Identity in Context

In this reading I enjoyed the refresher on Erikson's 8 stages of development.  In my opinion I like Erikson's model over such models as Freud's or even Piaget's model.  Erikson's is easier to understand and he also states that sometimes humans do not move on from certain stages unless the previous stage is complete and I truly believe that.  In his stages humans navigate through them in a variety of different ways and can be at a variety of different times in their life.  Sometimes a person even goes back and adjusts their identity to what is going on in their life.  I like the quote that is used in the reading when Erikson says "in the social jungle of human existence there is no feeling of being alive with a sense of identity." and it is described as "person in personality".  I like this because a person's identity is so important and a person needs to figure out who he or she is and where he or she belongs and has to be ok with one's self in order to operate the way the feel they need to.  But like I said before someone's identity can shift over time.  For example me, when I was younger my identity was completely different then what it is today.  I have grown and realized what my purpose in life is and when I was younger it was completely different then what it is today at 28.  I didn't realize this until I was around 24 years old and I returned back to the 5th stage of Erikson's model and readjusted to who I wanted to be and how I wanted to do it.  This now flows into the context mapping piece and what that is.  A context map is a visual that describes ourselves to other people and shows what is important to our lives and what we do as it relates to our identity.  It shows a person's framework of family, life outside and community, skills, activities, etc.  The context mapping is similar to something we did in one of our social work classes that is called an Eco Map.  This is my context map and I think I had put everything but this was a little difficult for me because I didn't want to miss anything.

The four identities where nice to read about but were a little confusing but this is what I had come up with:

1. Achieved Identity:  This identity is when a person has experienced a certain crisis and has committed and accepted the crisis that they are in.  It is also states that the person is happy within the context of the situation.  The crisis that is being experienced is not a situation that the particular individual can't handle, it is something that is enjoyable to them.  They have found what makes them tick.

2. Foreclosed Identity: This identity is when an individual’s identity is chosen for them and cannot be developed on their own.  This is situation where the individual is pressured or forced to do when they have not had experience in the situation or experience in the crisis before.   For example, my friend’s father owns a car dealership and my friend is pressured into taking over the business even though he has no experience in the situation until he is put there in the position to own it.   

3. Moratorium: Moratorium stage is when a person’s identity has experienced a particular context within a crisis but has no commitment to it.  In this stage the person faces aspects of life such as belief systems, relationships, etc.  but they are hesitant to commit to it. 

4. Diffuse Identity: in this stage of identity a person is hesitant from experiencing any crisis or commitment, this person often has a hard time with dealing with many situations and usually becomes very anxious and has trouble with change.  The individual has a hard time experiencing new crises or even committing to them.  This individual is always trying to change and trying to fit the immediate context or situation that they are in, instead of exploring and figuring out the identity they need to be in or that they should be in.

Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to transfer my context mapping from a word document to this page so I had printed it out to bring to class.