 27. Identity Negotiation  601
successes had led them to expect. So, re -
buffed, they sought refuge with a group of 
fellow visitors with whom they felt a sense 
of shared essence (Swann et al., 2014). These 
visitors happened to have radical leanings. 
Over time, the eventual terrorists gradu -
ally became more and more aligned with a 
jihadist group, culminating in the fusion of 
their personal identities with the social iden -
tities associated with this new group (e.g., 
Swann & Buhrmester, 2015; Swann, Jetten, 
Gómez, Whitehouse, & Bastian, 2012). The 
consequences of this identity fusion process 
were catastrophic.
Developmental Growth and  Role  Changes
One common source of identity change is 
set in motion when the larger community 
recognizes a significant change in the indi -
vidual. Such changes, for example, may en -
tail the person’s age (e.g., when adolescents 
become adults), status (e.g., when graduate 
students become professors), or social role 
(e.g., when single people get married). When 
such transformations occur, the community 
may abruptly alter the way that it treats the 
person. Usually, targets of such differential 
treatment eventually become less invested in 
maintaining their initial identities and bring 
their identities into harmony with the treat -
ment they currently receive. Support for such 
scenarios comes from theories and research 
suggesting that late adolescence marks a de -
velopmental period during which changing 
treatment and expectations prompt signifi -
cant identity change (Arnett, 2000; Erikson, 
1959).
Acquisition and  Loss of  Abilities
At various times in life, people acquire new 
competencies or lose established ones. Al -
though both gains and losses can occur at 
any point, gains tend to be concentrated dur -
ing the early years (e.g., acquiring the ability 
to play sports, drive a car) and losses tend to 
be concentrated during the later years (e.g., 
losing  the ability to play sports, drive a car). 
Whether people gain or lose an ability, the 
experience can have important implications 
for their identity. One especially powerful 
influence on people’s abilities and related 
capacities is their physical health. Because serious illnesses have ramifications for so 
many aspects of people’s lives, the shift from 
“healthy person” to “patient” may be one of 
the most psychologically wrenching identity 
transformations that people undergo. In a 
related vein, the physical changes that in -
evitably accompany aging can produce pro -
found identity change even in healthy per -
sons (Whitbourne, 1996).
Strategic  Self‑Verification
When people realize, either explicitly or im -
plicitly, that a chronic identity could prevent 
them from achieving a valued goal, they may 
negotiate a situated identity that promotes 
the attainment of that goal. Over an extend -
ed period of time, such negotiations may 
produce permanent identity change. Consid -
er, for example, a woman who decides that 
her lack of social confidence will prevent her 
from retaining the admiration of her lover. 
Recognizing the problem, she may strive to 
convey a more sociable and confident perso -
na in the context of her relationship with her 
lover. If her lover recognizes her heightened 
sociability, she may internalize his positive 
reactions and come to see herself as more 
confident than she did originally (Swann et 
al., 2002). As another example, U.S. college- 
age men routinely respond to threats to their 
gender status with heightened attempts to 
demonstrate masculinity, even when they 
do not view themselves as especially mas -
culine (Bosson & Michniewicz, 2013; Van -
dello & Bosson, 2013). Such strategic self- 
verification meets important social goals for 
men, for whom manhood status is typically 
conceptualized as precarious and “easy to 
lose.” Notably, research shows that positive 
feedback from an interaction partner can 
encourage a person to internalize a new self-
view (Jones, Gergen, & Davis, 1962), thus 
increasing the likelihood that the target’s 
situated identity will become relatively per -
manent. Of course, as noted earlier, the like -
lihood of this will be reduced insofar as a 
chronic negative self-view is held with great 
certainty.
Self‑Initiated  Changes
On a related note, people may initiate an 
identity change to address or repair an un -