ABSTRACT
Identity is an expansive term that depicts ones self-concept-how an individual perceives the entirety of oneself in relation to the environment including relationships with others and assimilation into societal norms, beliefs, and standards (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Identity also refers to the integration of various components of oneself, one’s sub-identities. Individual identity develops and crystallizes across the lifespan, beginning with a young child’s awareness of signifi cant others and an initial sense of self and extending to the older adults’ summation, integration, and evaluation of one’s life accomplishments (Erikson, 1959). Currently,
research in identity is moving away from a static, unitary concept of identity toward a dynamic, multifaceted, and active conceptualization of the self (Baltes & Carstensen, 1991). This includes the working selfconcept that is thought to guide action and information processing on a moment-to-moment basis (Lord & Brown, 2004). The working selfconcept is the highly activated and contextually sensitive portion of the general self-concept (i.e., identity). Markus and her colleagues (e.g., Markus & Kunda, 1986; Markus & Wurf, 1987) introduced the notion of a dynamic self-concept to support their contention that the self-concept is not a unitary entity but an amalgamation of selves that vary in terms of activation across time and context.
