Social Identity Theory Analysis

Identity is "the internal, subjective concept of oneself as an individual" (Reber & Reber, 1985). In other words your own ideas about who you are as a person. In this essay I will look at two approaches to identity and how each has contributed to our understanding of this concept. Henri Taijfel's social identity theory proposed that instead of seeing identity as individualistic it should be looked at in terms of social processes. He and other social identity theorists suggest that identity can be divided into two broad categories. The first is our personal identity, with regard to who we are in terms of our personal relationships and our individual personal behaviour. The second being our social identity, which is who we are in terms of the
This was the basis of his psychosocial theory as he believes they both play an important role in the development of your identity. Being "psychologically healthy" involves having a good idea of who you are in the society you live in, and this is just one of a few aspects needed in the achievement of your "core identity". Identity is seen to develop throughout an individual's lifetime during which they will experience psychological conflicts. It is the resolution of these conflicts that give substance to psychological development. These conflicts can be seen in Erikson's eight stages of identity development, starting as early as birth and continuing into old
So in order to move up a stage the conflicts of the previous one must be resolved. This allows you too adjust to changing role demands, but still allowing you to gain a strong sense of who you are. Adolescence is one in a series of these developmental stages and is also the one stage which Erikson views as most important. On reaching this stage the main task is identity achievement. However there may come a time where the pressure to meet role demands is too much and what Erikson refers to as an identity crisis occurs. This is a state of confusion, that if overlooked can lead to role diffusion .This is where you have failed to achieve a coherent sense of who you are. This can be prevented during adolescence by taking a period of psychosocial moratorium. The individual can take time to experiment with jobs, travels, groups, basically anything that may influence their identity, without the commitments, before making final decisions and moving onto the next stage. However during this moratorium a balance must be achieved between the constant and changing aspects of the self and by the end of this stage you should have a "secure feeling of who and what one is"(Meill, Phoenix & Thomas 2002) or as Erikson called it your ego identity. In other words a pretty good idea of who you are and how you fit into