Assignment
"According to psychological theorist, Erik Erikson, cognitive, social and moral development continues well beyond childhood throughout the entire lifespan. Adolescence is a particularly crucial stage in the development of a sense of "self" or a personal identity. Adolescents often struggle with questions like: Who am I? What do I like? What group do I belong with?
In this forum, explain Erikson's adolescent stage of lifespan development (Identity vs Identity diffusion). How would you describe the primary task of this stage? Adolescent development plays out predominantly during middle and high school years, but can also stretch through the early college years. Explore your own adolescent development by discussing any cliques or crowds (textbook) that you DID or DID NOT identify with in your middle/high school experience. Do you consider yourself to still be exploring your permanent sense of personal identity? How does this stage relate to the pressure some students feel during the freshman year of college to choose a major?"
My Response
It's never too late to play … the piano.
Identity diffusion is when you have developed without a sense of identity. This can mean physically, psychologically, psychiatrically, etc.
Identity is important at adolescence because you finalize yourself then. For example, if you want to be a violinist, you should have started violin before, at least I hear if you want it easier, but it's competitive.
In middle school, we were embarrassed to sum up our friends. Mine were blonde haired, blue eyed, more from Up North, though not technically all of them. We were supposed to be friends more than making a scene as a clique or even admitted as friends. Maybe, we weren't really friends, then.
In high school, I attended 4 different schools but was at a public high school for my first 3 years. I didn't know where I wanted to go. I met some people a grade older who seemed more respectful than my generation, class of 2004 born in 1985/1986. They seemed like intuitive freaks and were casual but kind of artsy even. They knew the 1st "Harry Potter" movie was all that mattered and we got tickets in advance and they didn't care about the sequels. It totally changed my life, more than "Pirates of the Caribbean," which I did not know about coming out until I was 21 when I watched it or a little in advance.
At age 32, I am still developing, but I might be insensitive to some things forever. For example, I found I wanted to mainly do violin, but I don't know if it's because I was a music major or because I like an orchestra from Germany because it has a violinist I like in it.
People must go through a lot chosing to enter the fields of communications and writing, science and engineering, or maybe something like the arts they did growing up. I think the most pressure is violin. You have to have started young. A lot of people resort to guitar, and prestigious schools or conservatories for classical music are adding on contemporary majors.
To add to that, I wanted to say that I noticed people grow up anticipating love from parental figures, which is the stage I'm at and I don't know what comes next because I do a lot of mature things like that already. I mean, I can focus on my life without worrying about it, but a lot of people bother me about it.