The Value Of Personal Identity

Personal identity is essential in the human experience. Identity is complex and can be broken down into two main groups: introspective identity, and bodily identity. Introspective identity is based off of the groups, mentalities, or beliefs that you align yourself with, and bodily identity is based off of the physical side of yourself. Whether physical or introspective, your identity impacts every action you take. Whether choices ranging from what colors you prefer to which college you want to attend are primarily based off of your introspective identity, which is a combination of both memory and consciousness, physical identity impacts how others perceive you. Consciousness is mainly the awareness of bodily identity as well as continuous introspective identify, while memory is awareness of introspective identity. These two different facets of identity are imperative in the distinction between bodily identity and introspective identity. In means of personal identity introspective identity (which is evident in memory), is essential, while bodily identity (based partially in consciousness) has less credit.

The concept of personal identity or personhood is a very complex area of philosophy that challenges our most basic understandings of mind and matter. Philosophers have generally settled into either the school of mind, or consciousness, and the school of body. As our ability to study the mind grows, through developments in psychology and neurology, consciousness-based theories have come to dominate the discussion of personal identity and body-based theories appear simplistic and even primitive. Thesis: Catriona Mackenzie, however, compels the field to make a renewed examination of the body by pointing out that the body is the very apparatus by which the self interacts with world, thereby shaping all of the experiences which constitute memory and consciousness.

The issue of personal identity is one of the most broadly treated problems in the philosophical community. “Who are we?” “Where do we come from?” “What makes us human?” are some of the inquiries that most people face during their lives. Consequently, because for the majority of people it is almost natural to ask themselves about the meaning of their own identity, it is understandable that most major philosophical figures have presented their own theories regarding this question (Olson). In the same manner, it is reasonable that there exist certain conflict between these ideas. One of the most negatively received theories of personal identity came from the mind of John Locke. Essentially, his theory equaled identity with a person’s

Personal identity is the unique numerical identity of a person in the course of his or her lifetime. Identification is necessary and sufficient conditions under which a person at one time and a person at another tie can be said to the same person, persisting through time. Personal continuity or also called personal persistence in psychology, is the uninterrupted connection that concerns between a particular person of his or her private life and personality. Personal continuity is the property of a connected and continuous period of time, it is also related with the person body of physical being in a single four-dimension continuum. With the decision theory, the primary subject would be rational choice. people have the decision to believe

Hello Paige, I live in Edmonton as well. Your hobbies are really interesting! It's always rewarding to indulge in a healthy and calming outlet such as yoga or meditation. I admire your strong sense of identity, you seem incredibly comfortable and confident in yourself and your passions. Although my major is not Psychology, I did take a General Psychology course in high school and I'm enrolled in PSYCH 290 and I have to say it's an extremely fascinating subject; probably one of my favorites this semester. I believe that from reading even a brief introduction about you that such an endeavor truly fits your personality.

Our backgrounds is usually what defines; my background is my identity. Everything about my life, my background and weirdly I would like to think my future spells hardship. I on the other hand would like to think that my background prepared me for this. As I look on my childhood, I contemplate what exactly made it enjoyable. Childhood should be simple but as for me, I was consumed with responsibilities, however hopeful for what the future might hold for me. My childhood was instrumental (very significant) in shaping who I have become as a young woman:

People’s worldview is shaped, in part, by the languages they speak and their ideologies on said languages. Each of my four grandparents grew up in a different country, so that has created in interesting mix of languages, cultures, and accents that I was exposed to at a young age. The languages I have been exposed to have ranged from religious studies,to self-learning, to an important language exam in high school. This tangle of different cultures not only makes family gatherings interesting, but it also plays an important part in my personal identity and beliefs.

As I looked across the table, facing a man wearing a University of Wisconsin sweatshirt in the University of Michigan library, questions began to roll through my head. “What’s Chance doing here?” (which I will admit was a little harsh). To understand this fashion choice and its implications, I asked Chance the first question to come to mind, “So, where are you from?” Chance replied, “Well, I’m from Texas”. This only added to my confusion, but Chance quickly continued to answer, telling me “My family is from Texas, and I lived there for a short time, but eventually my family and I found ourselves in Madison, Wisconsin.” Continuing the conversation, I asked Chance to describe his own experiences in his youth. While Chance did mention his parents, a character that continually showed up in his past was his grandmother. Curious, I asked him “Could you tell me more about her?”

Everybody has an identity, it makes them individual and unique, and it defines who you are as a person. This project about my identity showed me what makes me unique. I would have never known how much my friends mean to me or how my identities connect with each other. I have three identities that make me who I am, cultural, personal, and social. A specific quality that covers my cultural identity is being Czechoslovakian. Both sides of my family have at least a part of Czech in them. My great-grandparents are from Czech Republic and my grandpa was the first generation in America, he was born in Ohio. This is very important because I have always identified as Czech and it is a big part of me, as I am so interested in ancestry. For my personal identity, the biggest part is my personality, being loud and outgoing, has always been important to me. The reason being, it is how people view me. A lot of people know me as the loud person or the person who talks a lot. That is meaningful to me considering I like people to view me in a certain way The last identity, social, is one of the most important to me because it involves my friends, and through this project, I learned how vital they really are to my social identity. I realized that I have a good amount of friends in this project. It is nice to have people as a support system and to relate with. These qualities show that I value being loud and outgoing. It also says that I value my family and they are a big part of life. The last one, social, ties in with the first one because it shows I am outgoing and friendly.

Many people question themselves, what is it exactly that makes them unique? What is it that defines them as a unique person that no one in the world possesses? In philosophy, these questions do not have just one answer, and all answers are correct depending on which theory appeals most and makes sense to you. In general, there are two ways people approach this question, some say that a person’s identity is the “self” that carries all of their experiences, thoughts, memories, and consciousness (ego theorists), and some say that a person’s identity is just a bundle of experiences and events that a person has been through in their life, these people deny that the “self” exists (bundle theorists). In this paper, I will be arguing that a person’s identity is just a bundle of experiences, denying the self and the memory criterion.

I have always believed that the true nature of someone can only be found when there is nothing left other than their core. The only things at someone’s core is their heart and their mind. I still can’t speak eloquently, but I talk to my heart’s content. I barely have time for my own interests, yet I help anyone that are asking for help. I will never earn a Nobel Peace Prize, but I know I will always want to learn more and improve myself.

“Some…memberships are more salient than others; and some may vary in salience in time and as a function of a variety of social situations” (Tajfel, 2-3) Salience of identity, in the way that we need to understand it in the case of perception and decision making, can be operationalized as the likelihood that a particular identity will be invoked within a certain situation that the individual is being faced with (Hogg, Terry, & White, 257). As mentioned previously, everyone holds various identities but salience is the process through which we subconsciously decide which we be used to base our decision making or preferences on. “The salience of a particular social identity for an individual may vary from situation to situation and indeed from

My family, church, and country are the three communities that have formed my understanding of the world and have helped shape my identity and values.

Our society tends to set standards for people in different social situations and expects them to comply to a certain degree with those set standards. Whether you identify as a man, woman, or specific sexual orientation places such as the work place, school, bars, or with a close loved one require different models of behavior that are deemed acceptable. Our dynamic and constantly shifting identities are a result of or contrast to the standards society put in place as a mean of defining the average behavior in said environments.

Although American society provides us with much, it hurts our identities. There is an expectation to act a certain way and fit in. Technology has made us impressionable and tells us what to think, not allowing for personal opinions. School, a big part of society, does not allow people to pursue other activities and parts of their identities. American society tries to tell us how to act, what to think, and doesn’t allow time to discover ourselves.