PSYC 332 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: James Marcia, Identity Formation, Erick Erickson

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 332
• Professor: Richard Koestner

Document Summary

Conflict or crisis we have to work through. We are not necessarily aware of this conflict/crisis. Reason why identity becomes issue during late adolescence/young adulthood. Social pressure (parents, teachers expect you to be thinking about what you want to be) Interview to assess whether someone is working on question of identity and what kind of progress they are making. Exploration: genuinely looking at and experimenting with alternative beliefs and directions. Commitment: choosing to pursue certain roles and outlooks that define how you see yourself fitting into adult world. People in this stage often don"t change unless dramatic events happen to them. Diffusion: alienated and isolated; distant from parents. Foreclosure: goal-directed, very close to family, choose similar friends, Looks perfect, outstanding but no depth to their decision. Moratorium: preoccupied and struggling; marked ambivalence toward parents. They don"t know who they are but they know that they don"t know and they are working on it to figure it out.