Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionII. Psychodynamic
Theories- Erikson: Post−Freudian
Theory
(^264) © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
group or gang. In any event, the society in which they live plays a substantial role in
shaping their identity.
Identity is defined both positively and negatively, as adolescents are deciding
what they want to become and what they believe while also discovering what they do
notwish to be and what they do notbelieve. Often they must either repudiate the val-
ues of parents or reject those of the peer group, a dilemma that may intensify their
identity confusion.
Identity confusion is a syndrome of problems that includes a divided self-
image, an inability to establish intimacy, a sense of time urgency, a lack of concen-
tration on required tasks, and a rejection of family or community standards. As with
the other dystonic tendencies, some amount of identity confusion is both normal and
necessary. Young people must experience some doubt and confusion about who they
are before they can evolve a stable identity. They may leave home (as Erikson did)
to wander alone in search of self; experiment with drugs and sex; identify with a
street gang; join a religious order; or rail against the existing society, with no alter-
native answers. Or they may simply and quietly consider where they fit into the world
and what values they hold dear.
Once again, Erikson’s theory is consistent with his own life. At age 18 and
feeling alienated from the standards of his bourgeois family, Erikson set about
searching for a different style of life. Gifted at sketching and with more identity con-
fusion than identity, he spent the next 7 years wandering through southern Europe in
search of an identity as an artist. Erikson (1975) referred to this stage of his life as a
time of discontent, rebellion, and identity confusion.
Although identity confusion is a necessary part of our search for identity, too
much confusion can lead to pathological adjustment in the form of regression to ear-
lier stages of development. We may postpone the responsibilities of adulthood and
drift aimlessly from one job to another, from one sex partner to another, or from one
ideology to another. Conversely, if we develop the proper ratio of identity to identity
confusion, we will have (1) faith in some sort of ideological principle, (2) the abil-
ity to freely decide how we should behave, (3) trust in our peers and adults who give
us advice regarding goals and aspirations, and (4) confidence in our choice of an
eventual occupation.
Fidelity: The Basic Strength of Adolescence
The basic strength emerging from adolescent identity crises is fidelity,or faith in
one’s ideology. After establishing their internal standards of conduct, adolescents are
no longer in need of parental guidance but have confidence in their own religious,
political, and social ideologies.
The trust learned in infancy is basic for fidelity in adolescence. Young people
must learn to trust others before they can have faith in their own view of the future.
They must have developed hope during infancy, and they must follow hope with the
other basic strengths—will, purpose, and competence. Each is a prerequisite for fi-
delity, just as fidelity is essential for acquiring subsequent ego strengths.
The pathological counterpart of fidelity is role repudiation,the core pathol-
ogy of adolescence that blocks one’s ability to synthesize various self-images and
values into a workable identity. Role repudiation can take the form of either diffi-
258 Part II Psychodynamic Theories