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What Is Ethnic Identity In Psychology

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Identity is a fundamental part of all humans. Whether one’s identity consumes their personality or lies in the shadow of their persona, all humans share this personality trait. Identity is defined as the distinctive characteristic belonging to any given individual or shared by all members of a particular social category or group. In cognitive psychology, the techicange definition of the term "identity" refers to the capacity for self-reflection and the awareness of self.(Leary & Tangney 2003, p. 3)The Weinreich definition directs attention to the totality of one 's identity at a given phase in time, with its given components such as one 's gender identity, ethnic identity, occupational identity as well as many more.. The definition is …show more content…

Moreover, in an article published by the Journal of Research on Adolescence in 2006, the relationship between ethnic identity and psychology is discussed. The journal reached the effect of racial discrimination on the psychological functioning of African Americans. Part of their findings explored how exposure to the world outside of their “immediate familial environment, many encounter societal institutions that often covertly and overtly discriminate against them because of phenotypical characteristics such as race”. The risk for experiencing racial discrimination is especially acute for African American adolescents compared with adolescents of another race or ethnicity (Fisher, Wallace, & Fenton, 2000; Romero & Roberts, 1998). The formation of racial identity is also formed in a similar way to Erik Erikson 's model. Furthermore, the system of formation is broken down into a simple three step process by Jean Phinney. Phinney’s theory focuses on the circumstances that multicultural children are faced with and how they cope or adapt to fit into their community. The identify that children develop is either through self examination or absorption of feelings of another through the process of socialization, Phinney describes. Children are required to digest both their positive and negative messages about their ethnicity and make which makes socialization such crucial experience for ethnic identity development. The first step of the progression is the unexamined ethnic identity. This stage looks at race and ethnicity for face value, physical differences and external opinions mostly from the early opinions on one’s ethnic self-identity. Secondly is the ethnic identity search.This stage is where the adolescent inquires about the accepted views of the ethnicity and attempts to gain an abstract view of the ethnicities values and doings. The last stage is the Ethnic Identity Achievement. This stage is experienced for the sole purpose of clarifying one’s ethnic identity.

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As such, it should be noted that the author acknowledges that the discussion of racism is a complicated matter. In this context, the challenge originates from the definition of the identities that an individual may have and the point of intersection of each of these. Later sections of the book depict the development of the African-American race as well as European-Americans. It should be noted that Whites are from Europe while their Black counterparts have been in the United States because of slavery. The author seeks to respond to the question regarding the black kids that she states are all sitting together in the cafeteria.

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Not being able to know one’s identity during adolescence can lead to do drugs, commit theft, fail school, and be blind on what to do with their life. This is what James McBride had to go through during his adolescence. Growing up in a black community with a white mother can be very confusing and stressful. He employs rhetorical devices throughout his text in order to develop his epiphany regarding his mother’s life and by, extension, his own. Through the use of appeals and tone James McBride reveals the importance of education and religion, but above all else McBride mostly focuses on finding his identity, trying to understand race as he was growing up, and shows how his mother played an important role in his life

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The case study I have chosen to describe is Sarah, the 24 year old White female who has sought out treatment of anxiety and depression. In the Helms White racial identity development model I have to chosen to apply the Autonomy status of being. Sarah appears to be accepting of her own identity of being white and a lesbian. Sarah and her partner are not hiding their relationship and have “come out” to both of their families and at work. Even though Sarah appears to have successfully graduated college, has a career, and involved in a long term relationship, she has most likely some discrimination and stereotypes herself, given her sexual orientation.

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She tried to give answer to a question i.e. “Why are the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?” She answered that in late youth and early maturity; young Blacks identify the personal influence of racism and improve an identity which competes against anything White. This social identity is to protect the young Blacks from the psychological assaults of racism and to keep the White away. The author explains the procedure by which young Black children become aware of race and the risks connected with the rising in a racial society of Black children adopting negative stereotypes. This stage develops racial identity Blacks which they maintain it forever.

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The Racial/Cultural Identity Development Model by Sue & Sue (2012), is an active example to understand clients’ attitudes and behaviors toward themselves and their culture as well as the culture of others. According to West-Olatunji, Frazier, Guy, Smith, Clay & Breaux (2007), “This model poses the following questions (Sue & Sue, 2003): (a) With whom do you identify and why? (b) What culturally diverse attitudes and beliefs do you accept or reject and why? (c) What dominant cultural attitudes and beliefs do you accept or reject and why? and (d) How do your current attitudes and beliefs affect your interaction with other culturally diverse clients and people of the dominant culture?

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Identity is the unique characteristics, beliefs, and personality traits of an individual that distinguish them from others. Some aspects of identity are chosen, such as clothing or where you live, while others are out of your control, such as skin color or country of origin. Every identity has a multitude of different facets that all come together to form a single person. In psychology, there are two main types of personality tests: typology tests and trait tests. Typology tests have been proven time and time again to be inaccurate in comparison to trait tests because they categorize peoples’ personalities into simple dichotomous splits, meaning you either are or you aren’t something, no in between.

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The model I chose to apply to myself is the Hardiman White Racial Identity. The five stages of development are: 1. Naiveté or lack of social consciousness, 2. Acceptance, 3. Resistance, 4.

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In academic article “Who Am I” by Beverly Daniel Tatum; she talks about the complexity of identity, which defined as a person. She describes the multiple identities of different kinds of people and their significance in the community. She illustrate the how person past, historical event, family background, experiences, and thought of person has impact on the personal identification. The concept of past, present, and future, those characterize the person identity. She explains how gander of person is the part of identity, which build identity.

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The definition of someone’s identity is the distinct personality of an individual. There are a lot of factors that determines someone’s identity. Things such as your race, role in society, and your faith. Throughout our lives, we seek out people who we can identify with. We reach out to others and learn from interests they have and we evaluate their responses to us.

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Identity is something people tend to think of as consistent, however that is far from the case. The Oxford English dictionary states that the definition of identity is “ The characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is.” The allegorical novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding tackles the issue of identity while following young boys from the ages twelve and down as they struggle with remembering their identities when trapped on a deserted island. Identity is affected by the influence of society and how individuals influence society based on their identities. By looking at Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the Stanford Prison Experiment, and Sigmund Freud 's philosophical ideas, it becomes clear that identity is affected by society through peer pressure and social normalities.

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(2015) , finding one’s ethnic identity is key to the well-being and psychological adjustment of the child. Moreover, learning foreign customs places strain on a child’s development. This is supported by Patel (2007), who suggests that having a biracial identity can lead to both inner conflict and conflict within society, especially when adoptees feel racially categorized by others. Thus, does transracial adoption impact the child’s ethnic identity?

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What is Identity? Identity is like a fingerprint; it clearly determines who people are. Identity is something that people are not born with, it is an act people do that classifies their identity. People need to act upon their own choices to determine their own identity rather than being influenced by the choices of others. So, people must follow their own path in order to keep their own unique identity.

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Firstly, Huh and Reid (2000) argue that talking about adoption and having racial discussions at home is beneficial for the adoptee. Their argument is supported by Liow (1994) who contends that children’s knowledge of their racial and cultural roots is important in forming their personal identities and such knowledge should be conveyed in a manner that coincides with the children’s understanding ability. Secondly, parents should teach their child how to cope with racial discrimination. Studies have shown that the inability to cope with discrimination will result in the child being unable to deal with racism in a way that protects their self-esteem and positive racial identity (Butler-Sweet, 2011). There are also other protective factors like children’s involvement in cultural activities, parents having friends or colleagues who are of the child’s race, being in racially integrated schools and living in a multi-cultural neighbourhood (Huh & Reid, 2000; Liow, 1994; Robinson,

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Paul- Michel Foucault was a French philosopher also known as a historian of systems of thoughts whose influence extended across a broad array of disciplines especially in the humanities and social sciences and a social critic. He created his own title when he was promoted to professorship at one of the most prestigious colleges in France “College de France” in 1970. He is perhaps best known for his ruminations on power, self identity, epistemology, and the evolution of systems of thought and meaning. He is often described as post-structuralist or post modernist, however Foucault himself rejected such titles, preferring to analyse their significance rather than identifying with them.

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It is for this reason that Pinney, suggested that, identity build up is the most fundamental objective of a person 's adolescence, and "those who fail to achieve a secure identity are faced with identity confusion, a lack of clarity about who they are and what their role is in life” (Pinney, 1993). This brings out the fact that identity builds up and understanding is an inevitable and unexplainable. An understanding of identity an important aspect of crosses cultural communication, because it will help provide a guideline for communication interaction with others who have different cultural identity (Samorava , Porter, & McDaniel, 2009, p.

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