As the self continually develops with each and every interaction that it makes with its immediate environment since proximal processes are at its core, the need for the self to differentiate itself from the rest of the people essential to its development becomes a necessity. Alongside this, the self also develops its identity by identifying itself through a crowd or being with cliques closely similar to its characteristics. Finally, the self also identifies and develops itself through sex, gender, and sexual orientation. Essentially, this serves as a guide on how to further develop the self in one’s age of adolescence.
Although the self has been developing with each and every interaction with its environment since birth, there comes a need for individuation when the self reaches adolescence to separate itself from the self of the parents who are its current main identity agents and be branded as unique. In order to successfully do so, the adolescent de-idealises his/her parents by seeing them as human beings that are susceptible to errors just like anyone else. However, in order to maintain a healthy familial relationship despite the process of individuation, the adolescent must be able to express individuality and connectedness towards his/her family. It should be noted that such a process can be met with some resistance or opposition from the parents through their use of psychological control which consequently affects the adolescent’s self development and well-being.
With the child’s transition to the adolescent stage, his/her interaction with peers—cliques or crowds—increase as his/her interaction with parents or generally adults decrease. Focusing first on cliques and crowds, these two are structurally different with their own functions. Cliques are defined by common activities and friendship which are essentially the adolescent’s circle of friends. On the other hand, crowds are reputation-based and stereotyped individuals who may or may not spend time with each other. They are essentially a representation of a group of people in a certain social context. Crowds can be classified as caricatures, channels, and contexts. Each classification has its own function in the development of social relationships among numerous individual selves. Additionally, they also aid in the development of the identity of the self.
Eventually, there comes a time in one’s life wherein he/she is teased for acting more like his/her opposite sex. This may potentially impact his/her perception of the self and its possible social roles which is why studying or learning what sex, gender, and sexual orientation is important. Although sex and gender are often used interchangeably, they are completely distinguishable terms from one another. Sex is based on one’s biological features while gender is based on one’s own or society’s perception of himself/herself. It should be noted that the contemporary structure of society on sex and gender isn’t as simple as a binary model of male and female or masculine and feminine. It is a rather complex one that is structured using a sexualities matrix which accounts for sex, gender, and sexual orientation. In this model, sex consists of male, female, intersex, and trans. Gender consists of masculine, feminine, androgynous, and undifferentiated. Finally, sexual orientation consists of hetero, homo, and bi. One can identify himself/herself by choosing the most appropriate option from each category in the sexualities matrix. However, this is best done through the use of a continuum instead of exact points on one’s sex, gender, and sexual orientation. These are essential to identify as these contribute and influence social interaction and identity formation. Additionally, these may also lead to stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination among the individual.
I am fortunate to have parents that support the process of individuation as they encourage me to think and to make decisions for myself. Others may not be so fortunate as I am as they may have rather strict parents who strongly enforces psychological control on them. What intrigued me the most was how crowds can be seen as caricatures, channels, and contexts. Although they are indeed tangible realities that are happening in the world, this is one of the rare times that such words were easily able to wholly capture what currently most adolescents like myself are describing or talking about regarding the concept of crowds. Little did I know that these are actually the determinants of the people I interact with or the social relationships that I’ve formed. This will also determine the people who I’m likely to interact with in the future as I’m more drawn towards people like me unless the desirability to connect with someone unlike me is strong. I identify myself as male, masculine, and hetero based on the sexualities matrix. There are multiple possible combinations of such, but each and every combination deserves equal respect from everyone.
With all this, we can now better understand what is crucial to the development of our own unique selves, social relationships, and identity in the adolescent to early adulthood period.
Jacob's Journey 