Construction Of Personal Identity Research Articles

The Online Construction of Personal Identity Through Trust and Privacy

Constructing a personal identity is an activity much more complex than elaborating a series of online profiles, which are only digital hints of the Self. The construction of our personal identity is a context-mediated activity. Our hypothesis is that young people are enabled, as digital natives and social network users, to co-construct the “context of communication” in which their narrative identities will be interpreted and understood. In particular, the aim of this paper is to show that such “context of communication”, which can be seen as the hermeneutical counterpart of the “networked publics” elaborated by Danah Boyd, emerges out of the tension between trust and privacy. In other terms, it is, on the one hand, the outcome of a web of trustful relations and, on the other, the framework in which the informational norms regulating teens’ expectations of privacy protection are set and evaluated. However, these expectations can be frustrated, since the information produced in such contexts can be disembedded and re-contextualized across time. The general and widespread use of information technology is, in fact, challenging our traditional way of thinking about the world and our identities in terms of stable and durable structures; they are reconstituted, instead, into novel forms.

Mortuary Features and Identity Construction in an Early Village Community in the American Southwest

In this paper we examine some of the relationships among mortuary features, individual identities, and group identities in the context of the Ridges Basin community, one of the earliest village communities in the American Southwest. Architectural and biodistance data suggest that more than one ethnic group composed the Ridges Basin Pueblo I community and that these groups occupied different house clusters throughout the basin. Mortuary data are examined for patterning in body arrangement, context of interment, and treatment to corroborate the presence of different groups within this community. Results indicate that groups and individuals performed mortuary rituals and incorporated particular rare and exotic items that aided in the construction of personal identities, particularly gendered identities, and that ultimately came to represent and reify group distinctions. It is suggested that, in early villages, elaborations of both gender and ethnicity in mortuary contexts provided accessible and highly visible and noticeable avenues of distinction in the absence of formally instituted leadership and group identity categories.

The cultural psychology of Palestinian youth: A narrative approach

Contemporary Palestinian youth engage with a tragic master narrative of loss and dispossession supported by the social structure of ongoing intractable conflict and Israeli military occupation. This article illustrates a narrative and idiographic approach to research in cultural psychology, interrogating the relationship between constructions of personal identity and the master narrative of Palestinian history and collective identity among contemporary youth. Narratives of youth reveal points of both convergence and divergence with the master narrative of Palestinian identity, the most notable of which are the reproduction of tragic stories of loss and dispossession and the current ideological divisions within Palestinian society between secular and religious nationalism. Implications for theory and methodological practice in cultural psychology are discussed.

P01-246 - Self esteem and self evaluation during adolescence. The contribution of the Rey-Weinstein

Numerous studies have focused on concepts of self esteem during the period of adolescence, but studies about self portrayal or self image are less frequent. They find their sources in the theories of the contemporary psychoanalytical schools about narcissism and “the Self”concept.The reference to the “Self” is more frequently found in Anglo-Saxon studies. The focus is on the links between “The Self” and subjective experience as well as construction of personal identity in relation with developmental psychopathology. The construction of personal identity is due to a very complex process: the person has to figure up his own physical and psychic features and at the same time has to live in social interaction.In reference to a developmental and psychogenetic approach, the interactions between the “Self” and the group will play an important role during the period of adolescence. It is necessary to focus on the identity process in reference with parental psychopathology and environment.The contribution of the Rey- Weinstein test is focussed precisely on this double approach:André Rey whose concerns were mainly on development and construction of personality created this test, modernized by G. Weinstein, both authors aiming to explore the field ofself image. By doing the test, the adolescent is asked to self evaluate himself on physical, intellectual, social and psychic features and to figure up how he would be evaluated by people surrounding him.Projection of fears and desires, various levels of identifications sustain the self evaluation process and create a specific dynamic during the assessment.In this clinical interactive prospect, the Rey Weinstein self evaluation test and in addition theN. PUIG VERGES AND G.WEINSTEIN self portrait test contribute to the explore the self evaluation process and allow the adolescent to understand the way he lives, the way he builds his self experience and his own identity.

Factors associated with the desire for orthodontic treatment among Brazilian adolescents and their parents

BackgroundIn the period of adolescence physical appearance takes on significant importance in the construction of personal identity, including one's relationship with one's own body. A variety of social, cultural, psychological and personal factors influences the self-perception of dental appearance and the decision to undergo orthodontic treatment. Adolescents who seek orthodontic treatment are concerned with improving their appearance and social acceptance. The aim of the present study was to determine factors associated to the desire for orthodontic treatment among Brazilian adolescents and their parents.MethodsThe sample consisted of 403 subjects aged 14 to 18 years, selected randomly from a population of 182,291 schoolchildren in the same age group. The outcome variable "desire for orthodontic treatment" was assessed through a questionnaire. Self-perception of dental aesthetics was assessed using the Oral Aesthetic Subjective Impact Scale (OASIS) and the Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) was used for clinical assessment. Statistical analysis involved the chi-square test as well as both simple and multiple logistic regression analyses.ResultsThe majority (78%) of the Brazilian adolescents desired orthodontic treatment and 69% of the parents reported that their children were not in orthodontic treatment due to the high costs involved. There was significant association (p ≤ 0.05) between the desire for orthodontic treatment and most types of malocclusion. However, there was no significant association between the desire for orthodontic treatment and the variables gender and age.ConclusionsThe following were considered factors associated to the desire for treatment: upper anterior crowding ≥ 2 mm and parents' perception of their child's need for treatment.

Absent Memory, Family Secrets, Narrative Inheritance

Narratives are essential to the construction of personal identity, relationships, and fully actualized lives. Narrative inheritance consists of the stories and family lore that parents and other relatives pass on to children about the family. The article describes two belatedly acquired narratives of inheritance: the author’s own and that of Harold Goodall. The author applies the notion of “absent memory” to the family secrets that underlie these narratives and reflect on questions raised by such secrets—and by incomplete narrative inheritances—for the children burdened with them.

Facade Diversity

Diversity and multiculturalism are widely embraced principles, championed by many social movements and promoted through the programs and policies of states, businesses, schools and other organizations throughout the world. Purportedly celebrating and protecting group differences, these principles translate concretely into differences that operate as facades masking the underlying individualization of world society. Fundamental to this process is a dualistic globalization of the individual — both cultural and organizational — that impels the conscious construction of personal identities as both authentic and unique. Individuals therefore activate collective identity elements as sources of personal difference and distinctiveness. The nature of these collective identities is undergoing rapid change, however. The very forces impelling the championing of difference — rising individualism, egalitarianism, identity construction and uniqueness — diminish the degree of difference carried by collective identities, transforming corporate collectivities (once rooted firmly in geographic, ethnic, linguistic or ancestral ties) into categorical groups that provide identity not as a transcendent group property but as a volitional characteristic of categories of individuals. Corporate identities may not disappear, but as they are transformed into categorical identities they become facades behind which the depth of differences among the world's cultures and subcultures is diminishing rapidly.

On Social Interaction and the Communicative Construction of Personal Identity, Knowledge and Reality

After a note on the main assumption of all science — the existence of a world — the implications of this ontological realism are pointed out. The subject of the social sciences is a human world — no doubt an evolutionary emergent one — that is built up, modified and sometimes partly destroyed by human social interaction over the generations. The constitution of meaning in experience and action is described (with a lengthy footnote on the phenomenological details of the matter) as the foundation of social, and most importantly, communicative interaction. This provides the basis for a formal analysis of the communicative formation and transmission of personal identity, knowledge and historical social words.

A pesquisa como recurso da formação e da construção de uma nova identidade docente: notas para uma discussão inicial

Defende como tese a necessidade de uma formação de atitudes de pesquisa por parte dos docentes ligada à construção de uma nova profissionalidade e de novas identidades pessoais e profissionais. A identidade passa a ser uma categoria estruturante no novo agir profissional, no qual a pesquisa se constitui num de seus elementos. Analisa ainda os saberes e os espaços que contribuem para a configuração das identidades, em especial a formação inicial e a escola, sendo esta última considerada como focus da formação continuada e do de¬senvolvimento profissional. A temática tem sido objeto de estudos do Grupo Formação e Profissionalização Docente, do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), criado em 1995 e coordenado pelos autores do artigo

A fotografia como modo de representação da identidade: dos cartões de visita de Disdéri ao ciberespaço

This article discusses the aspects of construction of personal identities through image, from the invention of the carte-de-visite by Disderi, in 1851, to current days. It analyses the technological developments of image production, of social communication and of information systems and their effects in identity representation. Methods include: literature review, field research and participant observation, fundamental to the analysis of relationship sites: orkut.com and seconlife.com.

Adapting to a New Identity

Adapting to a New Identity

The Autobiographical Self: Who We Know and Who We Are

<p>What we sense as a “self” emerges from stimuli both from within and without our body through complex levels of neural integration. The integration of memory and self is not a one-time occurrence but involves lifelong development. The autobiography of self is the accumulated unique mental narrative that emerges from our experiencing and participating in the flow of events and interpersonal encounters that reach a level of awareness critically facilitated by emotional tone. Autobiographical memory plays an important role in the construction of personal identity. An individual’s construction of themselves through time serves the function of creating a coherent and largely favorable view of their present selves and circumstances.</p> <h4>ABOUT THE AUTHOR</h4> <p>Barton J. Blinder, MD, PhD, is Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine.</p> <p>Address correspondence to: Barton J. Blinder, MD, PhD, 400 Newport Center Drive, Suite 706, Newport Beach, CA 92660; fax 949-721-9572; or email <a href="mailto:bblinder@uci.edu">bblinder@uci.edu</a>.</p> <p>The author disclosed no relevant financial relationships.</p>

Práticas educativas familiares e o sentido da constituição identitária

O estudo aqui relatado teve por finalidade investigar o sentido de práticas educativas implementadas por pais moradores de um bairro de baixa renda em São Paulo e analisá-las como parte do processo de constituição identitária. Tais práticas se revelam como ações através das quais se desenvolve o processo de socialização familiar, refletem uma visão particular de mundo e de homem, situam-se num contexto histórico e de classe social e contribuem para o processo de constituição identitária. Trata-se de pesquisa qualitativa de base fenomenológica que teve como procedimento a realização de entrevistas e atividades grupais com famílias. Os resultados revelaram que o sentido socializador das práticas dirigia-se para formar pessoas dóceis à ordem autoritária, recorrendo-se a práticas disciplinares violentas, configurando um contexto voltado para o evitar uma identidade "negativa".

Words that Strike and Words that Comfort: Discursive Dynamics of Verbal Abuse in Roddy Doyle's The Woman Who Walked Into Doors1

Linguistic violence against women comes in many guises. Feminist linguists have shown that derogatory, demeaning speech and sexist language are used in patriarchal societies to allocate to women a place marked by muteness and degradation. Among other forms of domestic violence, verbal abuse is often neglected because it hurts psychologically and emotionally rather than physically and thus remains ‘invisible’. This paper unravels the discursive dynamics of verbal abuse in Roddy Doyle's novel The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by drawing upon sociolinguistic and literary analytical tools. A close investigation into the characters' verbal interactions, notably sexist language, slang, silencing, and dialogic frames, illuminates the subtle ways in which verbal abuse ties in with power games, social positioning and the construction of personal identities. Verbal abuse not only puts the novel's protagonist ‘into place’ but ironically it also empowers her to the extent that the adoption of abusive language offers a means of self-defence and retaliation. The novel thus demonstrates the inescapability of the vicious circle that verbal abuse engenders and perpetuates. Thus, the novel not only raises awareness about the complexities of verbal abuse but also contributes to and potentially helps modify contemporary discourses on the problem.

Os sentidos atribuídos à voz por mulheres após a menopausa

To analyze the meanings attributed to the voice by menopausal women. Data were collected from 148 medical records of women seen in the Climacteric Women Health Program of the Irmandade Santa Casa de Misericordia Gynecology Outpatient Clinic in Curitiba, Brazil, between February 2000 and October 2001. Of them, 30 women aged between 48 and 59 years who did not consider themselves as voice professionals and had been at least 12 months in amenorrhea were selected. They were interviewed using a thematic guide with semi-structured questions. Interviews were recorded and then transcribed. Their description, analysis, and interpretation were based on social representation of the collective individual's discourse through a hermeneutics-dialectics approach. The resulting 27 collective discourses showed that women related their voice to biological and psychological characteristics and social aspects of daily life, identifying vocal changes during their life course. Social representations of communicational and functional nature were observed and highlight voice as an element of personal identity construction conceived in the social sphere. There is a need for further research based on social sciences as well as epidemiological studies and to examine voice therapy in a frailer larynx and also prioritize voice health as part of comprehensive health care delivered to climacteric women.

De la fête aux loisirs : évènement, marchandisation et invention des lieux

This paper aims at renewing studies on festive and leisure practices in the contemporary Western societies. In order to overcome the classical opposition marking a break between ordinary time and festive time, we first question the notions of event and leisure. The analysis of festive periods as an expression of specific conceptions of time and space has allowed us to link several characteristics and functions of contemporary festivals: closer to leisure, standardized and merchandised, it has remained a source of beliefs and empowerment. Fairs and festivals contribute to the construction of Personal identity, in offering the body a way of expression, wbile providing a territorial ideology, as well as trivialization and negation of places.

Sick autonomy.

Complex social and economic forces have placed patient autonomy at the center of medical ethics, and thereby displaced an older ethic of physician beneficence. This development arose, and is sustained, by waning trust in the traditional doctor-patient relationship. As patients have increasingly become clients and consumers, a contract basis for medical care has put the ancient covenant of care in jeopardy. Here, a philosophical approach to harmonize the apparent conflicting claims of patient autonomy and physician beneficence is offered by demonstrating that autonomy need not be understood as protecting a threatened identity. If persons are regarded as atomistic, certain defensive notions of individualistic rights-based autonomy prevail; if a relational construction of personal identity is employed instead, then respect for autonomy becomes part of a wider morality of relationship and care. By reconfiguring trust within this latter understanding of personhood, bioethics better balances its concerns over choices and actions with those of relationship and responsibility. Neither atomistic autonomy nor the ethics of responsibility can claim hegemony, for they are mutually interdependent, and a complete account of medicine's moral axis requires that they be integrated. This reorientation is crucial for reasserting the ethos of clinical medicine, whose fundamental mandate remains the care of others.

The identity function of autobiographical memory: Time is on our side

Autobiographical memory plays an important role in the construction of personal identity. We review evidence of the bi-directional link between memory and identity. Individuals' current self-views, beliefs, and goals influence their recollections and appraisals of former selves. In turn, people's current self-views are influenced by what they remember about their personal past, as well as how they recall earlier selves and episodes. People's reconstructed evaluations of memories, their perceived distance from past experiences, and the point of view of their recollections have implications for how the past affects the present. We focus on how people's constructions of themselves through time serve the function of creating a coherent—and largely favourable—view of their present selves and circumstances.

Performing marginality: Comedy, identity, and cultural critique

Stand‐up comedy is a powerful form of autobiographical performance unique in its simultaneous construction of personal identity and cultural critique. This essay looks at the humor of comics Phyllis Diller and Roseanne Barr in order to explore the potentially subversive use of self‐deprecation and to analyze the way these comics construct themselves and others as butts of jokes.

De paradox van de individualisering van werkloosheid

This article argues against the individualisation thesis that claims that people have become less dependent on collectively provided cultural materials for the construction of their identities and life courses. It is based on in-depth interviews that were conducted as part of a longitudinal research concerning the effects of long term unemployment on the lives of unemployed men and their children. One of the crucial research questions concerns the cultural materials that are available to cope with unemployment. The findings lead to a rehabilitation of the concept of 'social role', The loss of a job places the unemployed in a socially and culturally ill defined situation. For various reasons unemployment itself does not develop into a role. The article describes the various strategies the unemployed use to cope with this lack of social identity and definition of their situation, All of these strategies underline the importance of collectively held expectations for the construction of personal identity and the life course.