Transformation of Identity

As individuals grow up, most adults will gradually acquire a certain identity, which includes our professions, such as teachers, farmers, civil servants, etc., as well as our social relationships, such as fathers and brothers; Also includes our beliefs, such as Christians, Buddhists, etc. But most people go through life without thinking particularly about their identity - where does my identity come from? What identities do I have? who I am? Is it possible that I have another identity? From the perspective of adult development theory, identity is a concrete definition of our relationship with the outside world, and it is also a sign that distinguishes an individual from others and groups. The state of maturity of a person depends on the degree to which we understand our own identity. Individuals who can achieve a high degree of self-change can often easily transform their identities.

On the contrary, if we hope to achieve a higher mental model, such as a state of self-change, actively seeking to transform our identity is also a very good way to practice.

When it comes to identity transformation, we can find many successful examples. Everyone has the experience of identity transformation several times in their life. The identity transformation we refer to here should refer to those identity transformations that continuously transcend the existing identity and can create greater personal and social value. Many successful leaders in the world often have the experience of identity transformation. Some are passive and some are active. But every transformation (Transformation) is a transformation and sublimation.

The achievements that Steve Jobs can achieve come from the transformation of his own identity. But this change is a relatively passive process. His biggest identity change occurred when he was expelled from Apple and his subsequent experiences.

Everyone knows the story of Steve Jobs’ career. He founded Apple Computer in 1976 and led Apple to its successful IPO in 1980. During this period, he led the launch of a series of excellent Apple computer products.

However, because Jobs’ business philosophy was different from that of most managers at the time, and because competitors continued to intensify competition and seize large markets, the management blamed Jobs for the failure, and passed a board resolution in 1985. His operating rights were revoked. After several unsuccessful attempts to regain power, Jobs left Apple Computer on September 17, 1985.

After resigning from Apple, Jobs invested in the establishment of Pixar Animation Studio in 1986, and launched the world's first fully 3D animated film "Toy Story" in 1995. The company was acquired by Disney in 2006, making Jobs Disney's largest individual shareholder.

Later, when Apple was in crisis, Jobs returned and launched drastic reforms, stopped unreasonable R&D and production, ended the years of patent disputes between Microsoft and Apple, and began to develop new products iMac and OSX operating system. In 1997, Apple launched the iMac. Its innovative transparent shell design made the product a hit and allowed Apple to survive its financial crisis. Subsequently, Jobs led Apple to launch iTunes and iPod one after another. At the same time, he also began to open stores in prime locations and achieved great success. Subsequently, a series of products such as Apple TV and iTunes Store were well received and recognized by the market. In June 2007, Apple launched the iPhone again. Since then, every time it is launched, it has caused great madness and sales boom in the world. Apple has also transformed from Apple Computer Company into the current Apple Company.

If you take a closer look, you will find that this process is exactly the process of Jobs's identity change. The key event that triggered this change was his expulsion from Apple. After that, he had the opportunity to become an investor, the boss of an animation company, and the largest individual shareholder of Disney. It is conceivable that when Jobs returned to Apple, his identity had fundamentally changed. In the past, his self-identity was defined as a "computer person", but after returning, this identity was broken, prompting him to lead Apple to carry out many cross-border integration and innovation activities, such as launching the Apple store model and launching the iPhone. wait.

Just imagine, if Jobs had not been expelled from Apple and had been leading Apple smoothly, would Apple have achieved a series of brilliant achievements? At that time, many companies were already integrating resources to develop similar products and services.

Apple's ability to become a leader in innovation and industry integration stems precisely from the transformation of Jobs' identity, and this transformation was a process full of pain and suffering for Jobs.

Jobs’ identity change was a passive experience, but modern society increasingly values ??people who can actively change their identity.

The representative figure in this regard should be Musk. Elon Musk has multiple identities. He is the founder of many companies and an outstanding engineer. He has also invested in and participated in many movies and TV series.

From 1995 to 2000, Musk and his partners founded three companies, namely the online content publishing software "Zip2", the electronic payment "X.com", and the international trade payment tool "PayPal" . Later, his entrepreneurship became even more spectacular. He founded a series of successful companies, including SPACEX, Tesla, and the photovoltaic power generation company Solar City Corporation. Sometimes it is difficult for you to define which industry or profession he belongs to. This is a perfect example of constantly self-expanding identity.

In fact, there are many cases of such identity transformation in reality. Nicholas Tse was a singer when he debuted. Later I heard that his business was also very successful. In recent years, I discovered that he was very devoted to cooking and has become a well-known gourmet and skilled chef.

After graduating from Peking University, Xu Xiaoping worked as a teacher, immigrated to Canada, and joined New Oriental Ventures. In his recent career, he has successfully transformed into an angel investor and fund manager.

Psychologist Bill Torbert believes that "transformation people will try to integrate their exploration of the world into more parts of their lives. Whether it is through singing, dancing or sports , whether through meditation, prayer or journaling, or through carpentry, sewing or cooking, or through poetry, musical instruments or drama, transformational people will search for various connections to allow themselves to perceive the external world in different ways and oneself." It can be seen that people who change themselves can be more proactive in achieving more identity transformations.

In psychology, identity involves political, professional, religious, intimate relationships, friendships, and gender positioning. Among them, ideology and occupation are two key areas that define identity.

If we look at the process of identity formation, we can divide it into four stages. They are respectively

-Identity confusion period

-Identity standardization period

-Identity personality period

-Identity transcendence period

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1. Chaos stage: Individuals in the identity chaos stage have no perception of identity, or even reject it. Their psychology is still very immature, and they will show children's behavior patterns or have their own impulsive thoughts about society. Individuals at this stage are often unable to effectively integrate into society and establish appropriate identity perception and identity positioning. Some scholars in psychology divide individuals in this chaotic state into three types: rejecters, wanderers and seekers.

2. Normative period: Individuals in the normative period will effectively establish their own value system and concepts. Their identity comes from their cognition of social identity. They are willing to follow social norms and are good social citizens, but they are also afraid of change and reject the impact of different ideas. We can call them guardians.

3. Personality period: As individuals grow, some adults will gradually establish their own identity. They do not only rely on social groups to exist, they have their own expertise and independent identity. From an identity perspective, we can call them parsers.

4. Transcendence period: In the process of constructing identity, more complex identity control comes from the establishment of multiple identities and the conversion between identities. At this level, there are three types of individuals. We You can call them identity controllers, masters, and selfless ones.

(Strategic manipulator, Pastiche? and Relational self).

(1) The manipulator gradually separates from the "self" in society, and they believe that identity is role-playing in different scenarios;

< p> (2) Masters give up all pursuit of a basic identity and instead treat every social interaction and interaction as an opportunity to make a difference, thereby defining their role in the moment.

(3) The selfless person has given up all exclusive identity recognition of himself and can transform his identity at any time in social interactions.

The Sixth Patriarch Huineng, a heavyweight figure in Chinese Buddhism in history, gave us a successful example of transcending one's own identity and achieving a state of selflessness. According to the "Sixth Patriarch Altar Sutra", because the Sixth Patriarch Huineng was chased by evil people after receiving the mantle from the Fifth Patriarch, he took refuge in a hunter's team and lived with the hunters for fifteen years. . It's really easy to live with the situation and live according to the circumstances. This is the ultimate state of transcending identity. Obviously there are very few people who can transcend identity, but it can also give us a glimpse of the ultimate form of identity management.

The process of identity construction involves multiple factors such as past experience accumulation, current status expression and expectations for the future. A person's sense of identity is gradually formed through self-reflection.

Our exploration of identity often occurs in moments of choice and crisis. In these moments, old values ??and ways of working are revisited, and new possibilities emerge. By continually exploring new identity choices and building commitment to those choices, we are able to achieve identity transformation.

The level of exploration and commitment form four states of identity recognition. That is the state of "passively inherited identity", "ignorance of identity", "identity crisis" and "identity achievement".

The first state: passively inherited identity (referred to as "acceptance")

When the degree of identity exploration is low and the degree of commitment is high, it is a kind of "passive inheritance" status". In this process, individuals do not go through too much identity exploration, but directly obtain identity. Such identities often come from the ideas and beliefs of parents. If parents believe in Christianity, it is easy for their children to follow this belief. His parents are farmers, and his children naturally took over this career arrangement. The saying "dragon begets dragon, phoenix begets phoenix, mouse's son can make holes" describes this state. It is conceivable that individuals in this state have basically not seriously thought about other options for their identity, they just naturally passively accept it. For example, in slave societies, many children of slaves continued to be slaves. They did not consider other possibilities for such a tragic identity. The identity inherited in this way is very stable, but it is also in a state of ignorance and is not an active identity choice.

The second state: Ignorance of identity (referred to as "ignorance")

For identities that are passively inherited and accepted, at least there is still the perception and definition of identity. But even in modern society, many adults are in a state of ignorance with low levels of identity exploration and low levels of commitment. They will always avoid exploring their own identity, have no thought about specific beliefs and identities, and do not have any systematic identity commitment, as if they are in a vacuum zone of identity. Such people are very immature and often choose to isolate themselves in relationships. They are not very interested in identity-related topics or appear confused and hesitant. Therefore, they will not have too much identity confusion and sense of crisis.

The third state: Identity crisis (referred to as "crisis")

Identity crisis is when the identity commitment is gradually lost or becomes vague and unreliable, the individual will actively explore other The status of the identity selection scheme. People in this state show relatively high identity anxiety. They may feel that the world is unpredictable, but they will work hard to resolve such conflicts in the hope of gaining a new stable identity perception.

In modern society, many people will experience moments of identity crisis. As the external environment is changing rapidly, many past values, relationship patterns, and work nature are also changing rapidly. We will feel that our previous identities are gradually being lost, and new choices are gradually emerging.

What the development of artificial intelligence brings us is a typical sense of identity crisis. Identity crises also occur during moments of crisis, such as the death of a loved one or the loss of a job. These events cause an imbalance in our identity, causing us to seek a new balance in our identity.

The fourth state: Identity achievement (referred to as "achievement")

When we experience a specific identity crisis and come out of such a crisis, we can achieve a The state of identity attainment. This is a state of high exploration and commitment. At this time, individuals can gain a clear definition of their own identity and perceive a certain degree of completeness and successful experience in life.

When we want to actively change our identity, the above model can help awaken our awareness of our self-identity.

We can use the above model to understand which quadrant our identity cognition is in? We can try asking ourselves the following questions?

1. What aspects of your identity are inherited? Or was he forced to accept it due to pressure?

2 Have you ever actively thought about your identity? Do you like and approve of your current identity?

3. Have you ever had a moment when you questioned your identity? Have you ever had a moment when you didn’t like a certain aspect of your identity?

4. Have you picked up any new hobbies? Could these new hobbies become your career? Or can it allow you to perceive a new realm of life?

5. Are you satisfied with your current identity? Can you clearly define your identity? Do you have any other identity options? Do you have multiple identities?

If we hope to reach a higher realm of life, we can try to examine and change some of our identities. People who cultivate and develop their multiple identities and can freely switch between identities will also gain a real successful experience in life.