What is PERSONAL IDENTITY, characteristics and how it is built

Personal identity is a complex and changing process that takes place from the very beginning of life and continues to develop throughout it. Understood in the philosophical disciplines as "soul" it has been redefined as a personal identity from psychology. His study is extensive and has led to multiple and varied definitions of personal identity as a concept.

In the following Psychology-Online article we will define what is personal identity, what are its characteristics, how is it built and what reasons lead a person to suffer a personal identity crisis.

Index

1. What is identity according to psychology
2. Characteristics of personal identity
3. How to build personal identity
4. What is an identity crisis? How do you overcome it?

The personal identity according to psychology supposes the process by which the person creates, with the passing of the years, an image of herself that gives an answer to the transcendental question of

A decisive moment in the consolidation of personal identity is adolescence, at which time the person re-elaborates everything they experienced during their childhood and integrates it into a personal and particular image of themselves same. In this article we explain in depth the psychological changes of adolescence. However, the construction of personal identity does not stop at this moment since it is a living process and changing that is fueled by the different experiences that the person has throughout his life adult.

Our personal identity is manifested through different elements such as:

• Gender identity
• Political choice
• Moral values
• Religion
• Popular customs and traditions
• Aesthetic style
• Verbal and behavioral expression
• Leisure
• Profession
• Studies

The creation of personal identity is always defined based on two general aspects:

1. The relationship of the person with himself.
2. The relationship of the person with her environment.

People develop their personal identity and knowledge of their environment from experience with their own body, the contact and self-regulation of their emotions, motivations and desires and the mental elaboration of all these internal experiences.

On the other hand, the relationship with his family, school, his immediate natural and socio-cultural environment and, thanks to new technologies, with other contexts social, gives them another series of experiences that will also serve to provide new data in the creation and development of the concept of identity personal.

In this way, the human being carries out a complex work of elaborating each and every one of his life experiences in order, from them, to build a self-concept or self-image. This personal identity that, as we say, continues to fluctuate throughout life In small or large nuances, it will serve as a basis for the person to undertake her life experiences, with respect to herself and with respect to her environment.

The construction of personal identity is therefore about a multifactorial process that feeds itself constantly, where life experiences are creating this personal identity that, in turn, conditions subsequent experiences being, again, fed by them.

For example, some of the factor elements through which personal identity is constituted are:

• Belonging group (family, friends, neighborhood, etc.): it defines our beliefs and values.
• Education system: offers certain content that will shape our identity.
• Culture and social system: through them we internalize certain customs and norms.
• Geographical scope and residence: the nature, the climate and other physical and meteorological factors of our place of residence also largely determine our identity.
• Idiom: through the language many values, beliefs and customs of the linguistic group to which it belongs are transmitted.

The process of construction of personal identity is reflected in a very clear way by observing the evolutionary development of a person.

The baby, since her gestation, is not aware of the existence of himself but goes of her relating to her immediate environment (her mother) and later with her body and her sensations internal for create beliefs and mental schemes that integrate everything lived. Little by little, the baby begins to become aware of the existence of it and, with it, of the existence of the another and, from there, he incorporates knowledge around himself in relation to his environment.

During childhood she continues to have experiences of relationship with others (family, school, socio-cultural context, etc.) that they will lead to continue building beliefs around who he is, who others are and how the world around him works. Adolescence is the peak point in the construction of personal identity where the person consciously re-elaborates her life experience and ends the process creating and integrating a defining image of herself.

The rest of life experiences during adult life will serve to consolidate or jeopardize this personal construction of personal identity.

In the process of personal construction, as we have said, multiple factors intervene: the person creates a image of herself based on her own internal experiences and, also, based on her relationship with her environment. It happens, therefore, that the definition of oneself is conditioned by the experience we have with others and, on many occasions, the image that Our family, school or our peers have a great deal on us, which conditions what, finally, we internalize as what we really are.

In the cases in which the perception that we assume from the outside about ourselves is similar to that which arises from our own internal sensations, personal identity is usually formed as a safe and healthy base on which to build our life project personal. However, when the image that comes to us from the outside does not fit our internal perception it often happens that an internal struggle is created between what the person "thinks he is" (usually based on negative beliefs about oneself based on what is received from the outside) and what it "feels like" in reality. In these cases, critical life experiences (changes in life cycles, emotional breakdowns, duels, dismissal, etc.) lead these people to suffer unpleasantness. identity crisis.

Overcoming an identity crisis involves review beliefs, attitudes and values that sustain our personal identity, erase those that do not correspond to our essential being and reworking our personal image from ideas that are more realistic, positive and in line with the being that really are. In this article you will find more information about how to overcome an existential crisis.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is personal identity, characteristics and how it is built, we recommend that you enter our category of Personality.

• Bajardi, A. (2015). Personal identity in relation to education: characteristics and formation of the concept. REIDOCREA, Monographic identity and education, Article 15, p. 106-114