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Identity Uncertainty

Although a technical term in information science, in the study of human beings identity uncertainty means a lack of consistency, clarity, or both, in an individual's answer to the question “Who am I?” Individuals, in their intrapersonal communication (communication with oneself) or cognitive processes, seek reliability in the answer to such a pervasive and significant question. When an individual cannot answer the questions “Who am I?” and “To which group do I belong?” with consistency, clarity, and stability, identity uncertainty develops. In general, humans are found to dislike uncertainty (although this is probably truer in some cultures than in others). They are thus motivated to resolve uncertainty, resulting in attendant theories of human behavior.

Approaches and Applications from Diverse Fields

For the psychologist, humans’ struggles to self-identify can be explained by internal motivations and natural development. Some of the most interesting work in identity concerns developmental psychology, particularly that of children and adolescents. But the individual's perception of self, sociologists tell us, is always shaped by contact with other human beings—with society. Sociologists help to explain how identity may be called into question by societal expectations and norms. We desire group belonging and a range of contact with others.

This contact with others shapes our perceptions of self-identity and is more fully described within the field of communication. Assuming that all human beings would find uncertainty at least somewhat undesirable, our quest for surety can only be undertaken through interaction. Verbal and nonverbal processes help us to obtain information, inference, context, and understanding. They also allow us to assert, negotiate—and manage uncertainty within—our identities. Several theories in the field describe this process, especially uncertainty reduction theory, identity negotiation theory, and anxiety/uncertainty management theory.

Identity uncertainty has other practical applications. Information sciences is ironically similar to the human sciences previously mentioned, in that identity uncertainty describes objects in data analysis that lack uniqueness or distinction. In criminal justice, the term is literal, referring to inconclusive DNA or other evidence in the identification of a potential perpetrator of a crime, for example. Homeopathic medicine takes a less positivist approach, linking physiological disease to identity dis-ease.

Potential Causes

Some might say that identity uncertainty is inevitable, because an individual's identity is multifaceted and complex. Race, gender, ethnicity, age, profession… the list goes on and on: The combination of these unique aspects make up an individual's identity. This combination is often called “interpellation” and suggests that there are multiple sources of identity uncertainty. For instance, psychologist Erik Erikson described a stage in adolescent development called “identity versus role confusion,” wherein a teenager experiences a crisis when contemplating her future adult role in society. The teenage years are often when some may also experience gender identity confusion, uncertain of the objects of their sexual attraction. Because homosexuality is marginalized in many societies, the individual experiences an identity crisis.

Conventional wisdom states that our world is rapidly changing and saturated with media messages interrogating our identities. In the 21st century, cultural identity may be the most prevalent source of identity confusion in many societies. Mary Jane Collier has described the potential discrepancy between avowal (the identity one claims for oneself) and ascription (the identity mapped onto one by others). The perception of race in some societies is potentially problematic. Members of some cocultures—racial groups afforded less power than the majority culture—may consider their race to be of little consequence until they experience prejudice from the majority group. This moment of prejudice—a “racially shattering event”—may be particularly traumatic for biracial children, who try to claim multiple identities yet are the targets of societal assumptions about one race over the other. The same is true for adopted children, whose appearances represent a particular race but whose families may belong to another. Raised in one culture but perceived as part of another, such individuals are uncertain in their sense of group belonging. Culture today is marked by hybridity (affiliation with two or more groups). So identities are regularly in flux, yielding uncertainty.

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