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content Introduction page 3 Chapter I – General framework of the problem 1.1 Definition of the concepts used in the research page 7 1.2 Analysis of the age period page 24 1.3 Theories on identity page 31 1.4 Psychosocial factors that intervene in the formation of identity page 45 Chapter II – Objectives, hypotheses and research methods 2.1 Objectives page 43
Assumptions page 44 2.3 Research methodology page 45
Chapter III – Data analysis, processing and interpretation 3.1 Data processing in relation to the physical self page 52 3.2 Data processing in relation to the emotional self page 56 3.3 Data processing in relation to the school self page 60 3.4 Data processing in relation to the social self page 64 3.5 Data processing in relation to prospective self page 68 3.6 The results of the global value of self-esteem page 72 3.7 Conclusions on assumptions page 77 General conclusions page 78 Bibliography page 81
internal conflicts and clashes, of positive but also negative character traits, of high, social but also petty, selfish goals, from the interaction of which man builds himself, by "the collision of opposites, by counteracting opposing tendencies, by progressively overcoming some negative tendencies or traits that settle temporarily or permanently in his personality." (M. Zlate - "Man face to face with the world" page 68) The human personality is essentially at any moment involved in a very wide network of social relations. Man is never alone, he is with himself. Relations with others, reporting to others, to objectivity is permanent. In this way, the "social self" reflects the interpenetration between self and society creating the intimate and complex dialectic of identifying the "concrete man" with his ideals, aspirations and values that are expressed and exist in society and in their offerings. It is considered that the problem of continuous effort to identify with certain values of life (material, spiritual, cultural and social ideological) and search for one's own identity is one of the basic problems of modern psychology. Given the fact that human existence is indisputably linked to social life, the most concrete expression of human personality is its way of manifestation and relationship with its peers, because as Mihai Golu also tells us: "Personality exists, is formed and manifests itself through relationships ."(M. Golu - "Personality dynamics" page 22) Identity was, directly or indirectly, the research object of several psychologists, concerned with the evolution of the human personality, with the causal understanding of its manifestations, with the improvement of its behavior aimed at placing man on a new stage of evolution. Among these concerns, the psychological orientation entitled,
"Humanist Psychology" can be distinguished, at the center of which is man and his existential aspects, with an emphasis on his potential for becoming, on the exploration and development of human qualities. The leading representatives of humanistic psychology: A. Maslow and Carl Rogers reveal the unique character of the human being capable of lucidly directing his own trajectory through life and above all, "to become what he is capable of being". (Maslow in M. Zlate - "Man face to face with the world" page 65). Concerned with the progress of the human being and his capacity for continuous improvement, Romanian psychologists also contributed to the development of a human model. All the works that addressed the problem of human knowledge touch more or less the problem of identity, of self-awareness necessary to identify one's place in the world, of finding optimal solutions to the inherent problems of life, of approaching the essence of phenomena. By moving away from the essence of phenomena, man deepens in his anguish, entering a vicious, often irrational circle, moving away from the condition of master of his own life. Given the social nature of the individual, his identity can only be appreciated on a social level, validating himself in relation to others, his path starting from the biological sphere, passing through the psychic, affective, intellectual and stopping in the social sphere. The sense of identity creates safety, psychological comfort, intimacy, but also responsibilities related to temporary tasks towards the wider social evolution of the structures of belonging and material and spiritual security of identity. We are not, but we become. Everything is to surprise ourselves, to find ourselves in what is essential in our being, in what constitutes the
CHAPTER I
GENERAL FRAMEWORK OF THE PROBLEM.
In this chapter I will define the basic concepts that I used in the research, I will briefly analyze the periods preceding adolescence, insisting on adolescence, the period that my research is aimed at, and also in this chapter I will make a presentation of the main theories on identity , in order to finally highlight the main psycho-social factors involved in the structuring of identity. 1.1 DEFINITION OF THE CONCEPTS USED IN THE RESEARCH In a general sense identity refers to its character of being the same ("itself") or unique, although it may be perceived, represented or named in different ways. In relation to the concept that each society elaborates regarding human, ethnic and cultural identity, personal identity results from a subject's own experience of feeling that he exists and of recognizing himself in relation to another, both as a singular and identical being , in its physical, mental and social reality. Personal identity is a dynamic construction of the unity of self-consciousness, through intersubjective relationships, verbal communications and social experiences.
Identity is an active, affective and cognitive process of self- representation in its surroundings, associated with the subjective feeling of its permanence, which allows the person to perceive life as an experience that has continuity and unity and to act accordingly. Identity satisfies the inter and intrapersonal need for coherence, stability and synthesis that ensures permanence in existence. These regulatory functions are indispensable for adapting to changes and avoiding the appearance of personality disorders related to the confusion and diffusion of identity or its fragmentation. (12) Personal identity is placed on a continuum. It involves the connections of the past in the construction of a temporal horizon. When the original part of the identity cannot be invested, the balance of the person is affected. Personal identity is gendered; the way in which he gets used to his body and assumes his gender identity depends on the incorporation of libidinal objects but also on the effects of the sociocultural assignment of male and female roles. Acts, creations, possessions as well as differentiation, confrontations and commitments are means for the distinct understanding of his personal identity. The articulation of these multiple facets depends on the coherence and dynamism of the organizing principle of adaptations (ego force) that regulates the interactions between life changes and those of the environment. (12) U. Şchiopu (32, page 348) believes that: "identity is the name given to the awareness of one's feelings of belonging (belonging to family, country, culture, people, ethnicity, ideology, professional group). Identity is achieved through identification but is not equal to it. It contains forms of design and expression of the self, implications in participatory solidarity with the relationships included in the identification. Some authors refer to a sense of diffuse or latent kinship involved in the
From the perspective of Social Psychology (10, page 131) it represents the subjective form through which we get to know and represent our own person (as a system of attributes, relationships and psychosocial qualities that give social identity to the individual), a set of traits, attributes and relationships with the natural environment and social. The self-image is reflexively constituted against the background of a sense of identity and continuity of one's own person, lived predominantly as a posture of the psychological present "I am, I do, I have". The self-image is different from the self-consciousness that T. Prună (38, page 93) said is a complex form of representation at the level where the reflecting subject and the reflected object coincide, in other words the person's reflections are oriented towards their own ideas, feelings, actions, etc. Consciousness is built as a functional structure from the inside under the influence of external conditions involving all psychic processes and functions. Consciousness appears gradually both in phylo and in ontogenesis, passing through different qualitative stages". H. Ey (15, page 44) mentions: "the fundamental characteristic of the conscious system is that it consists of two complementary compartments, linked to each other, impossible to conceive of one without the other - consciousness about the world and consciousness about oneself. The first is genetically decisive, self-awareness or self- awareness, appearing as a reverse of the behavior about the world resulting to the largest extent from the recurrences of the social and human environment on the individual." Self-awareness is a self-regulatory factor of maximum efficiency. Through its functioning, self-awareness is the psychic axis of the personality. It presupposes the existence of a subject-object, self-non-
self duality, conveyed through language, within which, through a phenomenon of doubling, we look at ourselves. Ontogenetically, the me- non-me relationship is a me-other relationship in which the terms are interrelated. Initially, it is a matter of syncretism, because under the influence of another (others), to form myself through internalization. Gradually "I" is distinguished from "another", "mine" (Tiberiu Prună, 38, page 103). The effect of the self-awareness process is mainly the realization of the self-image, that is, the subject forms an image of his own person (me) in which the attributes are synthetically combined. What relationship exists between identity and self-image? V. Ceauşu (8, page 58) is of the opinion that for the formation of self-identity it is necessary to accept the self-image, that is, to agree with oneself. I have already mentioned that there is a close connection between the formation of personality, ego and identity, the latter being a direct expression of the development of the former. By personality is meant the specific way of organizing the person's psychophysical and psychosocial features and attributes. Personality is a dynamic structure of a psychosocial nature that ensures adaptation to the natural and social environment in a certain individual. Personality has the character of an axiological and ideological vectorized structure, the trinomial of values - attitudes - ideals being the main functional core that mediates the development of social behaviors (10, page 103). Some psychologists believe that our personality is exclusively social. Along with the term personality, one of character appears. It is certain that self-awareness could only appear in society, only as a correlate of the awareness of another. What we think about ourselves is formed in contact with what others think about us. We are faced with
(the perceptual forms according to the Gestalt theory), whether finally as a self-organization in which psychological actions of regulation, balancing, reorganization, etc. intervene. In addition, structuring processes can be distinguished according to whether they originate from unorganized components in advance, or whether their starting points are structured systems built in advance. (12) Along with social learning, socialization and social integration that participate in personality formation, a series of psychosocial processes appear that through their action lead to the emergence and structuring of identity, processes that take place throughout life. By psycho-social processes is understood the set of transformations, changes, evolutions that take place at the intersection between the individual and social psyche, resulting in a quantitative and qualitative restructuring of both the psychological and the social. (10, pp. 134-139) The most important psychosocial processes involved in structuring personal identity are: Social reflection In order to become aware of what are the specific features of one's self, two main conditions are necessary: a) the sociocultural environment to which we belong to propose a definition and a standard for the respective characteristic; b) the social group to "project" on us an image of what we consider ourselves to be, an image that - accepts and internalizes - becomes a component element of personal identity. Thus, the conception we form about ourselves is mostly a reflection of the opinions of important people from the social environment to which we belong, physically and emotionally.
People are very selective in choosing or accepting a "social mirror". The general tendency is to accept much more easily the opinions of those who project a positive image on us, and to reject - by ignoring, rationalizing or discrediting - the unfavorable opinions, or which are in sharp disagreement with our own opinions. Of great importance is the position and prestige of the person who fulfills the role of social mirror: the higher they are, the stronger and more persistent the effects are over time; the opinions of very important people often become essential landmarks in the formation of self-image. Often, people are willing to make considerable efforts to join those who are successful, or occupy a very important position. When physically this is not possible, a symbolic approach can be resorted to, as in the case of some young people who wear certain badges belonging to prestigious organizations or groups, but with which they have no direct ties. Social comparison. In order to reflect in a social mirror, it is necessary for it to have features close to theirs, otherwise there are no comparison points and they cannot confirm or strengthen their assumptions about themselves. Social comparison is a continuous process that begins since childhood, acquires a special weight in adolescence, and continues throughout life, providing criteria and areas of certainty in the variety and fluidity of everyday life. Even if a certain image is projected on them, people often feel the need for confirmations and reinforcements, social comparison providing the objective benchmarks necessary to strengthen the self- image. Schools completed, social environment attended, place of residence, groups of affiliation, material status of the family, etc. currently constitutes the basis of a continuous social comparison through which we regulate our self-image and attitudes towards those around us.
The social situations in which we involve ourselves emotionally and motivationally are likely to influence certain areas of the ego and self- image; these influences are in consonance with the roles we play and assume. By accepting and interpreting a social role, a phenomenon of identification with the norms that regulate the specific behavior of that role from a sociocultural point of view is produced, its characteristics being internalized and assumed. Over time, a complex process of shaping personality and identity takes place, so that the astute outside observer can easily identify one's social or professional status, depending on the features of the dominant role one plays, features that have become visible in general behavior of the one in question. The roles we interpret with conviction do not remain a simple external exercise without consequences; on the contrary, they most often shape our personality, giving it qualities that originally belonged only to the role played, not to the person assigned to interpret that role. So the character insinuates itself into the structure of the person, inducing its characteristics. In adolescence, the assumed social roles contribute to the socialization and social integration of children and teach them to assume responsibilities. The role of a child gives him the emotional support of his family, the role of a lover makes him discover certain skills and abilities. In adolescence, the roles develop the child for the whole adult life, they develop representations about themselves. Roles shape the personality by giving it qualities that originally belonged only to the role played, not to the person assigned to interpret this role. Depending on the roles played, personality and personal identity can be shaped in a positive or negative sense. That is why it is important for teenagers that their social environment is as well oriented as possible
from a value point of view towards truth, love, etc. to internalize positive aspects. Social differentiation. As I have shown, it is necessary for man to discover the common aspects as well as those that differentiate him from the others. The organization of the personality implies, parallel to the circumscribing of the self, the realization of a clear distinction between the self - the other and the self - the world. This tendency towards differentiation starts from the first years of life, maintaining throughout life as one of the most important motivational factors. Everyone feels the need to be unique and different from others, so that their own individuality is well defined and distinct. Even if social norms and models are what create a basic personality, social differentiation is the process by which man discovers himself. Adolescence is the essential period to acquire independence in all aspects: emotional, material, value, vocational. But in order to become independent, it is necessary for the teenager to differentiate himself from others, especially from his family. The teenager feels the need for uniqueness more than at any other age. Thus he includes in his consciousness an image of himself as free, independent and unique. The need for originality and uniqueness makes people make special efforts to obtain a differentiation that marks their personality and environment, the way of thinking, behaving, dressing, and arranging their environment. In order to differentiate himself from others, man emotionally invests personal objects with special attributes even if they are the same as others', so that for the person in question they will acquire the attribute of subjective uniqueness. In a very active way, most people make an intense and permanent effort to create a distinctive and
One of the most important concerns of personality psychology is the deciphering of the genesis, structure and role of the ego, understood as the central pivot of psycho-individual activity and the processes of the psychosocial relationship of the person with himself, with others and with the world. In its essence, the ego is a psychosocial process, constituting and manifesting itself in the zone of interference between the individual and the social, where it intervenes as the main mediator in the relationship between the person and his sociocultural environment. The ego is that central part of which we are immediately aware, consisting of a set of cognitive structures that organize the psychic functions of the person, continuously generating consistency, against the background of the existence of self-awareness and the world. In a more precise sense, the ego represents the central structure of the personality
- and implicitly of the person - which ensures the dynamic and continuous integration of information about oneself and the world, thus generating the feeling of identity, continuity and unity of one's existence_._ The ego must be understood as a cognitive scheme through which information about oneself, others and the world is processed, through a continuous reporting to the conception of oneself. The structure of the ego stands out for its stability, coherence and a high level of organization, without this excluding a certain dynamic, related both to the process of its formation and evolution in ontogenesis, as well as conjunctural fluctuations manifested in variable degrees of attachment to reality and to oneself. The main subjective forms of self-manifestation are self-image and self-awareness, between which there is a dialectical relationship of conditioning and mutual involvement (10, page 134-138). Within this issue, cognitive psychology starts from the premise that the human being actively constructs an image of the world essential for its
evolution in the environment. Man thus also builds an active image of himself as an essential element of the world. Self-concept is seen as a system of knowledge about one's own self, used to know and interpret stimuli relevant to the individual. The structure of the ego, or the hierarchy of knowledge structures about man and particularly about himself, functions as part of the information processing system. It is activated in situations that require information about and for the person. Due to repeated activation, it becomes highly activated and subtle. In another context, starting from G. Kelly's theory of constructs, M. Zlate sees the self as a synthetic and personal construct that springs from feeling, goes up to reflection and expresses itself in behavior being permanently supported affectively-motivationally. By means of such a construct, the individual conceptualizes himself, evaluates himself and anticipates his behavior. By the term construct applied to the Self, we mean not only the product obtained at a given moment, but also the process through which it is obtained, taking into account especially the process of synthesis, involvement and successive integration of the various components of the psychic life up to the level of self- consciousness, that is, up to me. The individual rises through self- knowledge to self-consciousness. D. Cristea (10, page 126) believes that between consciousness, self-awareness and self there is a connection of essence, but also distinctions in terms of scope. The author quoting H.Ey remarks: the self is the supreme form of our conscious being, it is the reflexive consciousness constituted in a system of values specific to the person. The phenomenon of consciousness is, however, wider than the phenomenological area of the ego, which must be interpreted as the core of the personality system in which the conscious synthesis of psychic and social life is realized, focused and related to one's own person. From
