Cross-Cultural to Clinical Psychology:
The Identity Structure Analysis
conceptual framework
Peter Weinreich, Emeritus Professor of
Psychology, University of Ulster
Queen’s University Belfast, School of
Psychology, Visiting Speaker’s Seminar
Friday 29 February 2008
(c) Peter Weinreich, February 2008
1
What is ISA?


ISA’s substantive arena of discourse: Self and
Identity
It is an open-ended conceptual framework of
(a) psychological concepts and
(b) process postulates
that represents an integration of key theoretical
formulations from the academic disciplines of
Psychology, Sociology and Social Anthropology.
(c) Peter Weinreich, February 2008
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Key theoretical formulations

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Psychodynamic approach…identity over the lifespan through
identifications (Erikson, Marcia, Laing, Berne)
Symbolic Interactionism…identity through communication (Mead,
Cooley, Sullivan, Stryker, Weigert, Goffman, Shotter & Gergen)
Self-Concept, Social Identity and Self-Esteem…identity through
society (Rosenberg, Coopersmith, Harter, Tajfel, Turner, Hogg & Abrams)
Construal and Appraisal,…identity by way of idiosyncratic personal
constructions (G.A.Kelly, Arnold, Lazarus, Schweder)
Cognitive-affective consistency theory…identity subject to emotional
and cognitive pressures (Heider, Osgood & Tannenbaum, Rosenberg &
Abelson, Festinger, Wickland & Brehm, Aronson)
Social Anthropology and Indigenous Psychologies…identity located
in cultural context (Schweder, Pasternack, Ember & Ember, Valsiner)
The fundamental issue of ‘agency’ : Rom Harré – the agentic
self
(c) Peter Weinreich, February 2008
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Key theoretical formulations
Reference
The theoretical perspectives that underpin ISA, together with
the definitions of psychological concepts and statements of
process postulates are to be found in:
Weinreich, P. (2003) Identity structure Analysis.
In Weinreich, P., & Saunderson, W. (Eds.) Analysing Identity:
Cross-Cultural, Societal and Clinical Contexts. London:
Routledge & Psychology Press. Chapter 1.
(c) Peter Weinreich, February 2008
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Psychological concepts and process
postulates

The following slides introduce ISA concepts
and process postulates. Formal definitions
of concepts are to be found in Chapter 1
and formal statements of process postulates
are given in Chapter 1 and Coda of
Analysing Identity (Weinreich &
Saunderson, 2003)
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Identity is defined as…
“… the totality of one's self-construal, in which
how one construes oneself in the present
expresses the continuity between how one
construes oneself as one was in the past
and how one construes oneself as one
aspires to be in the future”.
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The process of appraisal…

People appraise the circumstances in which
they are involved in order to bring meaning
to the circumstance …against the greater
background of how they appraise self in
relation to their social world.
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The process of appraisal…
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During appraisals of the social world people
use constructs to construe and evaluate
other agents and events during which they
interact. They form cognitions about these
agents and experience emotional tones with
respect to them.
Such cognitions and affects may be
compatible or incompatible, as when a good
friend joyfully supports a valued objective,
or an admired person engages in a
despicable event, respectively.
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The process of appraisal…
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Compatibilities between cognitions and affects
secure and stabilise self’s evaluative connotations
of one’s constructs, whereas incompatibilities
undermine and destabilise them.
Core evaluative dimensions of identity are ones
whereby constructs are used with high cognitiveaffective compatibility.
Dimensions under stress are designated by
constructs associated with much cognitiveaffective incompatibility.
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The processes of identification…
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People identify with elements of significant
others who have influence over their
personal well-being, either for good or ill.
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The processes of identification…
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They form aspirational identifications with
others when they wish to
emulate their prized features
or
dissociate from their unpalatable aspects.
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Aspirational identification in two
aspects…
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
They form idealistic-identifications with
others when they wish to emulate their
prized features.
They form contra-identifications with others
when they wish to dissociate from their
unpalatable aspects.
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The processes of identification…
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a different mode in the here and now …
People empathetically identify with others
when they recognise in the others features
of themselves, whether good or bad.
… a person’s empathetic identification with another
modulates according to situations, contexts and mood
states
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Conflicted identifications…
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When self empathetically identifies with another person
while simultaneously contra-identifying with that person,
self’s identification with the other is conflicted.
I.e., Self is as the other in several respects, while wishing
to dissociate from some of the characteristics of the other
- “to be as the other, while not wishing to be”
… Since people’s empathetic identification with others modulate
according to situations, contexts and mood states, so will their conflicted
identifications alter accordingly
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Identity diffusion …
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People’s conflicted identifications with others
may be dispersed across several persons.
A state of high identity diffusion is manifest
when self’s conflicted identifications with
others are both substantial and dispersed
across many others.
… extent of identity diffusion may also modulate
according to situations, contexts and mood states.
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Identity Structure Analysis is
operationalised through…

…the ‘ipseus’ computer software …

… in these modes …
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Idiographic – for individual analyses
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Phase – for longitudinal analyses
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Nomothetic – for group analyses

Nomothetic-phase – for group longitudinal
analyses
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How is the ISA conceptual framework
practised?
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Psychological definitions
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Algorithms
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Computer software
Analysis and interpretation
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Customised identity instrument
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2 lists:
– Entities – people, groups, emblems,
images, events, abstractions, material
objects, etc
– Constructs – discourses about experiences
and expectations, beliefs and values,
attributes, etc
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Customised identity instrument
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E.g.,
 Entities – my best friend; my Member of
Parliament
 Construct – discourse about ‘trust’
9 point scale:
…can be trusted
…can’t be trusted
4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4
Would you place your best friend at the same
place on the scale as your Member of Parliament?
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The operationalisation of Identity
Structure Analysis
Reference
The isomorphic translations of ISA psychological concepts into
algorithms for the practical operationalisation of the
corresponding parameters of identity are given in:
Weinreich, P. (2003) Identity exploration: Theory into practice
In Weinreich, P., & Saunderson, W. (Eds.) Analysing Identity:
Clinical, Societal and Cross-Cultural Applications. London:
Routledge & Psychology Press. Chapter 2.
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STUDY: The developmental primacy of
primordialist over situationalist thinking
about ethnic/national identity
Rationale and Theory:
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Many researchers have commented on the tenacity of peoples’
sense of nationality or ethnicity, which, when felt to be challenged,
is often accompanied by violent emotions that can have deadly
consequences.
Much research demonstrates that ethnicity and ethnic identity are
not fixed, but can be redefined over time and can be newly
constructed.
However, some writers have been perplexed by the persistence of
ethnicity in the absence of obvious gain, and by the affect that is
associated with it.
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Rationale and Theory
Two stances on ethnicity and ethnic identity have been clearly
delineated (Glazer & Moynihan, 1975):
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One emphasises the issue of ethnic persistence - a seemingly
unchanging aspect of ethnicity, which persists down the generations
– the concept of primordialism (Isaacs, 1975; Connor, 1978; Smith,
1981).
The other highlights the situational features of ethnic revivalism when a dormant forgotten ethnicity is apparently manipulated for
instrumental gain – the concept of situationalism (Epstein, 1978;
Halsey, 1978; Okamura, 1981).
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Rationale and Theory
What requires explaining:

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The human propensity to think about ethnicity or
nationality in primordialist terms, when historical
evidence provides many counter examples of fluidity and
change;
The relationship between primordialism and
situationalism.
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Rationale and Theory
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The propensity towards primordialist thinking is here
explained as being the outcome of the sociodevelopmental psychology of the child’s early
identifications with kith and kin.
Young children’s early identifications with others close to
them, such as parents and kin, are assumed to be
emotionally intense and unquestioned.
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Rationale and Theory
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The child initially develops cognitions about the
individual’s ties with social and material surroundings as
being of the essence of human existence imbued with
strong affect.
Such ties are experienced as being representative of
those between kin and community within the locality the soil - and having continuity in time down the
generations, that is, they are interpreted as being
‘primordial’.
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Rationale and Theory
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If, then, ‘nationality’ is understood as referring to the
larger community in respect of such ties, then it too is
experienced as being primordial.
However, on reflection and questioning of what is initially
regarded as being the natural order of things, some
people will develop more of a situationalist perspective.
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Rationale and Theory
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Those people who begin to adopt a more situationalist
perspective develop an understanding of the historical
complexities of nationality through their reappraisal of
their initially held primordialist perspective.
Nevertheless, given the developmental primacy of
primordialist thinking - being only modulated by
subsequent questionings - people will rarely hold to
either wholly consistent situationalist beliefs or
thoroughgoing primordialist ones.
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Definitions

Primordialism is defined as a sentiment, or
affect laden set of beliefs and discourses,
about a perceived essential continuity from
group ancestry to progeny (perceived kith
and kin), located symbolically in a specific
territory or place (which may or may not be
the current place of the people concerned)
(Weinreich, 1998).
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Definitions

Situationalism is defined as a set of beliefs
or discourses about the instrumental and
socially constructed nature of the group, in
which interpretations and reinterpretations
of history provide rationales justifying the
legitimacy of a peoplehood (Weinreich,
1998).
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9 theoretical postulates
Postulate 1: Primordialists’ and situationalists’
political identifications.

In circumstances where issues of nationality are
highly salient, situationalists compared with
primordialists will identify to a lesser extent with
political groupings espousing intransigent
conceptions of nationhood - the more
intransigent the conception, the greater the
difference.
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9 theoretical postulates
Postulate 2: Diversified socio-cultural ethos,
individual cosmopolitanism and situationalism

Broadly speaking, those historical, cultural and
personal circumstances that stimulate people to
think of the complexities of nationhood acknowledging fluidity and diversity - will
generate a greater propensity towards
situationalism.
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9 theoretical postulates
Postulate 5: Situationalists’ enhanced developmental
change in identity

Given their developing questioning stance on
‘nationality’, situationalists compared with
primordialists will show greater perceived change in
the ethnic or national aspect of their identities over
time, and greater modulation in their empathetic
identifications with others who represent primordialist
or situationalist perspectives on ‘nationality’.
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9 theoretical postulates
Postulate 9: Developmental primacy of and
situationalists’ residual resonance with
primordialist sentiments

Given the developmental primacy of primordialist
thinking, situationalists will continue to residually
express and respond to primordialist sentiments
.
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Method
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Comparative cross-cultural study in Northern
Ireland (students) and Slovakia (academics)
Ethnic/national groups: ‘Catholic-Irish’,
‘Protestant-British’, Slovaks
Customised ‘identity instruments’
Analyses facilitated by the IDEX software
Subgroups: primordial v situational criteria
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Participants
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107 students of Psychology at UUJ (mean
age 23 years, range 18 to 43).
64 faculty at the Slovak Academy of
Sciences (mean age 37 years, range 24 to
64)
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Customised ‘identity instruments’
22 Entities, e.g.,
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‘me as I am now’
‘me when I was about fifteen’
parents, national groups and political parties
18 Constructs, e.g.,
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… are/is able to adapt to being of any nationality
(S) … consider/s nationality is given forever (P)
… think/s that national identity can be a matter of
choice (S) … know/s that national identity resides in
the very soil and essence of the land (P)
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Evidence:
1. Meaningful and practically useful definitions of primordialism
and situationalism:
Differentiation of identification with ‘nationalist’ political parties
(Postulate 1)
2. Primacy of primordialism; but with developmental progression
in some people to situationalism from ‘15-year-old self’ to ‘adult
self’ (Postulate 5)
3. Cultural, socio-historical and biographical contexts – the
cultural ethos of ‘Ireland’ compared with that of ‘Britain’:
Frequencies of primordialists and situationalists (Postulate 2)
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Meaningful and practically useful
definitions of primordialism and
situationalism
Evidence

Differentiation of identification with
‘nationalist’ political parties.
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Catholic Irish students’ identifications with,
and evaluation of, the four political parties
Ideal-identfn
Contra-identfn
Evaluation of
PRIM
PRIM SIT
PRIM SIT
SIT
Sinn Fein
0.58
0.33 **** 0.37
0.62****
0.26
SDLP
0.61
0.51
0.23
0.38**
0.31
DUP
0.38
0.26**
0.53
0.67***
-0.13
-0.48****
OUP
0.35
0.27
0.49
0.65***
-0.14
-0.38**
**** p < 0.0001
*** p < 0.001
** p < 0.01
-0.40****
0.07*
* p <= 0.05
(c) Peter Weinreich, February 2008
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Protestant British students’ identifications with,
and evaluation of, the four political parties
Ideal-identfn
Contra-identfn Evaluation of
PRIM
PRIM SIT
SIT
PRIM SIT
Sinn Fein
0.37
0.22**
0.59
0.69
SDLP
0.48
0.31*
0.29
0.49**
0.19 -0.17**
DUP
0.46
0.29*
0.34
0.59**
0.20 -0.32****
OUP
0.42
0.29*
0.35
0.56*
0.14 -0.23**
**** p < 0.0001
*** p < 0.001
** p < 0.01
-0.18 -0.55***
* p <= 0.05
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Primacy of primordialism; developmental
progression in some people of
situationalism:
Evidence

‘15-year-old self’ to ‘adult self’
(Ulster students mean age 23 yrs;
Slovak academics mean age 37yrs)
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Catholic Irish Students (Ulster)
Primordialists
Situationalists
Past
Current % diff Past
Current
%
diff
Self-evaluation*
0.428
0.640
+14.8 0.359
0.608
+18.3
Identity diffusn
0.334
0.334
0.0 0.392
0.334
-17.4
*% difference for self-evaluation takes into account the
scale range for evaluation, being –1.00 to +1.00
(c) Peter Weinreich, February 2008
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Protestant British Students (Ulster)
Primordialists
Situationalists
Past
Past
Current % diff
Current
% diff
Self-evaluation*
0.321
0.516
+14.8 0.375
0.645
+19.6
Identity diffusn
0.360
0.360
0.0 0.374
0.328
-12.3
*% difference for self-evaluation takes into account the
scale range for evaluation, being –1.00 to +1.00
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Slovak Academics (mean age 37 yrs)
Primordialists
Situationalists
Past
Current % diff
Past
Current % diff
Self-evaluation*
0.594
0.788
+12.2
0.288
0.735
+34.7
Identity diffusn
0.291
0.261
-10.0
0.406
0.310
-31.0
*% difference for self-evaluation takes into account the
scale range for evaluation, being –1.00 to +1.00
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Cultural, socio-historical and
biographical contexts
Evidence

Cultural ethos of ‘Ireland’ compared with
‘Britain’
(c) Peter Weinreich, February 2008
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Students’ identifications with, and evaluation of,
the national groups
Catholic Irish students
Ideal-identfn
Contra-identfn
Evaluation of
PRIM SIT
PRIM SIT
PRIM SIT
Irish People
0.79
0.56****
0.18
0.40****
0.60
British people
0.49
0.39*
0.44
0.49
0.05
-0.07
0.14****
Protestant British students
Irish People
0.58
0.44*
0.37
0.46
0.18
-0.04*
British people
0.60
0.46
0.31
0.42
0.24
0.03
(c) Peter Weinreich, February 2008
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Cultural, socio-historical and
biographical contexts
Evidence

Frequencies of primordialists and
situationalists.
(c) Peter Weinreich, February 2008
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Ulster
students
Primordialist
Catholic Irish
29 (54.7%) 21 (39.6%) 3 (5.7%)
53
(100%)
Protestant
British
12 (36.4%) 21 (63.6%) 0
33
(100%)
Mixed
allegiances
Situationalist Unclass
5 (23.8%)
16 (76.2%)
0
21
(100%)
46 (43.0%)
58 (54.2%)
3 (2.8%)
107
(100%)
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Conclusions


The analytic power of the concepts of
‘primordialism’ and ‘situationalism’ is clearly
established.
The evidence supports the explanation of
highly emotional grounding of primordial
sentiments about ethnicity/nationality in the
developmental processes of early
identification with kith and kin, a community
perceived to stretch over generations – i.e.,
the primacy of primordial thinking about
ethnicity/ nationality.
(c) Peter Weinreich, February 2008
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Conclusions

Some individuals will develop in time situationalist
orientations to ethnicity/nationality as a result of
‘cosmopolitan’ experiences arising from mixed
allegiances, a cultural ethos of enquiry into diversity,
and a personal curiosity about the origins of people
and nations. Obtrusion of primordial sentiments
remains evident even in ideologically committed
situationalists
For further details, see Weinreich, Bacova & Rougier,
(2003) in Analysing Identity: Cross-Cultural, Societal
and Clinical Contexts. Chapter 3
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STUDY: Identity, Depression & Anxiety
(Alison McKenna)

Joiner, Coyne, & Blalock, 1999:3
By ignoring “the intricacies of depressed
persons’ involvement with other people” one
may “attribute to depressed persons
characteristics they do not possess” and
“leave significant aspects of their experience
unexplained.”
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Depression & Anxiety


Prolonged, unresolved periods of anxiety
often precede depressive episodes (Wolpe,
1971; Bittner et al, 2004).
Sloman, Farvolden, Gilbert, & Price, 2006:98
“…[they] have complex and important coregulating influences on each other that
may explain [their] high comorbidity…”
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Postulates Examined


Participants’ biographical experiences within
their social milieu are likely to be reflected by
ISA through their modulation of identity indices
with significant others.
The psychological processes underlying
comorbidity of depression and anxiety will be
elucidated through examination of participants’
identifications with others across depressed
and anxious selves.
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Case study “Amit”: diagnostic results


Anxiety was associated with his high identity
diffusion that accompanied his engagement
with the social world that entailed
problematic conflicted identifications with
others.
Depression accompanied his social
withdrawal, that is, diminution of his
empathetic identification with others, which
diminished his identity diffusion through
resolution of his conflicted identifications
with others.
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“Amit”: diagnostics of anxietydepression co-morbidity

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
Being depressed is to realise that self in unable to
effectively pursue one’s aspirations that require
engagement with the social world.
However, re-engagement with the social world is to
reinstate problematic conflicted identifications, that is,
high identity diffusion accompanied by greater anxiety.
A vicious cycle ensues whereby social withdrawal that
relieves anxiety results in depression, and efforts to come
out of depression require social re-engagement that
generates anxiety: … depression is traded off against
anxiety, and vice versa …
(c) Peter Weinreich, February 2008
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“Amit”: further diagnostics and
etiological factors

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He had endured numerous prejudicial attacks.
Nevertheless, he held strong aspirations towards positive
social relationships (SP=99.69).
Depression likened to loss – related to loss of relationships
he aspired to implement due to prejudicial encounters.
He idealized his “well” self states (too full of himself), thus
inducing the retaliations of others and amplifying their
prejudicial appraisals of him.
(c) Peter Weinreich, February 2008
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Conclusions

In this study, comorbidity of anxiety and
depression is established as being an interdependent viscous cycle, whereby efforts to
reduce anxiety associated with high identity
diffusion by disengaging with the social
world results in depression, and efforts to
climb out of depression by re-engaging with
the social world results in greater identity
diffusion and accompanying anxiety.
(c) Peter Weinreich, February 2008
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Conclusions

ISA used for clinical studies is able to elucidate
both diagnostic and etiological aspects of
psychological distress
For further details see McKenna in Weinreich, P.,
& Mulholland, C (Eds.) (in preparation),
Psychological Distress and Identity Processes.
London: Routledge & Psychology Press.
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Resources

See:
www.analysingidentity.org
and
www.sycadex.com
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