fei75766_ch07_206-241.indd 231  02/06/20 11:52 AM
Chapter 7    Erikson: Post-Freudian Theory231
Historically, humans havedeveloped andexpressed theiridentity byhowthey
dress, what theybuy,which clubs andgroups theyjoin,which religious groups they
arebornintoorjoin,which schools theyattend, andwhich town, state, orcountry 
theyareraised in.Belonging togroups andconnecting toother people isamain way
todeveloping andexpressing ouridentity. Social psychologists refertogroups we
identify withas“in-groups” (us)andthose wedonotas“out-groups” (them).
Inmodern culture, ourgroups arebecoming lessandlessphysical andmore 
andmore virtual oronline. Tobesure, since themid-tolate-1990s, theInternet has
become amajor presence inpeople’s livesandfewgroups havetaken toitmore 
thanadolescents. Itshould notbesurprising, therefore, thatpsychologists, including 
those inspired byErikson, havebeen intensively studying theeffects oftheInternet 
andtechnology onadolescent development (Kay, 2018). Onemajor theme ofthis
research ishowtheInternet andtechnology haveshaped adolescent identity, bothfor
thebetter andtheworse. 
Let’s firstlookattheways thattechnology canhavebeneficial effects onado-
lescent identity. Some linesofresearch havereported thatonline communication 
hasapositive influence onteenagers’ relationships andwell-being (Valkenburg &
Peter, 2009). Thatis,bycommunicating online, teens disclose theiridentity and
selves toothers, which canincrease thequality ofthese relationships. Similarly, 
Bannon, McGlynn, McKenzie, andQuayle (2014) explored theassociation between 
Internet use,identity, andconnectedness inyoung people whohaveadditional sup-
portneeds. Thirty-six suchteens metinfocus groups andtheirdiscussions were 
recorded andthentranscribed word-for-word. Thetranscriptions were thenanalyzed 
forthemes. Onemajor theme toemerge wasthatof“Identity andConnectedness.” 
Internet discussions andactivity appear tofoster inthese teenagers asense ofiden-
tity,competence, andconnectedness. Byproviding aneasyplatform toconnect and
communicate withother people, social media andtheInternet foster relationships 
andconnection.
Inaddition, social media footprint—our “likes,” posts, tweets, andshares—is 
veryrevealing ofouridentities andpersonalities. Forexample, Ivcevic andAmbady 
(2012) reported thatpeople could accurately andreliably evaluate people’s personali -
tiessimply byobserving andrating theirFacebook profile picture, quotes, interests, 
books, movies, activities, andmusical preferences. Another study found thatobtain -
ingjust90to100“likes” onpeoples’ Facebook pages wereasaccurate atpredicting 
theirpersonalities asother people’s assessments oftheFacebook account owner’s 
personality, andthatoverall, digital footprints predicted personality better thanthe
average human assessment (r=0.56vs.r=0.49, respectively) (Youyou, Kosinski, 
&Stillwell, 2015). 
Yet,there arealsodangers anddetrimental effects oftheInternet andtechnol -
ogyonadolescent identity, mood, andbehavior. People clearly present different iden-
tities aswellastheirrealandtheirfalseordesired selves through social media. Given 
thefactthatthepresenter cancompletely control thephoto, content, andmessage 
ofthepost, comment, ortweet theycanbeallthemore strategic inthekindof“self” 
theywant other people tosee.Some research reports thatthisbiased self-presentation 
ofideal andfalseselves onsocial media ismost likely inteens andyoung adults who
arehighest inanxiety (Michikyan, Subrahmanyam, &Dennis, 2014). Inturn, highFinal PDF to printer