IDENTIFICATION AND INDIVIDUATION PROCESSES IN FAMILY NARRATIVES. ANALYSIS OF ACTIVITY PATTERNS

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IDENTIFICATION AND INDIVIDUATION PROCESSES IN FAMILY NARRATIVES. ANALYSIS OF ACTIVITY PATTERNS

Journal Title: Educational Psychology - Year 2013, Vol 46, Issue 4

Abstract

Abstract: The paper attempts to describe the processes of identification and individuation in family members and family development based on the development of family activity patterns in narratives. The objective is to observe these processes (described in accordance with identity understood as a set of characteristics) from the narrative perspective. According to this perspective, a family builds a common store of knowledge – ethos, epistemology, paradigm – whose important part are descriptions of actions in the form of activity patterns. They refer to the properties of human motivations and actions in a broader sense and thus are a source of information about identity. The narratives of family members (at various stages of family development) concerning their daily life, history and personal descriptions were studied. The texts were studied in their profound meaning by distinguishing a number of structures describing actions. The manner in which similarities and differences among family members develop and the way families stand out against other families point to the identification and individuation processes – mainly in children and parents but also in spouses. It was revealed that the identification and individuation processes in family members resulted in a unique, family-specific arrangement of activity patterns. The identification processes go from social identification to individuation to personal identity. The period of adolescence was found to be the climax of the identification process – in terms of using compound language structures unique to a family. The individuation process intensifies in the period of adolescence and is connected to teenagers’ focusing attention on other people’s actions performed independently and to their downgrading activities performed together. The identification and individuation processes take place in two directions: as an intrapsychic phenomenon and as an interactive process concerning the negotiations of meanings. The identification process is particularly noticeable at the first stage of marriage, and when their children leave home, the process of re-individuation takes places between older spouses.

Authors and Affiliations

Małgorzata Chądzyńska

Keywords

EP ID EP53277
DOI -
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