James Marcia Identity Achievement
Amy Striker
Child Psychology
04/11/2013
Finding Your Way Through Identity Crisis
Do you remember being a high school and being overwhelmed with all the choices of colleges, majors, occupations etc.? This seems to be the most confusing time of an adolescent’s life and one they will never forget, however what most don’t realize is that there is not just a point that we are all grown up. Instead, there is a very long process and it takes a lot of effort. James Marcia delved beyond Erik Erikson’s stage of identity achievement and created four different levels of this achievement. These levels were distinguished by crisis and commitment. Crisis is defined as a period of identity development during which the individual is exploring alternative, while commitment is personal investment in identity (Marcia, 2003).
Identity achievement is obtained when an individual searches for different alternatives, explores those alternatives and makes a commitment to one of the choices. When one is identity achieved they have explored different ideals, occupations, and political views. From the exploration of each, the adolescent finds what they feel they most relate to and commit to those views and ideas. Achievement is also associated with advanced reasoning ability seems that adolescents and adults who can take multiple perspectives on themselves and others also have a firmer and more flexible sense of who they are. For this reason, successful individuals have higher intimacy in their relationships. They are able to commit and feel confident that they will be able to understand their partner’s point of view without having to change their own. However, they have to adapt and understand their own viewpoints while at the same time not experiencing the levels of despair found in less cognitively sophisticated people (Marcia 2003).
Moratorium occurs when there is a crisis being faced but no commitment has yet been made. During this phase comes the process of making standards for
Child Psychology
04/11/2013
Finding Your Way Through Identity Crisis
Do you remember being a high school and being overwhelmed with all the choices of colleges, majors, occupations etc.? This seems to be the most confusing time of an adolescent’s life and one they will never forget, however what most don’t realize is that there is not just a point that we are all grown up. Instead, there is a very long process and it takes a lot of effort. James Marcia delved beyond Erik Erikson’s stage of identity achievement and created four different levels of this achievement. These levels were distinguished by crisis and commitment. Crisis is defined as a period of identity development during which the individual is exploring alternative, while commitment is personal investment in identity (Marcia, 2003).
Identity achievement is obtained when an individual searches for different alternatives, explores those alternatives and makes a commitment to one of the choices. When one is identity achieved they have explored different ideals, occupations, and political views. From the exploration of each, the adolescent finds what they feel they most relate to and commit to those views and ideas. Achievement is also associated with advanced reasoning ability seems that adolescents and adults who can take multiple perspectives on themselves and others also have a firmer and more flexible sense of who they are. For this reason, successful individuals have higher intimacy in their relationships. They are able to commit and feel confident that they will be able to understand their partner’s point of view without having to change their own. However, they have to adapt and understand their own viewpoints while at the same time not experiencing the levels of despair found in less cognitively sophisticated people (Marcia 2003).
Moratorium occurs when there is a crisis being faced but no commitment has yet been made. During this phase comes the process of making standards for
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