Self and Identity
Dr Vicky Gunn
Learning and Teaching Centre
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What is the ‘self’?
How is it formed, does it emerge?
What is ‘identity’?
How is it formed?
How does the self inform identity?
How does identity influence the ‘self’?
Historical context
James (1890)
Subjective ‘I’ & objective ‘me’
Freud (1930s)
Jung (1930s,40s)
Ego, Id, Super-ego
self and shadow
(psycho-sexual dev.)
Melanie Kline (1940s, 50s)
Fragmented self, reintegrated
Erikson (Late 1950s-70s)
Self & identity in the life-cycle
(psycho-social dev)
• What are the key points?
• What are the key criticisms?
• Once you have read the piece – discuss key
points in your groups – and then summarize
to whole class.
Erikson’s Life Cycle as a context
Stage
Age
Conflict
Signif. event
Oral sensory
Birth to12-18
months
Trust vs
mistrust
Feeding
Muscular-anal
18 mths-3 yrs
Autonomy vs
Shame, doubt
Toilet training
Locomotor
3-6 yrs
Initiative vs
guilt
Independence
Latency
6-12 yrs
Industry vs
inferiority
School
Adolescence
12-19 yrs
Identity vs role
confusion
Peer
relationships
Young adult
19 – 40 yrs
Intimacy vs
isolation
Love
relationships
Self and the young child
• Stipek, Gralinski & Kopp (1990) moved
studies of the self-concept in toddlers from
a uni-dimensional approach (research into
subjective ‘I’ or objective ‘me’ separately)
to a multi-dimensional, sequential one.
Research suggests following sequence
Perceptual self-recognition (15 months)
Cognitive self-representation (18 months)
Linguistic self-description (23-24 months)
Motivational self-assertion (2946 months)
Emotional self-evaluation
(30 months)
Social
self-regulation
15 months
2 years
2 ½ years
3 years
Self, identity, and the adolescent
Development of gender identity:
beware of confusing ‘role’ with ‘identity’, they
may well be interrelated and interdependent
but they aren’t the same thing;
beware of using sex and sexuality as
synonymous with gender;
beware of assuming that transexuality is the
same as transgendered identity.
http://www.film.queensu.ca/Critical/Ph
otos/SomeHot.JPG
http://salmon.psy.plym.ac.uk/year1/inttopic/development_nature.gif
J. Money & A. Ehrhardt (1972) Man and
woman, boy and girl. Baltimore.
• Sex – refers to physical attributes and is
anatomically and physiologically
predetermined;
• Gender – psychological transformation of the
self, the internal conviction that one is either
male or female (gender identity) and the
behavioural expressions of that conviction.
“gender identity can be defined
as the sameness, unity, and
persistence of one’s
individuality as male, female,
or ambivalent…..
Gender identity is the private
experience of gender role, and
gender role is the public
experience of gender identity.”
Money & Ehrhardt (1972), p.4
• What does such
a definition
mean for the
work of
psychologists?
• Are sex and
gender truly
separable?
Gender identity development: basics (1)
1. Gender awareness is an important part of
the psychosocial development of a child;
2. Development typically involves congruence
between gender identity (inner sense) and
gender role (outward expressions);
Gender identity development: basics (2)
gendered play develops
gender stereotypes harden
gender constancy begins to dev.
Infant recognises
male/female faces
Birth 9 months
1yr
2yrs
3yrs
4yrs
Adult
Approaches to development of gender
• Freudian psychodynamics
Fast, I. (1993) Aspects of early gender development: A psychodynamic approach. In The
Psychology of Gender, ed. A.E.Beall & R.J. Sternberg. New York, 173-193.
• Social learning
Jacklin, C.N. & C. Reynolds (1993) Gender and childhood socialization. In The
Psychology of Gender (as above), 197-214
• Cognitive development
Kessler, S.J. & W. McKenna (1978) Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach. New
York.
• Systems approach
Fausto-Sterling, A. (2000) Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of
Sexuality. New York
Freudian perspective
• Child becomes aware of own
genitals, this awareness
leads to erotic fantasies;
• This in turn leads to
identification with a suitable
adult and the development
of appropriate gender role.
Is this a bit one-sided?
Social learning
• Main assumption – adult awareness of the
child’s genitals leads to differential
reinforcement;
• This leads adults to offer gender appropriate
models which the child then internalizes.
Does a child have any
‘agency’ in the process of gender
identity construction?
Cognitive development
• Basic assumption: same as social learning in
terms of adult perception of child’s genitals as
critical.
• Person other than the child labels child’s
gender and gives them a gender identity.
• This is followed by child acquiring appropriate
gender role.
Systems approach
• Gender is represented within both social
institutions and within individuals.
• Gender identity is effectively constructed
within a self-perpetuating feed-back loop from
institution to individual.
How do social context and daily
practice of both adults and
children generate meaning?
• What do you think might be the
implications of these different assumptions
to gender identity for psychologists?
(do we need to redefine notion of
psychopathology with respect to ‘gender
identity disorder’? For example)