Implicit motives and identity development

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jan Karl Hofer
• Subject Area: Developmental and Educational Psychology ; Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: from 2016 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 299302848

In developmental psychology, identity formation is understood as a life-long process. Nonetheless, due to developing cognitive capacities and new demands put forth by the social environment it is in adolescence that individuals begin to consciously deal with their own identity. Adolescents seek answers to the question Who am I?, they make their own life-plans, set goals, and look for guiding principles which they can use as orientation for their behavior. Various theoretical models describe identity formation as a process which is strongly formed by the sociocultural context which the adolescent grows up in. Cultural contexts set different demands for adolescents and grant certain freedoms but also set certain boundaries when it comes to the exploration of and commitment to identity elements. In particular, in modern societies, youths are expected to find their own unique identity without institutional help. Parenting styles, which often reflect dominant socialization goals in a given cultural context, are an additional factor in the process of identity formation. Studies have shown that apart from such external factors, internal factors have an impact on the process and the outcome of the identity crisis in adolescence. In particular, in various studies self-regulation has been identified to be an important resource in this context. The role of implicit motives, however, has not yet been examined in the context of identity formation. This is surprising as implicit motives energize and direct behavior. Moreover, they influence developmental processes across the life-span. In the present project the research traditions of implicit motives and identity formation which previously have been considered separately are meant to be brought together. Identity formation here is understood as a combination of exploration of and resulting commitment to goals. A central assumption of the project is that implicit motives form the process of identity formation because they function as a sort of weighing disposition, indicating whether an identity element (i.e., goal) under exploration shows a fit with one's inner needs. The multivariate, cross-cultural, and longitudinal design makes it possible to conjointly consider various significant factors that impact identity formation in adolescence, thus promising new insights in a topic that has always fascinated psychologists.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Holger Busch