The Willfull Pursuit of Identity

Abstract

The achievement of an identity is commonly construed as a choice between options, for instance, between becoming a physician or a chemist, a housewife or a professional. This approach, however, ignores the fact that identity choices, even when based on cumbersome deliberation, need to be followed up by implementational efforts. The present chapter focuses on this willful construction of a chosen identity (i.e., the implementation of identity goals) and attempts to delineate those features that distinguish it from other forms of goal-striving. More specifically, it is suggested that the pursuit of identity goals is enduring over time, as such goals cannot actually be completed and are not easily halted by failure. In fact, failure experiences invigorate identity goal pursuits, as suggested by various experiments demonstrating that identity-related failures affect subsequent identity-relevant performances positively. Moreover, it has been shown that identity-related social recognition hampers goal-directed efforts instead of facilitating them. Apparently, identity goals entail the mere claim to be, for example, a physician in the eyes of others (i.e., are represented on the level of social reality). The chapter also addresses issues of whether the willful pursuit of identities is moderated by people's framing of the identity goal in question (i.e., as a mastery goal as opposed to a learning goal, with a positive-outcome as opposed to a negative-outcome focus), and it discusses how the processes involved with choosing an identity differ from processes associated with the implementation of the chosen identity.

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