INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY: CHARACTERISTICS, TRAINING, EXAMPLES - DUDAS - 2025

The individual identity is an object of study in different fields, which can endow various meanings. For psychology it is usually associated with the self-image that a person can generate about himself, however, philosophy approaches it from the questioning or questions that may arise from the fact of being a person.

This topic is also related to metaphysics in the sense that it studies the identity of a person from the beginning of his life and how his identity can persist even after death.

Individual identity has to do with the image that a person has about himself

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Many of the issues that may arise from the definition of an individual or personal identity have to do with becoming aware of oneself. From here questions arise that have to do with life and death such as: "What is the beginning of my life? What is my personal role in society? What happens to me after death?" and other approaches with a mostly philosophical character.

On the other hand, the identity that a person develops about himself comes from his interaction with himself and with others. This awareness of your own being can shape your behavior and actions throughout your life.

Characteristics of individual identity

-The identity of a person is acquired through intrapsychic processes (of a subject with himself) and interpersonal (of a subject with others).

-Individual identity is formed over time and changes continuously.

-It originates a sense of belonging and connection of a person with his own being.

-Determine your own concept of what you are, what defines someone as a person or what makes the subject a person.

-Allows you to create a distinction of yourself from other people.

-It has to do with the characteristics or things with which someone identifies

-May have environmental influences. Factors such as nationality, language, or traditions can determine the attitudes, behaviors, and ways in which someone can define themselves.

-Personal characteristics such as name, age, physiognomy and the significance that these may have within a society also belong to a form of identification.

-The identity of a person can last in time, even if it has already ceased to exist.

Formation of individual identity

The individual or personal identity is formed from birth, from the moment a person begins to exist. There are various approaches to assessing identity and how it develops or is composed.

From a psychological point of view, identity has its key point in the first years of a subject's life. It is carried out through internal or intrapsychic processes in which a human being establishes a relationship with himself. This process involves observation, analysis, assessment, reflection, and decision-making regarding what happens outside of it.

On the other hand, there is the interpersonal or relationship side, in which the links that a subject makes with others play a fundamental role. These links, from childhood, can be references for behavior, learning and understanding the dynamics within a society.

The conception of an individual identity

Regarding the idea that a subject can develop regarding his own identity, the approach of philosophy raises important questions. All the answers that can be given to these questions, in some way, will create a concept of identity and determine a series of changes in the person.

The question of "who am I?" somehow, it induces a person to identify the properties that make them the person they are and what it is that defines them as a person. These properties can vary within space and time, so a person can vary her identity depending on the moment of her life in which she is.

Within philosophy there is also talk of persistence, which has to do with what makes a person's identity persist from one moment to another, that is, that which allows it to have continuity in time.

Although identity may vary over the years or with the different moments that someone lives, there is a factor that persists, something that makes it the same person.

For example, an adult might identify himself in an old photo and claim that the person in the photo is him. The question that arises is, what is it that makes the person from now remain the same in the photo, that is, the same person from that moment? It is this that gives way to the persistence of someone's individual identity from a philosophical point of view.

John Locke's work

John Locke, an English philosopher, was one of the first to write a treatise on the subject. In Essay on human comprehension (1689), some of his ideas are set out, which consist in defining the identity of a person, which consists of the awareness that he has of himself.

This concept is usually related to memory capacity. In this way, a person who exists right now can be the same person who existed in a previous moment because she is able to remember her past experiences.

Certainly, many of these themes are also linked to metaphysics and one of the most famous examples of this philosopher exposes the idea that the soul of a prince can possess the consciousness of his life and be later transferred to the body of a shoemaker. This is how Locke affirms that the shoemaker would be the same person as the prince, but in a different body.

Examples of individual identity

Regarding the formation of individual identity, there are different aspects that define someone as a person. They all have to do with the formation of one's own identity which in turn depends on the vision that the same person has of herself.

Individual identity is also influenced by choices regarding tastes, studies, roles and more

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Social factors

Like nationality, language, culture and the impressions that a person may have about them, it will allow them to identify with certain characteristics. For example, Diana may present herself as a Colombian woman whose native language is Spanish.

Physical factors

They have to do with the physical characteristics with which you are born and that can vary over time. Keeping the example of Diana, we can also say that she is a person with brown skin, light eyes and brown hair.

The factors that are carried out by choice

These are those elements that the person decides to integrate himself throughout his life. They have to do with beliefs, tastes, studies, actions, customs and more.

Diana can define herself as a catholic person, pro green, vegetarian and animal lover and all these factors are part of her identity. It is all of this that makes her the person she is right now.

References

1. (2002). Personal Identity. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Recovered from plato.stanford.edu
2. Serva C. What Is Personal Identity? - Definition, Philosophy & Development. Recovered from study.com
3. Personal Identity. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Recovered from iep.utm.edu
4. Personal identity. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Recovered from e.wikipedia.org
5. Shoemaker S (2017). Personal identity. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Recovered from britannica.com
6. Olson E (2016). Personal Identity. Oxford Bibliographies. Recovered from oxfordbibliographies.com