In the previous essays I talked about the development of identity, anguishes associated with it and I distinguished anguishes regarding sexual identity from the ones that concern sexual life in general. This essay will be focused on how nature and nurture are intertwined and on how culture influences identities nowadays.
What does identity mean, after all? I’ll propose to approach the development of identities from two angles[1]:
1) Drives- the first angle focuses on the development of male and female drives/energies in all identities from birth on. They are present in emotional atmospheres coming from family, parents/carers, in parents/family behavioral models and in traits introjected by children during childhood, which will have an impact on their sexual identities and emotional growth whenever it is the time to search and choose their directions in life.
2) Ego development- the second angle is focused on understanding Ego’s role in the development of individuals. It works as a moral Instance in charge of guiding interactions (sociability) and of keeping emotional balance.
The first angle was developed in the previous essays. This essay will be dedicated to the second one, aiming at scrutinizing our view on some controversial issues regarding identity development. Both feminine/masculine drives and emotional atmospheres (coming from parents and the environment) affect babies and, later, children in a positive or negative way, i.e, bringing up creativity or inhibition of their personality. Moreover, from 2 years and half on (give it or take) if everything went accordingly to what was biologically expected, organisms reach a pattern of sensorial stability, due to the conclusion of physiological systems: brain, motor, digestive, urinary and their correlated emotions: satisfaction-coming from satiety, relief-coming from defecating and pleasure- coming from the discharge of tension (urinating)[2]. Physiological stability produces a pattern of regularity (rhythm) that enables the mind to shift the large amount of energy invested before from the internal to the external world, allowing for sociability. From that time on, children start the psychological stage, which is marked by interaction, learning skills and introjection of roles coming, mainly, from parents, but also from other important affective references. This set of experiences offers a sort of menu composed by concepts, values, ideas and interests that children incorporate as a repertoire that gives them a sense of belonging in the world. Freud called it Ego.
To be continued on the next Post
[1] From now on I will develop my own clinical reflections based, mainly, on Psychodramatic Analysis as main methodological reference.
[2] For more details see Dias in Post 3- Cenesthetic development, in Sexuality and Sexual Identity Essay in: www.ceciliapsicologa.org
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