Identity refers to a sense of self and how one relates to society. Theories of identity formation include Erik Erikson's stages of identity development from childhood through adolescence and James Marcia's identity statuses of identity achievement, moratorium, foreclosure, and diffusion. Personal, social, cultural, and environmental influences shape identity formation, including gender, culture, peers, family, school, and media. Social cognition and role-taking abilities also develop with age and experience.

3. What is identity?
 According to Hoare (2002), identity refers
to a sense of who one is as a person and as
a contributor to society. It is personal
coherence or self-sameness through
evolving time, social change, and altered
role requirements.

4. THEORIES OF IDENTITY FORMATION
ERIK ERIKSON
 - identity provides one with a sense of well being, a
sense of being at home in one's body, a sense of
direction in one's life, and a sense of mattering to
those who count (Erikson, 1968).
 - had a coherent view of self
 - Identification in childhood and identity formation in
adolescence
 - Identity vs. Role confusion

5. JAMES MARCIA
- Canadian developmental psychologist
- refined and extended Erikson's model
-argues that two distinct parts form an
adolescent's identity: crisis and
commitment

6.  - Identity statuses: identity diffusion, identity
foreclosure, identity moratorium, identity
achievement.
NB: these are not stages.
- Ethnic identity

7. PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL INFLUENCES
ON IDENTITY FORMATION
 Perception of one’s self
 Gender identity refers to what it means to be male
or female, which is linked to sexual expression, but
also concerns broader issues of masculinity and
femininity.
 Sexual identity is a matter of forming an enduring
recognition of the meaning of one's sexual feelings,
attractions, and behaviors.
 Cognitive development plays an important role in
identity achievement

8. CONT’D
 Peers
 Peer provides a temporary reference point for a
developing sense of identity.
 Friends influence important attitudes, behaviors,
and characteristics.
 Bosma and Kunnen (2001) support the idea that
peers can act as models and provide diversity and
opportunity.

9. CONT’D
 Schools
 For most adolescents, school is a prominent part of
their life. It is here that they relate to and develop
relationships with their peers and where they have
the opportunity to develop key cognitive skills.
 Academic learning is the major cause of schooling.
But a lot is learnt through the school environment in
its hidden curriculum.
 School also has its personality or style and
develops in children what it holds important.

10. CULTURE AND IDENTITY
 The term ‘culture’ refers to the language,
beliefs, values and norms, customs, dress,
diet, roles, knowledge and skills, and all
the other things that people learn that
make up the ‘way of life’ of any society.
Culture is passed on from one generation
to the next through the process of
socialization.

11. PARENTS AND IDENTITY FORMATION
 Familial interactions influence the initial status
of identity development (Bosma & Kunnen,
2001). The relationships with one’s family are
typically the first an individual experiences, thus
providing a foundation for identity formation.
 Adolescents in the diffusion status are more
likely than those in other statuses to feel
neglected or rejected by their parents and to be
distant from them (Archer, 1994).

12. FAMILY AND IDENTITY FORMATION
family also fosters autonomy and
initiative in children when they allow
children to make appropriate
decisions and engage in new activities

13. ETHNIC IDENTITY
 The extent to which one identifies with a
particular ethnic group(s). Refers to one’s
sense of belonging to an ethnic group and
the part of one’s thinking, perceptions,
feelings, and behavior that is due to ethnic
group membership. The ethnic group tends
to be one in which the individual claims
heritage (Phinney, 1996).

14. COMPONENTS OF ETHNIC IDENTITY
 Ethnic awareness (understanding of one’s
own and other groups)
 Ethnic self-identification (label used for
one’s own group)
 Ethnic attitudes (feelings about own and
other groups)
 Ethnic behaviors (behavior patterns
specific to an ethnic group)

15. THE MEDIA AND IDENTITY
FORMATION
 The media has infiltrated many aspects of
our everyday lives from what brand of
cereal to eat for breakfast, how to dress,
what we should look like and even how to
label ourselves racially.

16.  So, if young people have such frequent
access and an interest in the media, it is
fair to say that their behaviour and their
sense of ‘self’ will be influenced to some
degree by what they see, read, hear or
discover for themselves. Such an influence
may include a particular way of behaving
or dressing to the kind of music a person
chooses to listen to. These are all aspects
which go towards constructing a person’s
own personal identity.

18.  Social cognition is the thinking that people
display about the thoughts, feelings,
motives and behaviours of themselves and
other people. (Shaffer 2005)

19. •Humans socialize daily and that will
help them to understand the people
around them (beliefs, values and goals)
•. People are likely to be harmoniously
if we know what our social partners are
thinking or feeling and can predict how
they are likely to behave. (Heyman &
Gelman, 1998 as cited in Shaffer 2005)

20. AGE TRENDS IN PERSON
PERCEPTION
•Based on the age of the child he/she will
characterize people around them in different
manner
•Research suggest that by age 5-6 children
are able to think about traits in a
psychological manner

21. •Children in middle childhood use
behavioural comparisons: forming
impressions of others by comparing and
contrasting their overt behaviour

22. By age 14-16 adolescence are able to
understand that various situational factors
can affect a person’s character (Damon &
Hart, 1988 as cited in Shaffer 2005)

23. THEORIES OF SOCIAL
COGNITION
Cognitive Developmental Theory (Jean
Piaget)
•Children’s view of themselves is based on
the level of cognitive development
•As a child gets older their cognitive skills
will develop into more high order thinking

24. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
•Sensorimotor (birth-2 years)
•Preoperational (2-7 years)
•Concrete Operational (7-11 years)
•Formal Operational (11-the end of the life
span)

25. Selman’s Role-Taking Theory
 Having the understanding of another
person’s perspective and understand their
thoughts, feelings, intentions and
behaviours.

26. STAGES OF ROLE-TAKING
 0.
Egocentric or undifferentiated
perspective (3-6 years old)
 1.
Social-informational role taking (6-8
years old)
 2.
Self-reflective role taking (8-10 years
old)

27.  3. Mutual role taking (10-12 years old)
 4.Social role taking (12-15 years old)

28. SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT AND
ROLE TAKING
 Thereare various factors that help to
contribute to a development in cognition
and role taking skills