Personal identity is a complex and changing process that takes place from the very beginning of life and continues to develop throughout it. Understood in philosophical disciplines as “soul” it has been redefined as personal identity from psychology. The study of it is extensive and has given rise to multiple and varied definitions of personal identity as a concept.
In the following Psychology-Online article we are going to define What is personal identity, what are its characteristics, how is it constructed? and what reasons lead a person to suffer a personal identity crisis.
What is identity according to psychology
The personal identity According to psychology, the process by which a person createswith the passing of the years, an image of herself that answers the transcendental question of who I am?. This would be the definition of personal identity. It is understood as a process because it originates from the very beginning of life and develops throughout it.
A determining moment in the consolidation of personal identity is adolescence, a moment in which the person re-elaborates everything he experienced during his childhood and integrates it into a personal and particular image of himself. In this article we explain in depth the . However, the construction of personal identity does not stop at this moment since it is a living and changing process that is fueled by the different experiences that the person has throughout their adult life.
Our personal identity is manifested through different elements such as:
- political election
- Moral values
- Religion
- Popular customs and traditions
- aesthetic style
- Verbal and behavioral expression
- Leisure
- Profession
- Studies
Characteristics of personal identity
The creation of personal identity is always defined based on two general aspects:
- The person’s relationship with himself.
- The relationship of the person with their environment.
People develop their personal identity and knowledge of their environment from the experience with their own body, the contact and self-regulation of their emotions, motivations and desires and the mental elaboration of all these. internal experiences.
On the other hand, the relationship with their family, the school, their immediate natural and socio-cultural environment and, thanks to new technologies, with other social contexts, gives them another series of experiences that will also serve to provide new data in the creation and development of the concept of personal identity.
In this way, the human being carries out a complex work of elaborating each and every one of his life experiences to, from them, build a self-concept or self-image. This personal identity that, as we say, continues to fluctuate throughout life In small or large nuances, it will serve as a basis for the person to undertake their life experiences, with respect to themselves and with respect to their environment.
The construction of personal identity is, therefore, a multifactorial process that feeds on itself constantly, where life experiences create this personal identity that, in turn, conditions subsequent experiences, being, again, fed by them.
For example, some of the factor elements through which personal identity is constituted are:
- Membership group (family, friends, neighborhood, etc.): it defines our beliefs and values.
- Education system: offers certain content that will shape our identity.
- Culture and social system: through them we internalize certain customs and norms.
- Geographic scope and residence: nature, climate and other physical and meteorological factors of our place of residence also greatly determine our identity.
- Language: Many values, beliefs and customs specific to the linguistic group to which one belongs are transmitted through language.
How personal identity is built
The process of construction of personal identity is reflected in a very clear way by observing the .
The baby, from its gestation, is not aware of the existence of itself but relates to its immediate environment (its mother) and later with its body and its internal sensations to create beliefs and mental schemes that integrate everything experienced. Little by little, the baby begins to become aware of his own existence and, with it, of the existence of the other and, from there, he begins to incorporate knowledge about himself in relation to his environment.
During childhood he continues to have experiences of relationships with others (family, school, socio-cultural context, etc.) that will lead him to continue building beliefs around who he is, who others are and how the world around him works. surrounds Adolescence is the peak point in the construction of personal identity where the person consciously reworks his or her life experience and completes the process. creating and integrating a defining image of herself.
The rest of life experiences during adult life will serve to consolidate or put in check this personal construction of personal identity.
What is an identity crisis, how is it overcome?
In the process of personal construction, as we have said, multiple factors intervene: the person creates an image of himself based on his own internal experiences and, also, based on the relationship with his environment. It happens, therefore, that the definition of oneself is conditioned by the experience we have with others and, on many occasions, the image that our family, school or our peers have of us greatly conditions what, finally, we internalize as what we really are.
In cases in which the perception we assume about ourselves from the outside is similar to the one that arises from our own internal sensations, personal identity usually forms a safe and healthy foundation on which to build our personal life project. However, when the image that comes to us from the outside does not fit with our internal perception It usually happens that an internal struggle is created between what the person “believes he is” (usually based on negative beliefs about himself based on what he receives from the outside) and what he “feels he is” in reality. In these cases, critical life experiences (changes in life cycles, emotional breakups, bereavements, dismissal, etc.) lead these people to suffer unpleasant experiences.
Overcoming an identity crisis involves review beliefs, attitudes and values that support our personal identity, erase those that do not correspond to our essential being and rework our personal image based on more realistic, positive ideas that are in line with the being that we really are. In this article you will find more information about .
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Bajardi, A. (2015). Personal identity in relation to education: characteristics and formation of the concept. REIDOCREA, Monograph identity and education, Article 15, page. 106-114