um from her secure
base so are teenagers they're working
part-time jobs they're staying out till
midnight they're responsible for their
own school workor and both of them are
pushing the limits until parents say no
in order to protect them right your
little toddler is going to go in the
kitchen and start pulling out all those
pots and pans until mom says no your
teenager well she's probably going to
roll her eyes or groan or sass you until
you put uh the limit in place and say no
so Toddlers and Adolescent have a lot in
common so um this sets the stage for us
to think about um development and
Adolescence from an eriksonian
standpoint for Ericson let's think back
um to through Ericson's stages of
psychosocial development first of all
you have trust versus in mistrust in
infancy
then you have autonomy versus shame and
doubt initiative versus guilt um
industry versus inferiority in childhood
and finally you get to identity identity
versus role confusion is the
psychosocial crisis in adolescence well
what is identity it's a consistent
definition of oneself as a unique
individual in terms of roles attitudes
beliefs and
aspirations here he is Dr Ericson
himself and so he calls it identity
achievement versus Identity or role
confusion and he says that what the
Adolescent is trying to do is they're
balancing between selecting a single
self and trying out many possible selves
we all have a lot of possible selves um
for an adolescent this is going to be
things
like am I going to be an athlete am I
going to be in band am I going to be a
goth today so they are trying on all of
these possible selves um I remember as
an adolescent um freshman year of high
school I tried out for the cheerleading
team and I made it and I spent a year on
the cheerleading squad but it just was
never quite me it never really felt good
so I tried music and I played piano for
a couple of years and I could do it but
it was hard and finally I tried tennis
and that clicked everything was easy it
came easy to me it was something that
really felt good and and so as I'm going
through all of those things I'm
developing my identity cheerleader no
not really a music person athlete yes
okay so that's what kids are trying to
do my son is working this out right now
he uh got a black leather jacket
recently he's in sixth grade middle
school 11 years old got himself a black
leather jacket which he has wanted so
badly for a year or two and so first day
of school he is dying to wear this
jacket to school but here in Texas it's
105° on the first day of school so I
encourage him not to do that finally
this week it's um October we finally get
into the 60s in the morning and he is
dying to wear that thing so he wears it
and he comes home and I say hey bud
how'd the black leather jacket go over
in school today and he said oh it was
great they were like oh you look like a
biker man so he's at this very beginning
process of trying on a possible self hm
what would my what would it be like if I
were a biker guy if I rode a dirt bike
that's what he's kind of working out and
as parents we just let our kids do these
things you know if they're basically a
good kid getting good grades not doing
drugs and they come home with blue hair
that might be the time for the wise
parent to say you know I'm going to let
the blue hair go this is my kid trying
on possible selves so for Ericson
remember he is working in um the latter
half of uh the 1900s so we're talking
50s 60s and 70s was life different then
was the cultural Zeitgeist different
then that it is here in uh the early
2000s absolutely it was so um there are
ways in which his theory um although it
is applicable today the timing may be a
little off for him he's thinking of
identity versus role um confusion really
being done by about age 18 to 20 right
in there that you have figured out your
religious identity what you believe in
terms of God and religion you figured
out your gender identity your political
and ethnic identity your vocational
identity would we say that most 18 to
20y olds have all this stuff nailed here
in 2016 no no most people don't um this
kind of thing has gotten pushed back
maybe people have this done by about age
25 or so of course this varies uh person
to person so we talked a little bit
about religious identity what did he
mean by gender identity well what he
meant and what we think today in 2016
are probably different things for him
gender identity was simply for an
adolescent girl what does it mean to be
a woman what is a woman's roles how can
I become a woman and how will being a
woman affect who I think I am same thing
for an adolescent boy what does it mean
to be a man what kind of roles do men
play um how can I become a man of course
today we we think of these things and we
also think of issues of transgenderism
and we also think of issues such as
sexual orientation political and ethnic
identity he was imagining that by um and
and this was true for him back then that
by 18 to 20 years old you had um a sense
of where you stood politically you knew
if you were liberal or conservative
Republican libertarian Democrat what
have you um and then finally vocational
identity um deciding on what your career
and vocation will be so you can see that
these things are still at play today and
yet they probably are happening later
than they were in Ericson's
time so for Ericson um identity versus
rule confusion is the psychosocial
crisis of adolescence he's thinking this
is pretty much done by age 20 and when
he was researching and writing by age 20
you were heading toward marriage average
age of marriage would have been about 22
for men and about 20 for women today
that looks more like 28 for men and 22
for women so he's imagining your
identity is done by a at age 20 and then
what's the next thing that you do in
life well for for him then um this was
the next step was marriage and intimate
relationships and so he said look if the
Adolescent hasn't figured out who they
are yet if they end up in role confusion
that that really interferes with the
ability to move into the next stage of
forming Intimate
Relationships um we should think about
about how this is all taking place in
the Adolescent brain in terms of their
cognitive development what is happening
cognitively for the Adolescent well they
have hit formal operational thought they
are able to think abstractly and
hypothetically what this implies is that
they're now able to sort of fantasize
think about various roles and do these
trial runs um like my son trying on the
biker jacket like me trying out
cheerleading and tennis and piano
um so kids are are fantasizing about
these roles they're thinking about their
talents they're thinking about romance
friendships religion politics gender
orientation what kind of roles they're
going to take in
society one of the cool things about
identity versus Ro confusion is that we
have this Theory by James Marcia it's
actually not Marsha not Marsha Marsha
Marsha it's James Marcia and his work on
identity State he said look this is a
fascinating theory of Ericson's but
let's operationalize this so that we can
test it in the lab and so um he started
looking at identity and he's thinking
about it in terms of two Dimensions
crisis and commitment and from these two
Dimensions crisis and commitment he gets
four identity States remember we've
talked about um Diana boman's theory of
parenting style right she also had two
dimensions control or demandingness and
warmth and from there she got four
parenting Styles well here we have a
similar thing crisis and commitment
leading to four different identity
States now crisis here I got to tell you
crisis here does not mean what you and I
typically think of as crisis this is not
um ah something really bad has happened
a snake is in the house or um something
like that it is crisis in Marcia's uh
model means that you are wrestling in
with your identity you're thinking about
it working through it actively exploring
okay so let's look at each of the
statuses achievement crisis leading to
Commitment there was a crisis you did
explore the Adolescent actively explored
Alternatives and they have made a
commitment to a particular identity
foreclosure is commitment without
crisis the person is committed to an
identity but never actively explored
this is pre premature identity formation
often time this is the Adolescent
adopting parents or society's roles and
values wholesale without questioning so
imagine a kid whose dad is a doctor and
he grows up always thinking he's going
to be a doctor and so he commits to
being a doctor and he's never really
explored anything else that's an example
of
foreclosure moratorium is Crisis is
actively present the person is actively
exploring options and has not yet made a
commitment this is a good status to be
in if you are say 18 years old to be
actively searching and trying to figure
it out and finally you have diffusion
where there is no commitment and no
crisis the Adolescent doesn't seem to
know or care what his or her identity is
they're not actively exploring and
they're not
committed achievement tends to be
obtained at different times for
different aspects of
identity so for example you could
imagine an 18-year-old or a 19-year-old
who's spent a year in college and taken
some different classes and has now
decided yep I'm all set I'm going to be
a chemistry teacher but they maybe
haven't really thought about religious
identity maybe really haven't thought
about political identity maybe they're
still working through what is it mean to
be a man okay so you can be in different
identity states for different aspects of
your identity identity achievement is
likeliest when parents actively
encourage autonomous exploration of
alternative
they're trying to get their kid to look
at a bunch of different things trying to
encourage the kid to head toward
commitment and this is best facilitated
by parents who have the time and
resources to help the kid explore
Alternatives kids who are living in
poverty don't have access to this nearly
as
much now finally the last point I want
to make about this is that moratorium
and achievement are more common in young
adults than in adolescence and diffusion
and foreclosure is more typical of
adolescence especially early adolesence
you can imagine a 13 or a 14-year-old
definitely being in diffusion or
foreclosure in terms of say politics or
religion but by the time they're 18 20
25 they may be actively wrestling with
us or have come to their own
conclusions all right I'm going to put
on blackboard um a handout for you that
gives four vignettes and you're going to
have a chance to read those four
vignettes and try to decide which um
identity State each of the adolescents
is in diffusion moratorium foreclosure
and achievement
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