Have you developed your
identity?
• Take the survey and find out where you
are on the quest to develop your identity,
the sense of who you are and what you
stand for.
How to interpret your results:
• Psychologist James Marcia
subdivided identity into four
“States”:
• Foreclosure
• Moratorium
• Diffusion
• Achievement
(He’s focusing on Erikson’s 5th
stage from the previous
slide)
Background
• Knowing one’s self and attaining a mature
identity is the task of people in their teens.
• Identity development leads to being able to
make healthy choices, commitment to an
occupation, develop beliefs about religion and
create a personal value system.
• Where are you on this important endeavor?
1. Identity Foreclosure
• Description (put on pink sheet)
• You blindly accept the identity and values that
were given to you in childhood by your family
and significant others
• You are committed to an identity but not as a
result of your searching or crisis.
• Your identity is foreclosed until you determine for
yourself your true identity
Calculating your Foreclosure
Score
• Add your responses to the following:
3, 17, 21, 24, 27, 28, 37, 38
39, 41, 44, 50, 58, 62, 63, 64
WRITE FORECLOSURE SCORE ON GRAY
SHEET
Analysis: Scores can range from 16 to 80
The higher your score is above 48, the more
likely you are becoming what others intended
2. Identity Moratorium
• You have acquired vague or ill-formed
ideological and occupational commitments
• You are still undergoing the identity search
(crisis)
• You are beginning to commit to an identity
but are still developing it
Moratorium Score
•
•
•
•
•
•
Add responses to
5, 9, 11, 12, 14, 26, 31, 32,
34, 36, 43, 47, 48, 54, 57, 61
WRITE TOTAL ON GRAY HAND OUT
Analysis. Scores range from 16 to 80
The higher your score, above 48, the
more you are in crisis, unable to make a
commitment to a set of your values.
3. Identity Diffusion
• You have no clear idea of your identity and
are making no attempt to find that identity.
• You have no commitment to forming an
identity.
• You are doing no searching to develop an
identity.
Diffusion Score
• Add your responses to
• 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 16, 19, 23,
• 25, 29, 30, 52, 53, 56, 59
• Analysis. Scores range from 16 to 80.
• The higher your score above 48 the more likely
you are not committed to figuring out your
identity or you’ve experienced no crises
necessary to figuring out your identity
Achievement Score
• Add your responses to
• 8, 13, 15, 18, 20, 22, 33, 35
• 40, 42, 45, 46, 49, 51, 55, 60
• Analysis. Scores range from 16 to 80.
• The higher you are above 48, the more
likely you have developed your identity;
you have a strong sense of who you are.
4. Identity Achievement
• You have developed well-defined personal
values and self-concepts.
• You are committed to an ideology, a set of
beliefs about life.
• You have a strong sense of ego identity, of
who you and what you stand for…
Applying the concepts
• There are hundreds of songs about
identity; just people trying to figure out who
they are. Some of them are popular.
• We’ll use four.
• Listen to the song. Read the lyrics.
• At the end write down what identity state
the songwriter is in.