Identity

What is Identity?

Identity is created through experiences, relationships, values, and narratives that forms a sense of self. The combination of these items gives us a sense of who we are, how we are connected to others, and how we are different from others [1].

What Defines Identity?

Our identities often center around roles or become adjectives for who we are: parent, student, sibling, etc. These descriptors have meaning and expectations that are internalized into our identity. Identity is shaped around our personal values which influence the choices we make [1].

How is Identity Formed:

There are many different types of identity, however, the two we’ll focus on here are:

• Self-Identity/Avowed Identity: This is the identity you give yourself
• Ascribed Identity: This is the identity given to you by others

Our identities are often shaped by our environment and the society we live in and can affect the way we are seen or treated in various spaces. For example:

Young Black men are often perceived as threatening, underachieving, and hyper-masculine, which is reinforced through media outlets and psychological research that portray them as a monolith rather than a heterogeneous group with multiple intersecting identities [2]

Ascribed identity is often based on stereotypes which can lead to stereotype threat [3], identity salience (the probability that a given identity will be the focus of social interaction or will define a situation in a way that reinforces expectations around that identity) [4, 5], and internalization of prejudices of the dominant culture (internalized oppression) [6].

Sexual Identity and Gender Identity:

Gender identity, sexual identity, and sexual orientation are often confused or lumped into one main ascribed identity, when all of these are separate and refer to different aspects of who we are.

Trans Student Educational Resources (TSER) created the Gender Unicorn to help illustrate how these are different:

 References: