The crisis of adolescence in the concept of E. Erikson. Social pathology identity syndrome

During their development, each person repeatedly faces turning points, which can be accompanied by despair, resentment, helplessness, and sometimes anger. The reasons for such conditions can be different, but the most common is the subjective perception of the situation, in which people perceive the same events with different emotional overtones.

Psychology of crisis

In recent years, the problem of finding a way out of a crisis has become one of the leading problems in psychology. Scientists are not only searching for the causes and ways to prevent depression, but also developing ways to prepare a person for a sharp change in the status of his personal life.

Depending on the circumstances that cause stress, the following types are distinguished:

  1. A development crisis is a difficulty associated with the transition from one completed development cycle to the next.
  2. A traumatic crisis can occur as a consequence of sudden intense events or as a result of loss of physical health through illness or injury.
  3. A crisis of loss or separation manifests itself either after the death of a loved one, or during a forced long separation. This species is very resilient and can last for many years. Often occurs in children whose parents divorce. When children experience the death of loved ones, the crisis may be aggravated by thoughts about their own mortality.

The duration and intensity of each crisis condition depend on the individual volitional qualities of a person and the methods of his rehabilitation.

Age crises

The peculiarity of age-related disorders is that they have a short period and ensure normal progress

Each stage is associated with a change in the main activity of the subject.

  1. The neonatal crisis is associated with the child’s adaptation to life outside the mother’s body.
  2. justified by the emergence of new needs in the baby and an increase in his capabilities.
  3. The 3-year-old crisis arises from a child’s attempt to create a new type of relationship with adults and to highlight his own “I.”
  4. caused by the emergence of a new type of activity - study, and the position of the student.
  5. The puberty crisis is based on the process of puberty.
  6. The crisis of 17 years, or a youthful identity crisis, arises from the need for independent decisions in connection with entering adulthood.
  7. The crisis of 30 years appears in people who feel the unfulfillment of their life plans.
  8. A crisis of 40 years is possible if problems that arose during the previous turning point are not resolved.
  9. The retirement crisis arises due to a person’s ability to work.

Human reaction to crisis

Difficulties in any of the periods lead to which can cause 3 types of reactions:

  • The emergence of emotions such as indifference, melancholy or indifference, which may indicate the onset of a depressive state.
  • The emergence of destructive feelings such as aggression, anger and pickiness.
  • It is also possible to withdraw into oneself with the manifestation of feelings of uselessness, hopelessness, and emptiness.

This type of reaction is called loneliness.

Youth period of development

Finding themselves under the influence of new social and biological factors, young men determine their place in society and choose their future profession. But not only their views change, those around them also rethink their attitude towards social groups. This is also due to the significant change in appearance and maturation of adolescents.

Only an identity crisis according to Erikson can ensure the formation of a holistic personality and create the basis for choosing a promising career in the future. If the appropriate conditions are not created for the passage of this period, the effect of rejection may occur. It manifests itself in hostility even towards one’s close social environment. At the same time, an identity crisis will cause anxiety, devastation and isolation from the real world among young people.

National identity

In every social group over the past century, the crisis of national identity has become increasingly evident. An ethnos differentiates itself by national character, language, values ​​and norms of the people. This crisis can manifest itself both in an individual and in the entire population of the country.

Among the main manifestations of the crisis of national identity are the following:

  1. The historical past is not valued. The extreme form of this manifestation is mankurtism - the denial of national symbols, faith and ideals.
  2. Disappointment in state values.
  3. Thirst for breaking traditions.
  4. Distrust of government power.

All of the above is caused by a number of reasons, such as the globalization of various spheres of life, the development of transport and technology, and the increase in population migration flows.

As a result, an identity crisis leads to people abandoning their ethnic roots, and also creates conditions for the fragmentation of the nation into many identities (supranational, transnational, subnational)

The influence of family on the formation of identity

The main guarantee of the formation of a young man’s identity is the emergence of his independent position. Family plays an important role in this.

Excessive guardianship, protection or care, reluctance to give children freedom only aggravates their identity crisis, resulting in psychological dependence. As a result of its appearance, young people:

  • constantly require attention in the form of approval or gratitude; in the absence of praise, they focus on negative attention, attracting it through quarrels or oppositional behavior;
  • search for confirmation of the correctness of their actions;
  • seek physical contact in the form of touching and holding.

When addiction develops, children remain emotionally dependent on their parents and have a passive life position. It will be difficult for them to build their own family relationships in the future.

Parental support for a young person should consist of separating him from the family and allowing the child to take full responsibility for his life.

In the last years of school, a teenager faces the problem of choosing a future career. This forces the teenager to seek answers to the questions “who am I?”, “what is the purpose of my existence?”: the teenager is experiencing an identity crisis, described in the age periodization of E.E. Erickson.

The central point, through the prism of which the entire formation of personality in adolescence, including its youthful stage, is viewed, is the “normative crisis of identity.” The term “crisis” is used here in the sense of a turning point, a critical point of development, when both the vulnerability and the growing potential of the individual are equally exacerbated, and he is faced with a choice between two alternative possibilities, one of which leads to a positive, and the other to a negative one. directions. The word “normative” has the connotation that a person’s life cycle is considered as a series of successive stages, each of which is characterized by a specific crisis in the relationship of the individual with the outside world, and all together determine the development of a sense of identity.

The main task that faces an individual in early adolescence, according to Erikson, is the formation of a sense of identity as opposed to the role uncertainty of the personal self. In search of personal identity, a person decides what actions are important for him and develops certain norms for assessing his behavior and the behavior of others of people. This process is also associated with awareness of one's own worth and competence.

The most important mechanism for identity formation is, according to Erikson, the consistent identification of a child with an adult, which constitutes a necessary prerequisite for the development of psychosocial identity in adolescence. A teenager's sense of identity develops gradually; its source is various identifications rooted in childhood.

The teenager is already trying to develop a unified picture of the worldview, in which all these values ​​and assessments must be synthesized. In early youth, an individual strives to re-evaluate himself in relationships with loved ones, with society as a whole - physically, socially and emotionally. He works hard to discover the various facets of his self-concept and finally become himself, because all the previous methods of self-determination seem unsuitable to him.

The search for identity can be resolved in different ways. One way to deal with identity issues is to try out different roles. Some young people, after role-playing experimentation and moral quest, begin to move towards one goal or another. Others may avoid an identity crisis altogether. These include those who unconditionally accept the values ​​of their family and choose the career predetermined by their parents. Some young people face significant difficulties on their long-term search for identity. Often, identity is achieved only after a painful period of trial and error. In some cases, a person never manages to achieve a strong sense of his own identity.

To gain an identity for a teenager, along with accepting social roles, it is necessary to take actions aimed at defining the boundaries of one’s own capabilities.

The main danger that, according to Erikson, a young man should avoid during this period is the erosion of his sense of self, due to confusion and doubt about the ability to direct his life in a certain direction.

There are four stages of identity development:

  • 1) Identity uncertainty. The individual has not yet chosen for himself any specific beliefs and any specific professional direction. He hasn't yet faced an identity crisis.
  • 2) Preliminary identification. The crisis has not yet arrived, but the individual has already set some goals for himself and put forward beliefs that are mainly a reflection of the choices made by others.
  • 3) Moratorium. The crisis stage, when an individual actively explores possible options for identity in the hope of finding the only one that he can consider his own.
  • 4) Achieving identity. The individual emerges from the crisis, finds his own well-defined identity, choosing on this basis his occupation and ideological orientation.

These stages reflect the general logical sequence of identity formation, but this does not mean that each of them is a necessary condition for the next one. Only the moratorium stage, in essence, inevitably precedes the stage of achieving identity, since the search occurring during this period serves as a prerequisite for solving the problem of self-determination.

Thus, experiencing an identity crisis, the teenager completes the formation of personal identity, thereby completing the process of consistent and repeated synthesis that lasts throughout childhood. An identity crisis is necessary for normal maturation.

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Researchnidentity in adolescence

1 . Personal identity as a category of psychological knowledge

Identity is an interdisciplinary concept. Identity can be considered as a philosophical category, as a category of social knowledge, and finally, as a psychological category.

Identity is a person’s psychological idea of ​​his Self, characterized by a subjective sense of his individual self-identity and integrity. This is a person’s identification of himself (partially conscious, partially unconscious) with certain typological categories (social status, gender, age, role, model, norm, group, culture, etc.).

In social sciences, the following types of identity are distinguished:

Social identity - identification of oneself with a social position, or statute;

Cultural identity - identification of oneself with a cultural tradition;

Ethnic identity - identifying oneself with a specific ethnic group;

Group identity is identifying oneself with a particular community or group.

The term “psychosocial identity” is also used, integrating various aspects of individual self-identification.

Identity is acquired by a person in the course of individual development and is the result of psychological processes of socialization, identification, personal integration, etc.

As an individual assimilates sociocultural patterns, norms, values, accepts and assimilates various roles in interactions with other people, his self-identification changes, and his identity is more or less finally formed by the end of adolescence.

There are positive and negative identities (E. Erikson). The consolidation of a negative identity (“criminal”, “crazy”, etc.) of an individual can be facilitated by the practice of “labeling”, special or group pressure.

An individual’s loss of identity is possible, associated either with age-related psychological crises or with rapid changes in the sociocultural environment. Loss of identity manifests itself in such phenomena as alienation, depersonalization, anomia, marginalization, mental pathologies, role conflicts, deviant behavior, etc.

Identity crises in individual life associated with age-related crises (for example, the crisis of adolescence) are to a certain extent universal.

During a period of rapid changes in the sociocultural system, an identity crisis can take on a massive scale, which can have both negative and positive consequences (ensuring the possibility of consolidating technical innovations, new traditions, social roles, norms, structural changes, individuals’ adaptation to changes, etc. ).

At the same time, the mechanism of identity is a necessary condition for the continuity of social structure and cultural tradition.

Many modern authors prefer the term “identification”, criticizing the static nature of the term “identity”. Identification covers the dynamic, processual aspects of identity formation. The concept of “identification” was introduced by 3. Freud and was actively used by neo-Freudians. In the psychoanalytic tradition, identification is interpreted as a mechanism that ensures the ability of the self for self-development.

The concept of “identification” is widely used in sociology and social psychology; here identification is considered as the most important mechanism of socialization, consisting in the individual’s acceptance of social roles, assimilation of sociocultural patterns and behavior patterns.

Psychosocial identity is a set of basic psychological, socio-historical and existential characteristics of a person in the neo-psychoanalytic concept of E.G. Erickson. By psychosocial identity of a person, Erikson understands the subjective feeling and at the same time the objectively observable quality of self-identity and integrity of the individual Self, associated with the individual’s belief in the identity and integrity of a particular image of the world and person shared with others. Being the vital core of the personality and the main indicator of its psychosocial balance, psychosocial identity means:

a) the internal identity of the subject in the process of his perception of the external world, a feeling of stability and continuity of his Self in time and space;

b) the inclusion of this I in a certain human community, the identity of personal and socially accepted types of worldview.

Psychosocial identity thus has several aspects, speaking:

As a statement of the continuity of self-awareness against the background of changing objects of perception and experience (ego-identity);

As the norm of individual mental development and mental health (personal identity);

As a sign of belonging to an individual being that is part of a certain social community (group or collective identity), a certain segment of history (psychohistorical identity);

As evidence of gaining existential stability in the face of non-existence (existential identity).

The common element of these varieties of psychosocial identity and the main principle of their formation in ontogenesis is the relationship between the psychological and social parameters of existence, accepted as a correspondence or divergence of the spiritual content of historical time, realized within a group, community or an entire era, and the internal needs of the developing personality, including its unconscious motivation and needs.

Traditionally, the appearance of the term “identity” in psychology is associated with the name of E. Erikson, who defined identity as the internal continuity and identity of the individual. E. Erikson identified some elements of identity at the level of individual experience:

A sense of identity is a sense of personal identity and historical continuity of the individual;

The conscious sense of personal identity is based on two simultaneous observations: the perception of myself as identical and the awareness of the continuity of my existence in time and space, on the one hand, and the perception of the fact that others recognize my identity and continuity, on the other;

The experience of a sense of identity intensifies with age and as the personality develops: a person feels an increasing continuity between everything that he experienced throughout his childhood and what he expects to experience in the future; between who he wants to be and how he perceives others' expectations of him.

All these observations relate to the form of existence of identity. Having an identity means:

Firstly, to feel yourself, your existence as a person, unchanged, regardless of changes in the situation, role, self-perception;

Secondly, this means that the past, present and future are experienced as a whole;

Thirdly, this means that a person feels a connection between his own continuity and the recognition of this continuity by other people.

Regarding the content of identity, E. Erikson said that this is a configuration that arises through successful ego synthesis and resynthesis during childhood. This configuration gradually integrates constitutional inclinations, basic needs, abilities, meaningful identifications, effective defenses, successful sublimations and permanent roles."

Thus, identity is considered as a certain structure consisting of certain elements, experienced subjectively as a feeling of identity and continuity of one’s own personality while perceiving other people to recognize this identity and continuity. A sense of identity is accompanied by a sense of purpose and meaning in one's life and confidence in external approval.

E. Erikson did not resort to empirical research in his works, limiting himself to a theoretical analysis of the problem of identity. When his followers tried to substantiate his ideas empirically, it turned out that the given definitions of identity were metaphorical and broad.

This did not allow the identification of empirical study variables. There have been attempts to provide a more rigorous and operational definition of identity. The most famous and fruitful was the approach of J. Marcia. His status model of identity is widely used in adolescent research.

J. Marcia defined identity as “the structure of the ego - the internal self-creating, dynamic organization of needs, abilities, beliefs and individual history.” To operationalize the concept of identity, he proposed that this hypothetical structure manifests itself phenomenologically through observable patterns of “problem solving.” For example, in order to achieve identity, a teenager must solve problems such as: 1) go to study or work; 2) what job to choose; 3) whether to have sex, etc. .

The solution to every, even minor, life problem makes a certain contribution to the achievement of identity. As you make more and more diverse decisions about yourself and your life, your identity structure develops and your awareness of your strengths and weaknesses, the purposefulness and meaning of your life increases. J. Marcia emphasizes that identity development can include many other aspects, but his model is based specifically on the problem solving aspect.

In the works of A. Waterman, the value-volitional aspect of identity development is emphasized to a greater extent. A. Waterman believes that identity is associated with a person having a clear self-determination, which includes the choice of goals, values ​​and beliefs that a person follows in life.

A. Waterman calls goals, values ​​and beliefs elements of identity. They are formed as a result of a choice among various alternative options during a period of identity crisis and are the basis for determining the direction of life, the meaning of life.

A. Waterman examines identity from the procedural and substantive sides. First, the process of identity formation and existence encompasses the means by which a person identifies, evaluates, and selects the values, goals, and beliefs that will subsequently become elements of his identity. Thus, a teenager makes a choice from a huge number of potential elements of identity, assessing the advantages and limitations of each of them, as well as the significance of each element for his own personality.

Secondly, identity cannot be considered without taking into account the substantive specificity of the goals, values ​​and beliefs that a person chooses. Each element of identity relates to some area of ​​human life. A. Waterman identifies four areas of life that are most significant for the formation of identity:

Choosing a profession and professional path;

Acceptance and revaluation of religious and moral beliefs;

Development of political views;

Acceptance of a set of social roles, including gender roles and expectations for marriage and parenthood.

A. Waterman emphasizes that the study of identity should be carried out along these two lines, considering the procedural and substantive aspects in their unity and interrelation, which will make it possible not only to trace the paths of identity formation, but also to understand the meaning for the individual of the choices made in one area or another life.

Summarizing the definition of the concepts of “adolescence” and “personal identity”, we can highlight the following:

Adolescence is the period of an individual's life from 11 to 16 years.

Adolescence is characterized by important changes in social connections and the process of socialization. At this age, theoretical thinking and the ability to establish the maximum number of semantic connections in the surrounding world become increasingly important. In adolescence, attention, memory, and imagination are completely subordinate to the child. The development of speech is characterized by an expansion of the richness of the vocabulary and the assimilation of a variety of meanings.

The basis of the phenomenon of adolescent self-awareness is the formation of psychosocial identity - the formation of a sense of individual self-identity, continuity and unity.

Thus, identity is a person’s psychological idea of ​​his Self, characterized by a subjective sense of his individual self-identity and integrity. A sense of identity is accompanied by a sense of purpose and meaning in one's life and confidence in external approval. The formation of personal identity is a psychological task of adolescence and early adolescence.

2 . Identity crisis as a normative crisis of adolescenceage

In the last years of school, a teenager faces the problem of choosing a future career. This forces the teenager to seek answers to the questions “who am I?”, “what is the purpose of my existence?”: the teenager is experiencing an identity crisis, described in the age periodization of E.E. Erickson.

The central point, through the prism of which the entire formation of personality in adolescence, including its youthful stage, is viewed, is the “normative crisis of identity.” The term “crisis” is used here in the sense of a turning point, a critical point of development, when both the vulnerability and the growing potential of the individual are equally exacerbated, and he is faced with a choice between two alternative possibilities, one of which leads to a positive, and the other to a negative one. directions. The word “normative” has the connotation that a person’s life cycle is considered as a series of successive stages, each of which is characterized by a specific crisis in the relationship of the individual with the outside world, and all together determine the development of a sense of identity.

The main task that faces an individual in early adolescence, according to Erikson, is the formation of a sense of identity as opposed to the role uncertainty of the personal self. In search of personal identity, a person decides what actions are important for him and develops certain norms for assessing his behavior and the behavior of others of people. This process is also associated with awareness of one's own worth and competence.

The most important mechanism for identity formation is, according to Erikson, the consistent identification of a child with an adult, which constitutes a necessary prerequisite for the development of psychosocial identity in adolescence. A teenager's sense of identity develops gradually; its source is various identifications rooted in childhood.

The teenager is already trying to develop a unified picture of the worldview, in which all these values ​​and assessments must be synthesized. In early youth, an individual strives to re-evaluate himself in relationships with loved ones, with society as a whole - physically, socially and emotionally. He works hard to discover the various facets of his self-concept and finally become himself, because all the previous methods of self-determination seem unsuitable to him.

The search for identity can be resolved in different ways. One way to deal with identity issues is to try out different roles. Some young people, after role-playing experimentation and moral quest, begin to move towards one goal or another. Others may avoid an identity crisis altogether. These include those who unconditionally accept the values ​​of their family and choose the career predetermined by their parents. Some young people face significant difficulties on their long-term search for identity. Often, identity is achieved only after a painful period of trial and error. In some cases, a person never manages to achieve a strong sense of his own identity.

To gain an identity for a teenager, along with accepting social roles, it is necessary to take actions aimed at defining the boundaries of one’s own capabilities.

The main danger that, according to Erikson, a young man should avoid during this period is the erosion of his sense of self, due to confusion and doubt about the ability to direct his life in a certain direction.

There are four stages of identity development:

1) Identity uncertainty. The individual has not yet chosen for himself any specific beliefs and any specific professional direction. He hasn't yet faced an identity crisis.

2) Preliminary identification. The crisis has not yet arrived, but the individual has already set some goals for himself and put forward beliefs that are mainly a reflection of the choices made by others.

3) Moratorium. The crisis stage, when an individual actively explores possible options for identity in the hope of finding the only one that he can consider his own.

4) Achieving identity. The individual emerges from the crisis, finds his own well-defined identity, choosing on this basis his occupation and ideological orientation.

These stages reflect the general logical sequence of identity formation, but this does not mean that each of them is a necessary condition for the next one. Only the moratorium stage, in essence, inevitably precedes the stage of achieving identity, since the search occurring during this period serves as a prerequisite for solving the problem of self-determination.

Thus, experiencing an identity crisis, the teenager completes the formation of personal identity, thereby completing the process of consistent and repeated synthesis that lasts throughout childhood. An identity crisis is necessary for normal maturation.

3 . Peculiarities of manifestation of identity crisis in adolescence

An important indicator of growing up is the degree of individualization and socialization, the development of social maturity, that is, self-awareness, self-determination, and social responsibility. The appropriation of social norms and rules by a person does not occur automatically, it is standard for all individuals. The teenager develops individual, subjective-personal equivalents of the norms and rules existing in society.

A teenager’s acquisition of personal identity is a multi-level process that has a certain structure and consists of several phases. The phases differ both in the psychological content of the value-volitional aspect of personality development, and in the nature of the problems of life difficulties experienced by the individual.

The dynamic components are also different, namely: the pace and intensity of a person’s experiences. Interests, attachments, identification patterns, topics of problem situations, the significance of various areas of life, and ways of overcoming difficulties change.

The strategy for overcoming difficulties during growing up is determined depending on the type and properties of the problems, taking into account one’s own capabilities. Ways and means of overcoming a crisis and solving problem situations are formed and tested by the individual in childhood and adolescence, and are reflected in adolescence and youth.

The search for social and personal identity involves experimenting with available social roles, social functions, methods of communication, and professional orientations. When such experimentation is impossible or difficult, the process of acquiring identity proceeds more slowly, accompanied by crisis phenomena.

The social situation of social instability, which is characteristic of the current stage in our country, complicates the task of acquiring identity, as social stereotypes, positive values ​​and norms are blurred. Significant changes in the moral atmosphere are taking place, the previous type of spiritual culture is being destroyed, there are no significant social forces that responsibly approve new norms and principles that inspire the trust of growing people.

The acquisition of personal identity in a teenager and young man is obviously inextricably linked with the awareness of oneself as a subject, an active, active principle. It can be assumed that one of the criteria for personal identity is the formation of a sense of responsibility and subjective control.

Research on the “locus of control” convincingly shows the importance for the progressive development of personality of a person experiencing himself as an active subject, capable of effectively controlling surrounding situations. According to research, from 15 to 17 years of life, there is a dynamic increase in the value for adolescents and young men of the ability to control their lives.

Thus, adolescents and young men discover a need to be responsible and to control the events of their lives. However, there is a significant gap between the desired and actual experience and behavior in a situation of responsibility.

Awareness of one's place in the system of human relations, the subject's feeling of choosing his own destiny is a difficult life situation for adolescents and young men. Personal changes are often accompanied by outbursts of negative emotions, conflict, categoricalness, and negativism. The formation of a neoplasm occurs initially at an unconscious level, so teenagers cannot yet figure it out on their own.

One of the most important problems of adolescence is the problem of developing gender identity, since gender identity is one of the basic characteristics of a person that largely determines his self-awareness and sets the vector of his socialization.

Gender identity is considered as an internal dynamic structure that integrates individual aspects of personality associated with the awareness and experience of oneself as a representative of a certain gender into a single whole without losing their originality.

According to E. Erikson, the development of gender identity “protects the integrity and individuality of a person’s experience, gives him the opportunity to anticipate both internal and external dangers and to balance his abilities with the social opportunities provided by society.” We can conclude that it is gender identity that plays the role of the leading regulator of autogenic adaptation processes associated with the transformation of the self-image when mastering new social roles.

Modern research on gender identity points to the complex nature of this personal formation. The formation of this system is determined, on the one hand, by the physiological processes of growth and development and, on the other, occurs through sexual socialization, understood as the transmission of stable forms of social behavior in accordance with the gender role.

There is reason to believe that the leading role in the process of developing a positive gender identity belongs to adults, who help the child realize his own gender identity and begin to consciously and unconsciously teach the child his gender role in accordance with the stereotypes of masculinity and femininity accepted in a given society.

The most prominent sex therapists G.S. Vasilchenko, N.V. Ivanov, A.M. Svyadoshch, M.A. Zhukovsky et al., who studied disorders of psychosexual development, particularly focus on the fact that the causes of deviant sex-role behavior are most often associated with disturbances in the complex and multidimensional process of sexual socialization. Insufficient differentiation of sex roles in the family and non-family environment, vague patterns of masculinity-femininity and their prejudiced assessments, the child’s perception of any behavior of others as a model, pathologization of normal and underestimation of pathological manifestations of gender, flaws in sex education, etc. form the most active conditions for the distortion of gender-role behavior.

In their research, scientists note that the formation of gender identity is difficult in the modern conditions of our society. In the last decade, the crisis of the family as a social institution has intensified. Research has shown that boys are more oriented towards the traditional model, while girls are mainly reoriented towards the egalitarian model of distribution of family roles. Failures in the level of assimilation of traditional gender role models in men and women lead to an increase in divorces.

It turns out to be obvious that gender socialization as a fundamental sociocultural strategy of education, carried out by the adult community, in modern conditions disorients the child in terms of the formation of gender identity.

I.S. Kohn rightly notes that where there are no appropriate conditions for the normal course of sexual socialization, the process of formation of psychological gender is disrupted. And as a result - a crisis of sexual identity, sexual maladaptation, which entails the destruction of family values, an increase in the number of divorces, an increase in social orphanhood and other problems.

Thus, it can be noted that an identity crisis is necessary for normal maturation. The process of forming personal identity is always associated with other people who can serve as “models” for a growing person. One of the criteria for personal identity is the formation of a sense of responsibility and subjective control. Gender identity is an important component of personal identity. It is gender identity that plays the role of the leading regulator of autogenic adaptation processes associated with the transformation of the self-image when mastering new social roles.

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    course work, added 09/23/2008

    Definition of the concept of “identity” in the field of social psychology. Approaches to the problem of military personnel status and professional identity. Empirical study of the problem of gender characteristics of professional identity of military personnel.

    course work, added 10/30/2014

    The concept of identity and its features in adolescence. Mechanisms of the psychological impact of advertising. Results of a survey of attitudes towards television advertising among young people. A study of the identity of the image of an advertising character and the self-image of young people.

    thesis, added 08/22/2010

    The concept of identity in psychology. The concept and types of dysfunctional family. Psychological characteristics of preschool age. Study of the characteristics of gender-role identity in preschool children from disadvantaged families, evaluation of the results obtained.

    course work, added 04/05/2012

    Analysis of identity concepts within the psychoanalytic approach. Features and conditions of its formation in adolescence, factors influencing it. A comparative study of the identity structure of psychology students and geography students.

Erik Homberger Erikson is an American psychologist. Born in Frankfurt am Main in 1902. Studied at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute. In 1933 he moved to the United States, where he worked in Boston and at Harvard University; later moved to Yale and then to Berkeley, where he worked for more than ten years. In 1950, he published the book “Childhood & Society,” which became a psychological bestseller. With it begins his revision of some of the principles of classical Freudianism and the formulation of his own doctrine of identity. In 1958, Erikson’s book “Young Man Luther” was published, which became the first experience in using the psychohistorical method. This was followed by “Gandhi's Truth”, 1969 and other works. The book about Gandhi brought Erickson the Pulitzer Prize and the US National Prize. Erickson died in Harwich (Massachusetts) in 1994.

The book “Identity: Youth and Crisis” is devoted to the problems of adolescence related to the social development of the individual. The author traces individual life cycles, the sequence of generations and the structure of society. The main concept developed by Erikson is the concept of identity. It denotes a firmly acquired and personally accepted image of oneself in all the richness of the individual’s relationships with the world around him. Identity is, first of all, an indicator of a mature (adult) personality, the origins of which are hidden in the previous stages of ontogenesis. This is a configuration into which constitutional predisposition, characteristics of libidinal needs, preferred abilities, effective defense mechanisms, successful sublimations and fulfilled roles are integrated.

Ages 11-20 are a key period for acquiring a sense of identity. At this time, the teenager oscillates between the positive pole of identification (“I”) and the negative pole of role confusion. The teenager is faced with the task of combining everything that he knows about himself as a son/daughter, school student, athlete, friend, etc. He must combine all this into a single whole, comprehend it, connect it with the past and project it into the future. If the crisis of adolescence is successful, boys and girls develop a sense of identity; if it is unfavorable, they will develop a confused identity, associated with painful doubts about themselves, their place in the group, in society, and with an unclear life perspective. Here Erikson introduces a completely original term - “psychological moratorium” - which denotes the crisis period between adolescence and adulthood, during which multidimensional complex processes of acquiring adult identity and a new attitude towards the world occur in the individual. The crisis gives rise to a state of “diffusion of identity,” which forms the basis of the specific pathology of adolescence.

The sixth stage (from 21 to 25 years) marks, according to Erikson, the transition to solving adult problems on the basis of a formed psychosocial identity. Young people enter into friendships, get married, and have children. The global issue of the fundamental choice between this broad field of establishing friendships and family connections with the prospect of raising a new generation is being resolved - and the isolationism characteristic of people with a confused identity and other, even earlier errors in the line of development.

25 - 50/60 years occupy the lion's share of human life, associated with the contradiction between a person's ability to develop, which he receives on the basis of acquired experience at previous stages, and personal stagnation, the slow regression of the individual in the process of everyday life. The reward for mastering the ability for self-development is the formation of human individuality and uniqueness.

So, during adolescence, every person in one way or another experiences a crisis associated with the need for self-determination, in the form of a whole series of social and personal choices and identifications. If a young man fails to resolve these problems in a timely manner, he develops an inadequate identity. Diffuse, fuzzy identity is a state when an individual has not yet made a responsible choice, for example, a profession or worldview, which makes his self-image vague and uncertain. Unpaid identity is a state when a young man has accepted a certain identity, having bypassed the complex and painful process of self-analysis, he is already included in the system of adult relationships, but this choice was not made consciously, but under influence from the outside or according to ready-made standards.

Erikson’s analysis of the topic of the connection between the individual life cycle and the cycle of generations and, in general, the problem of generational dynamics deserves a separate discussion. The concept of identity, in addition to personal identity (constancy in space), also implies integrity (continuity of personality over time), and, therefore, identity is thought of not only as personal, but also as group (racial, social, gender, etc.).

Identity formation is the process of transforming all previous identifications in the light of the expected future. Although identity development reaches a critical point at which a crisis may occur only during adolescence, it begins in infancy. In highly structured societies with mandatory rites of passage to adulthood or rigidly defined roles for adolescents, the identity crisis is less pronounced than in democratic societies.

Trying to avoid an identity crisis, some boys and girls are too hasty with self-determination, resign themselves to the consciousness of predestination and therefore are not able to reveal their full potential; others prolong this crisis and state of vague identity indefinitely, wasting their energy in protracted developmental conflict and doubts about self-determination. Sometimes diffuse identity is expressed as a “negative identity,” in which the individual adopts a dangerous or socially undesirable role. Fortunately, without any serious crisis, most develop one of several possible positive selves.

In addition, adolescents need to be provided with a wide range of positive lifestyle options or functional role models - with the opportunity to experience multiple acceptable roles, get to know themselves better, and be informed about the real chances and options provided by the culture in which they grow up.

Misprocessing of an identity crisis has been found to correlate with a wide range of problems, from difficulties in psychological growth to pathology. Strong diffusion of identity is associated with inability to make decisions, confusion in problems, loss individuality in public, difficulty establishing satisfying relationships with a tendency to isolate, difficulties at work and low ability to concentrate. Since identity is, not without reason, considered one of the fundamental elements of ego development and strength, unsatisfactory resolution of an identity crisis makes the individual less able to cope with the immediate tasks of adjustment.

Although identity crises most often occur during adolescence, people can experience them at any age. Erikson originally used the term “identity crisis” to refer to the experiences of World War II veterans. He later observed similar identity confusion in young people who had become disoriented in life, and concluded that identity crises are part of normal adolescent development. Moreover, Erikson's own experience as an immigrant led him to suggest that even if a person has resolved an adolescent identity crisis, subsequent dramatic changes in life can cause a recurrence of the crisis. In addition to immigrants, many other categories of people can experience an identity crisis:

    retired military men who previously occupied the position of everyone's favorites and had the corresponding status;

    retired civilians whose identity was built almost entirely on their work;

    some people living on the state. benefits and therefore consider themselves “empty space” due to the tendency in our society to define identity through profession;

    mothers whose children have grown up and left the parental home (empty nest syndrome);

    people who find themselves having to change their plans for the future due to an unexpected disability, etc.

A number of other studies focus on the crisis experienced by the dying. A person’s sense of identity in this state is threatened by numerous losses: business connections, family, friends, bodily functions and consciousness.

Youth is a period of personality stabilization. A system of stable views on the world and one’s place in it is emerging - worldview. The central personal new formation of the period becomes self-determination, professional and personal.

Youth (Early - 15 - 17 years old. Late - 17 - 21 years old)

In adolescence, significant morphofunctional changes occur, and the processes of physical maturation of a person are completed. Life activity in youth becomes more complex: the range of social roles and interests expands, more and more adult roles appear with a corresponding degree of independence and responsibility. At this age there is a lot critical social events; obtaining a passport, the onset of liability conditions, the possibility of exercising active suffrage, the opportunity to get married. Many young people at this age begin to work; the task of choosing a profession and future life path faces everyone. In adolescence, the independence of the individual is strengthened to a greater extent. In youth, the time horizon expands - future becomes the main dimension. The basic orientation of the individual is changing, which can now be designated as a focus on the future, determining the future path of life, choosing a profession. Looking to the future, building life plans and prospects- the “affective center” of a young man’s life. Social situation of development in early adolescence - "threshold of independent life."

Transition from early to late adolescence is marked by a change in the emphasis of development: the period of preliminary self-determination ends and the transition to self-realization takes place.

In the psychological periodizations of D. B. Elkonin and A. N. Leontiev, the leading activity in youth is recognized as educational and professional activities.

According to D.I. Feldshtein, in adolescence the nature of development is determined by work and study as the main activities.

Other psychologists talk about professional self-determination as a leading activity in early youth. In high school it is formed psychological readiness for self-determination.

Formation at a high level of psychological structures: theoretical thinking, the foundations of a scientific and civil worldview, self-awareness and developed reflection;

Development of needs that provide meaningful fulfillment of the personality (moral attitudes, value orientations, etc.)

The formation of the prerequisites for individuality as a result of the development and awareness of one’s abilities and interests, and a critical attitude towards them.

Communication in youth

1) The need for informal, confidential communication with adults;

2) Friendship;

3) Establishing relationships with people of the opposite sex;

4) Love.

Intellectual development in youth

The characteristic level of cognitive development in adolescence and youth is formally - logical, formally - operational thinking. This is abstract, theoretical, hypothetico-deductive thinking, not related to specific environmental conditions, existing at the moment. By the end of adolescence, general mental abilities have already been formed, but they continue to improve throughout adolescence.

For boys and girls, the establishment of cause-and-effect relationships, systematicity, stability and criticality of thinking, and independent creative activity become characteristic.

Psychological neoplasms

1) The need for self-determination;

2) Readiness for personal and professional self-determination;

3) Life plans;

4) Sustainable self-knowledge;

5) Identity;

6) Value orientations;

7) Worldview is the internal position of a man (or woman).

Crisis of transition to adulthood (18 - 20 years old)

"Severance from parental roots."

61. Development of self-awareness in adolescence

Early youth is characterized by a focus on the future. In this period period of creation life plan - issues are being resolved " who to be?"(professional self-determination) and " what to be?"(personal and moral self-determination).

Self-determination, both professional and personal, becomes central neoplasm of early adolescence(the concept of self-determination used in Russian psychology is close to the concept of “personal identity” by E. Erikson).

This new internal position, including awareness of oneself as a member of society, acceptance of one’s place in it.

Self-determination is associated with new time perception. Now time perspective is realized.

Observed general stabilization of personality.

The moral stability of the individual develops.

Adolescence is the age of developing a worldview.

There is a change in learning motivation.

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