Author Question: Name and describe the four identity statuses that researchers use to evaluate progress in identity ... (Read 133 times)

erika · **on:** Jun 22, 2018

Name and describe the four identity statuses that researchers use to evaluate progress in identity development.

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Describe Carol Gilligans theory regarding the morality of girls and women. Are her claims supported by current research?

What will be an ideal response?

shailee · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 22, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Answer: Adolescents well-organized self-descriptions and differentiated sense of self-esteem provide the cognitive foundation for forming an identity. Using a clinical interviewing procedure devised by James Marcia (1980) or briefer questionnaire measures, researchers commonly evaluate progress in identity development on two key criteria derived from Eriksons theory: exploration and commitment. Their various combinations yield four identity statuses:
1. Identity achievement: Having explored alternatives, identity-achieved individuals are committed to clearly formulated self-chosen values and goals. They feel a sense of psychological well-being, or sameness through time, and of knowing where they are going.
2. Identity moratorium: Moratorium means delay or holding pattern. These individuals have not yet made definite commitments. They are in the process of exploringgathering information and trying out activities, with the desire to find values and goals to guide their lives.
3. Identity foreclosure: Identity-foreclosed individuals have committed themselves to values and goals without exploring alternatives. They accept a ready-made identity chosen for them by authority figuresusually parents but sometimes teachers, religious leaders, or romantic partners.
4. Identity diffusion: Identity-diffused individuals lack clear direction. They are not committed to values and goals, nor are they actively trying to reach them. They may never have explored alternatives or may have found the task too threatening and overwhelming.

Answer to Question 2

Answer: Carol Gilligan is the best-known of those who have argued that Lawrence Kohlbergs theory does not adequately represent the morality of girls and women. Gilligan believes that feminine morality emphasizes an ethic of care that Kohlbergs system devalues. According to Gilligan, a concern for others is a different but no less valid basis for moral judgment than a focus on impersonal rights. Many studies have tested Gilligans claim that Kohlbergs approach underestimates the moral maturity of females, and most do not support it. On hypothetical dilemmas as well as everyday moral problems, adolescent and adult females display reasoning at the same stage as their male agemates, and often at a higher stage. Themes of justice and caring appear in the responses of both sexes and when females do raise interpersonal concerns, they are not downgraded in Kohlbergs system. These findings suggest that although Kohlberg emphasized justice rather than caring as the highest moral ideal, his theory taps both sets of values. Nevertheless, some evidence indicates that although the morality of males and females taps both orientations, females do tend to emphasize care, whereas males either stress justice or focus equally on justice and care. This difference in emphasis, which appears more often in real-life than in hypothetical dilemmas, may reflect womens greater involvement in daily activities involving care and concern for others. Indeed, context profoundly affects use of a care orientation.