Identity Development

Responding to the question “Who am I?” answers how individuals perceive themselves personally, socially, and morally. This question encompasses how people act, think, feel, and behave in relationship to a group, society, people, and environment. It focuses on individuals’ racial, ethnic, gender, and/or sexual orientation perceptions in relation to the dominant culture group. Identity development model theories have emerged to explain the process of how individuals may develop or grow within society in comparison to the dominant group.

This process is similar to a lifecycle where individuals shed layers of old skin and acquire new skin. These models, influenced by psychologists, educators, and counselors, have illuminated individuals’ experiences within the context of their group affinity or affinities (race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation).

Erik Erickson's work on life span development is considered one of the influential studies on identity. He asserted that individuals develop in stages. Within these stages, there is a successful and unsuccessful outcome. The assumption is that the achievement of one stage affects the resolution of later stages to come. However, in recent years, many scholars have asserted that individuals may experience behaviors that reflect different stages at the same time, thus they may not sequentially occur. Consequentially, the terminology has shifted from stage to status. [Page 1133]Additionally, these models are multidimensional. In regard to ethnic identity, several dimensions include the terminologies or labels that individuals tend to self-identify with in relation to their group; their knowledge about their cultural beliefs, customs, and values; and their feelings about group membership, which some may opt to embrace or reject.

Black Identity Development

Events occurring in society influence how individuals view themselves as racial beings. Many of the racial identity development theories gained ground beginning in the 1960s, during the civil rights struggle and that decade's climate of advocating for equity. William Cross's 1971 psychology of “Nigrescence,” or the “Nigrescence model,” was used to describe the black experiences from a psychological and historical point of view. At that time, Cross identified five stages.

He asserted that many blacks/African Americans experience the beginning process of assimilating and internalizing the beliefs of the white culture (pre-encounter); become exposed to racial issues that trigger some consciousness that reminds them of their blackness (encounter); begin to explore what it means to be black to the point that some have the tendency to openly display images of blackness (immersion/emersion); experience some comfort in the new black identity (internalization); reach the internalization/commitment status, and are deeply committed to issues and concerns relating to African Americans. Cross, in addition to others like Bailey Jackson, laid the foundation for other scholars to build upon.

A Native American demonstrates his cultural identity at the Indian Summer Festival, Henry Maier Festival Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 6, 2008. Research has found that identity development is linked to psychological well-being, positive self-evaluation and self-esteem, happiness, and decreased anxiety.