An Assessment Ofadolescence and Identity Development
An Assessment of
Adolescence and Identity Development
Tommy Moreland
Psychology 2012
Prof. Chase
February 13, 2013
Introduction
As a child of the sixties, my first recollection of high school was somewhat grandiose. For example, I remembered being quite the ladies’ man and the star of my arts and craft class. But as I began to really think about that period of time during the 70s, I had a lot of the same concerns everyone else had when it came to self-esteem, fitting in with others and wanting to be accepted. Due to the fact that I was raised as an only child by my great grandparents and my dad, I grew up around adults. This inhibited me from being amongst children my own age and allowed for a vivid imagination. They say that hind sight is twenty twenty, and I now see how a lot of the concerns I had about self-esteem, fitting in, and acceptance were all self-imposed. David Elkind and James Marcia’s theories on adolescence and identity development really apply to many of the concerns I faced and also explain much of my behavior today. The imaginary audience and personal fable fallacies by Elkind and identity crisis theory by Marcia touch on areas I look at now and see that they were some of the very situations facing , not only myself, but all adolescence.
David Elkind believed that adolescent thinking falls under two distinct areas, personal fables and imaginary audience. Looking back on my life, there is no surprise to find examples of both of these theories. I remember an instance where my cousins came from out of town to visit and we got into a heated argument. They felt I had it so good because I was an only child. I lashed out and said that they did could not relate to how lonely it was for me. I sulked almost the entire time they were there because I felt misunderstood. The fact of the matter was I did have it good and my parents provided the essentials and love to me. The other example that came to mind that illustrates Elkind’s second
Adolescence and Identity Development
Tommy Moreland
Psychology 2012
Prof. Chase
February 13, 2013
Introduction
As a child of the sixties, my first recollection of high school was somewhat grandiose. For example, I remembered being quite the ladies’ man and the star of my arts and craft class. But as I began to really think about that period of time during the 70s, I had a lot of the same concerns everyone else had when it came to self-esteem, fitting in with others and wanting to be accepted. Due to the fact that I was raised as an only child by my great grandparents and my dad, I grew up around adults. This inhibited me from being amongst children my own age and allowed for a vivid imagination. They say that hind sight is twenty twenty, and I now see how a lot of the concerns I had about self-esteem, fitting in, and acceptance were all self-imposed. David Elkind and James Marcia’s theories on adolescence and identity development really apply to many of the concerns I faced and also explain much of my behavior today. The imaginary audience and personal fable fallacies by Elkind and identity crisis theory by Marcia touch on areas I look at now and see that they were some of the very situations facing , not only myself, but all adolescence.
David Elkind believed that adolescent thinking falls under two distinct areas, personal fables and imaginary audience. Looking back on my life, there is no surprise to find examples of both of these theories. I remember an instance where my cousins came from out of town to visit and we got into a heated argument. They felt I had it so good because I was an only child. I lashed out and said that they did could not relate to how lonely it was for me. I sulked almost the entire time they were there because I felt misunderstood. The fact of the matter was I did have it good and my parents provided the essentials and love to me. The other example that came to mind that illustrates Elkind’s second
Cited: Morris, Charles G. (2013) Understanding Psychology / Charles G. Morris, Albert A. Maisto. New Jersey. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Elkind 806