James E. Marcia is a Canadian developmental psychologist, and Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. Image:rik.jpg|thumb|caption Marcia studied psychological development with specific attention focused on adolescent psychosocial development. Erikson had suggested that the normative conflict occurring in adolescence is the opposition between identity and confusion (identity crisis). Marcia elaborated on Erikson’s proposal[1] by suggesting this stage consists neither of identity resolution nor identity confusion as Erikson claimed, but the extent to which one both has explored and committed to an identity in a variety of life domains including politics, occupation, religion, intimate relationships, friendships, and gender roles. His Theory of identity achievement states that there are two distinct parts that form adolescent identity: a time of choosing or crisis and a commitment. He defined a crisis as a time of upheaval where old values or choices are being reexamined. The outcome of a decision making process leads to a commitment to a certain value or role.
Marcia developed the Identity Status Interview, a method of semi-structured interview for identity research, and subsequently proposed four stages, or Identity Statuses, of psychological identity development:
- Identity Diffusion, is the status of individuals who have not yet experienced a crisis or made any commitments. Not only are they undecided about occupational and ideological choices, they are also likely to show little interest in such matters.
- Identity Foreclosure, is the status of individuals who have made a commitment but not experienced a crisis. This occurs most often when parents hand down commitments to their adolescents, usually in an authoritarian way, before adolescents have had a chance to explore different approaches, ideologies, and vocations on their own.
- Identity Moratorium, is the status of individuals who are in the midst of a crisis but whose commitments are either absent or are only vaguely defined.
- Identity Achievement, is the status of individuals who have undergone a crisis and made a commitment.
While Marcia primarily focused on the adolescent years, his theory is applicable in adulthood. One study, exploring correlations between the identity statuses of Marica's model and social behaviors, focused on young adults ranging in age from 19 to 35.[2]
People's identity status is not specifically limited to an age group. Individuals may explore elements tied to their identity through out life, such as faith, ideology, and occupational preference to name a few.[3]
References
Life-Span Development Twelfth Edition, John W. Santrock, University of Texas at Dallas, Published by Mcgraw-Hill, Copyright 2009
- ^ Marcia, J. E., (1966), Development and validation of ego identity status, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 3, pp. 551-558
- ^ Hardy, S. A., & Kisling, J. W. (2006). Identity statuses and prosocial behaviors in young adulthood: A brief report. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 6(4), 363-369.
- ^ Identity Development - Aspects of Identity, Child Development Reference - Vol 4.
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Dengting Boyanton
Wed, 21 May 2008 01:19:00 GM
these people include arthur chickering, jean piaget, erik erikson, and . james marcia. . erik erikson's psychosocial development theory had a great influence on my study. moreover, . james marcia's. identity statuses concurs with erik ...
