"Know yourself and you will know the world." That's what the philosophers said. Throughout life, people ask themselves questions: “Who am I really?”, “Who will I become, overcoming the difficulties of life?”, “How do others see me?” In the 20th century, people began to pay more attention to their own soul, awareness of their personality, so the direction of the self-concept, or ego-identity, appeared in psychology. This definition is not widely known.
As psychologists understand it
Ego-identity is a subjective feeling when a person is aware of himself internally and externally. Rather, it is an understanding of the integrity of one's nature in the process of growth or decline in different areas of life.
In simple words, ego-identity is a person's combination of social roles based on the image of his personality and interaction with society. That is, whoever a person is at the moment, for example, at work he is a doctor, at home he is a husband and father, this is still the same person.
At the same time, ego-identity is the protection of the individual from environmental influences. If a person has a whole nature, then he is notfalls under the influence of others, as he is aware of his individuality.
Ego-identity is the development of a person throughout life. As a rule, it ends only at the moment of his death.
Psychoanalysis and ego-identity
This concept was first used by the German psychologist Erik Erickson. His works are devoted to the theory of personal identity. Erickson's views differed from Freud's theories, but they were a schematic continuation of the main concepts of the psychoanalyst. If Sigmund Freud believed that the Ego resolves the conflict between instincts and morality, then Erikson in his works shows that ego-identity is an independent system, so to speak, a mechanism that interacts with reality through thinking and memory.
Erickson paid great attention not only to the problems of childhood, but also to human life, the historical features in which the individual developed in the social sphere.
Also, the difference between the views of Freud and Erickson is that the first was limited only to the influence of parents on the formation of the child's personality. Erickson took into account cultural characteristics, the conditions in which personality development occurs.
Don't confuse psychoanalysis and personal identity. Ego-identity is, without psychoanalysis as such, awareness of one's essence, that is, these are two completely different directions. This is the key difference between the theories of Erickson and Freud.
Development stages
Erickson identified 8 stages of ego-identity development through which every person goes. They come incertain time. When moving to a new stage, a person experiences a crisis, which means that he has reached psychological maturity at his age. The crisis is resolved positively or negatively. With a positive resolution of the conflict, the ego acquires new skills, and then the personality is he althy. To positively overcome the crisis, close people should help a person move to a new stage.
| Stage | Age | Psychological crisis | The Developing Side of Personality |
| Infancy | Birth to 1 year | Trust is distrust | Hope |
| Early childhood | 1-3 years | Independence - shame and doubt | Willpower |
| Age of the Game | 3-6 years old | Initiative is guilt | Target |
| School age | 6-12 years old | Hard work is inferiority | Competence |
| Youth | 12-19 years old | Ego-identity - role confusion | Loy alty |
| Early maturity | 20-25 years old | Intimacy is isolation | Love |
| Medium maturity | 26-64 years old | Productivity stagnant | Care |
| Late maturity | 65 years - death | Identity Awareness - despair | Wisdom |
The first stage is infancy
This is the first period in a person's life. The child develops a sense of trust and securityfrom the people around. Trust arises not because of the care with which parents treat him, but from the constancy of actions, recognition of the mother's face. When parents play with the baby, devote time to him, treat him tenderly, then the child in return trusts other people. With this development, the baby calmly endures the absence of the mother and does not fall into tantrums.
Distrust arises from inattention on the part of parents, if he does not see the love of others. When a mother stops giving her baby a lot of time, returns to interrupted activities, the child experiences anxiety.
Sometimes the resolution of the first crisis does not occur in the first years of a child's life, but a little later. The problem of trust and distrust will manifest itself at other stages of development, but it is the main one during infancy.
Second stage - early childhood
From 1 year to 3 years, the child develops independence of action. Children begin to independently explore the world around them, get to know their peers, try objects “by the tooth”, try to show independence. The child comes to understand that parental control can be encouraging and punishing.
If parents do something instead of a child: they remove toys or feed from a spoon, then he has a feeling of shame. Shame also appears with high parental expectations of what the child cannot do yet, for example, run fast, swim in the pool, etc. The child becomes insecure and afraid of the judgment of others.
Erickson believes that feelingindependence strengthens the child's trust in others. With distrust, children will be afraid to make decisions, they will become timid. In adulthood, they seek support in the face of a partner or friend, possibly developing persecution mania.
The third stage is the age of the game
At this age, the child is more often left to himself, and he invents games, composes fairy tales and asks questions to parents. This is how initiative develops. At this age, children understand that adults reckon with their opinion, they do not do meaningless actions.
When parents encourage a child for his actions, support, then the child makes plans for the future, who he will become, how he will live.
In parallel with the initiative in the child develops a sense of guilt that he is doing wrong. With strict parents who forbid children to do independent things, the feeling of guilt prevails over the enterprise of the child. He will feel worthless and alone. These feelings will continue to manifest in adulthood.
Fourth stage - school age
The child goes to school and acquires the basic skills of the culture of society. From 6 to 12 years old, the child is inquisitive and seeks to learn new things about the world around him. At this age, industriousness is manifested and developed in children not only for the sciences, but also for the household: cleaning the house, washing dishes, etc.
Along with hard work comes a sense of inferiority. When a child sees that knowledge is not important in his country,he doubts his abilities or understands that training does not guarantee safety. As a result, the student does not want to study, academic performance decreases, due to which the feeling of inferiority is more manifested, which he will carry into adulthood.
Fifth stage - youth
This is the most important period, since the child has passed from childhood, but has not yet become an adult.
A teenager gets acquainted with other, unfamiliar social roles and learns to combine them in himself: a student, a son or daughter, a musician, an athlete, etc. He learns to pass roles through himself and create a single personality. This process is influenced by society and peers.
Teenagers think about how they look in the eyes of other people. It is during this period that ego-identity emerges. The fulfillment of a social role is compared with past life experiences.
To be sure of their ego-identity, a teenager compares his inner integrity and the assessment of others about himself.
Sixth stage - early maturity
In early maturity or youth, a person gets a profession and starts a family. In terms of intimate relationships, Erickson agrees with Freud. Between the ages of 19 and 30, young people are ready for intimate life both socially and sexually. Until that time, a person was engaged in the search for personal identity. Now he is fully prepared to create long-term interpersonal relationships, and there is also a danger of shielding himself from close relationships.
For Erickson, the definition of "intimacy" meansnot only sexual life, but also the feeling of complete trust that a person has for loved ones. In his work, the psychologist talks about sexual intimacy, the ability to find out the true essence of a partner. This is important to do in early adulthood because teenage love is often a test of one's own identity with the help of another person.
Merge your identity with that of another person without the fear of losing something in yourself, this is an important condition for achieving complete integrity.
The opposite of intimacy is loneliness or isolation. Then a person creates only formal relationships with other people. He limits his social circle to a minimum, becoming a misanthrope. Such people do not share their own identity with others, which is why they do not enter into long-term relationships.
It takes love to get out of isolation. This romantic and erotic feeling will form a long-term and lasting relationship.
Seventh stage - medium maturity
A long stage in a person's life. Then he has a choice: productivity or inertia.
There is a feeling of concern for things that interest a person. Duty and a desire to improve the world are traits of he althy maturity.
If a person does not become productive, then he devotes more time to himself. Satisfaction of one's own desires, laziness ultimately lead to the loss of the meaning of life and hopelessness.
Eighth stage - late maturity
This is the last stage in a person's life. Time to reflect on the life lived.
A person looks back and answers the question: “Am I satisfied with the way I lived my life?” When he answers in the affirmative, then comes full maturity and wisdom. In this state, a person is not afraid of death, he takes it calmly.
Wisdom is the opposite of despair and fear of death. There comes an understanding that there is no time left to change life. Elderly people become irritable and grouchy. Erickson suggests that such regrets lead to senility, depression and paranoia.
