Synonyms
Definition
Identification is an ego defense or mental mechanism through which an individual, in varying degree, makes himself or herself like someone else; he identifies with another person. This results in the unconscious taking over of various elements of another (Laughlin 1979).
Introduction
There is a noteworthy confusion and lack of clarity in the definition of identification in the literature (see Cramer 2006). Identification most often has been described as a defense mechanism and is a mostly an unconscious process, but may also have preconscious and conscious features (Schafer 1968). When using identification as a defense, the individual takes experiences with the outside world and places them inside to create new ego schemes (Laughlin 1979) or ego structures (Cramer 2006). Identification, when done consciously, is often accompanied by a simple form of imitation and a modeling of oneself after some aspects or...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Cramer, P. (1987). The development of defense mechanisms. Journal of Personality, 55, 597–614.
Cramer, P. (1991a). The development of defense mechanisms. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Cramer, P. (1991b). Anger and the use of defense mechanisms in college students. Journal of Personality, 59(1), 39–55.
Cramer, P. (1997). Evidence for change in children’s use of defense mechanisms. Journal of Personality, 65(2), 233–247.
Cramer, P. (1999). Ego functions and ego development: Defense mechanisms and intelligence as predictors of ego level. Journal of Personality, 67(5), 735–760.
Cramer, P. (2006). Protecting the self: Defense mechanisms in action. Guilford Press.
Freud, S. (1917). Mourning and melancholia. The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, 14, 1914–1916.
Freud, S. (1921). Group psychology and the analysis of the ego. The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, 18, 65–143.
Freud, S. (1923). The ego and the id. The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, 19, 1–66.
Freud, A. (1936). The ego and the mechanisms of defence. Revised edition, The Writings of Anna Freud, 2.
Kernberg, O. (1967). Borderline personality organization. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 15(3), 641–685.
Laughlin, H. P. (1979). The ego and its defenses. New York: J. Aronson.
Meissner, W. W. (1970). Notes on identification: I. Origins in Freud. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 39, 563–589.
Meissner, W. W. (1974). The role of imitative social learning in identificatory processes. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 22, 512–536.
Menaker, E. (1979). Masochism and the emergent ego: Selected papers of Esther Menaker. L. Lerner (Ed.). New York: Human Sciences Press.
Perry, J. C., & Bond, M. (2012). Change in defense mechanisms during long-term dynamic psychotherapy and five-year outcome. American Journal of Psychiatry, 169, 916–925.
Schafer, R. (1968). Aspects of internalization. New York: International Universities Press Inc.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Békés, V., Perry, J. (2016). Identification. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1386-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1386-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences