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Self and Identity Theory from the Early
20th Century:
A Selective Literature Review for
ePortfolio Enthusiasts
AAEEBL Portland 2017
Jeanne Enders, PhD
Portland State University

“Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel,
build on to that which is already excellent.”
-Auliq Ice

From classic thinking about the social construction of the
self to basic theories about the development of an
individual's identity from childhood to adulthood, this
presentation will offer some concepts from historical social
psychology literature as a way of understanding the power
of ePortfolios for college students.

Erikson, E. H. (1959).
Identity and the life
cycle. New York, NY:
Norton.

Identity and the Life Cycle (Erik H. Erikson, 1959)
According to Erikson's life-cycle theory, first published in Childhood and Society
(1950), there are eight developmental stages, which are epigenetic (biologically
determined but shaped by the environment): infancy, early childhood, play age,
school age, adolescence, young adulthood, mature adulthood, and old age.
Each of these stages involves a crisis that the individual must successfully resolve
in order to progress to the next stage.

Identity theory a literature review for e portfolio enthusiasts

Could awareness of these likely crises enable
more pointed self-reflection in ePortfolio
development?
Could such reflections move students more
effectively through such crises (ePortfolio as a
vehicle for optimal health) ?

Importance of Family in Identity
“...all individuals are borne by mothers; ...everybody was once a child;
...people...begin in their nurseries; ...society consists of individuals in the process
of developing from children into parents.” (p. 17)
Avoid an “artificial differentiation between the individual-within-his-family (or
seemingly surrounded by projections of his family constellation on the ‘outer
world’) and the ‘‘individual-in-the-mass’ submerged in an indistinct aggregate of
men.” (p. 18)
Identity can be “forced on the child by the critical influence of parents...making
up the milieu and public opinion… Surrounded by such mighty disapproval, the
child’s...state of self-love is … compromised” (p. 19)

What is the role of reflection on family in
ePortfolio development?
Appropriate? Helpful?

Goffman, E. (1959).
The presentation of self
in everyday life. New
York: Anchor Books.

Key Points of the Presentation of Self
Human interactions are like theater (dramaturgical analysis)
Social “actors” manage impressions, play social roles, agree to
socially-constructed realities and live and act both front and back stage
As human groups, we mutually agree upon definitions of a situation to “save
face” - example: ignoring a person’s stumble at a fancy dinner

CA
B
Team of
Social Actors
Performance
Social Life as
Audience
Front Stage : Actions governed by norms,
expectations, our role, our physical appearance
Example: Facing forward and being silent in an elevator.
Choosing a high-status career or education.
Front Stage behavior can be intentional, purposeful or habitual, subconscious
Backstage: “True Selves”
governed by fewer norms, roles
or expectations
CA B
Small Team
(family, friends)
FD
E
Example: Dancing at home,
practicing handshakes, working on
hobbies
...or alone
create

Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
“When an individual plays a part he implicitly requests his observers to take
seriously the impression that is fostered before them. They are asked to see the
character they see actually possesses the attributes he appears to possess…” (p.
17).
“...for if the individual’s activity is to become significant to others, he must
mobilize his activity so that it will express during the interaction what he wishes
to convey.” (p. 31)

Expression versus Action
“The problem of dramatizing one’s work involves more than merely making invisible
costs visible [after a description of how a nurse may look like she’s just chatting with
a patient but she’s actually checking vitals]... to dramatize… he must divert an
appreciable amount of his energy to do so. And this activity diverted to
communication will often require different attributes from the ones which are being
dramatized. Thus, to furnish a house so that it will express simple quiet dignity, the
householder may have to rush to auction sales...and doggedly canvas all the local
shops for proper wallpaper...so individuals often find themselves with the dilemma
of expression vs. action. Those who have the time or talent to perform a task, may
not make it apparent that they are performing well… some organizations resolve
this dilemma by officially delegating the dramatic function to a specialist who
will spend time expressing the meaning of the task and spend no time
actually doing it.” (p. 33)

Do you agree it is hard to engage in action and
expression simultaneously?
How does (or can) the ePortfolio process deal
with this challenge? Helpful specialists?

Rules for Backstage Access
“Once the audience has been admitted to a performance...there is an elaborate
etiquette by which individuals guide themselves in their capacity as members of
the audience. This involves: the giving of a proper amount of attention and
interest; a willingness to hold in check one’s own performance so as not to
introduce too many contradictions, interruptions, or demands for attention; the
inhibition of all acts or statements that might create a faux pas (comment or
gesture that contradicts or destroys the image of the scene being presented).”
(pp. 230-231).

How are we considering “etiquette” in our role
as audience to “backstage” scenes?

Mcdougall, W.
(first published
in 1908).
Introduction to
social
psychology.

The Growth of the Self as a Reflection of Others’
“...the child’s idea of his self early comes to be the idea, not merely of his body
and of certain bodily and mental capacities, but also of a system of relations
between his self and other selves. Now, the attitudes of other persons towards
him are more or less freely expressed by them in praise, reproof, gratitude,
reproach, anger, pleasure or displeasure, and so forth. Hence, as he rapidly
acquires insight into the meaning of these attitudes, he constantly sees himself
in the reflected light of their ideas and feeling about him, a light that colours all
his idea of his self and plays a great part in building up and shaping that idea.
That is to say, he gets his idea of his self in large part by accepting the ideas of
himself that he finds expressed by those about him.” (p. 160)

How is it possible to help students
differentiate between the self that is shaped
by others and the self they want to be?

Mead, G. H., & Strauss, A. L.
(1977 originally published in
1959). George Herbert Mead on
social psychology: selected
papers. Chicago, IL: University
of Chicago Press.

Self as a Function of Perceptions of Others’
He enters his experience as a self insofar as he “first becomes an object to
himself just as other individuals are objects to him or are in his experience, he
becomes an object to himself only by taking the attitudes of other individuals
toward himself within a social environment or context of experience and
behavior in which both he and they are involved.” (pp. 202-203)
“The self...is essentially a social structure, and it arises in social experience… It is
impossible to conceive of a self arising outside of social experience.” (p. 204)

Mead’s Symbolic Interactionism
1. People act toward things based on the meaning those
things have for them, and
2. These meanings are derived from social interaction and
modified through interpretation.
From SSSI website, attributed to Herbert Blumer

What’s the relationship between meaning and
interpretation?
How do we help students establish meaning and
leverage their ability to reflect/interpret?

Summary of Themes
➔ Families are the earliest form of input for our students’ sense of
self/identity
➔ Identity (sense of self) is constructed as a function of social life
➔ Reality is a social construction to be managed by groups of people - it’s
theater!
➔ There is a need for experts to help manage the process that describes
(expresses) the actions an individual finds most meaningful to them
➔ It is possible that the process of observation and interpretation can
assist in our growth, development and more stable sense of self

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Identity theory a literature review for e portfolio enthusiasts

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Identity theory a literature review for e portfolio enthusiasts