Micro-level mechanisms of identity development: The role of emotional experiences in commitment development.

Abstract

Based on Marcia's theory, many researchers consider exploration and commitment as the main processes in identity development. Although some identity theorists have hypothesized that emotional experiences may also be an important part of the mechanisms of identity development, empirical research to investigate this claim has been lagging behind. In this study, we shed light on the role of emotional experiences in micro-level commitment dynamics, and compare this to the role of exploration. We take a within-individual approach, and particularly focus on educational commitment. We collected weekly measurements among 103 first year university students over several months, resulting in 22 to 30 measurements for each individual. Every week, the students reported an important experience and accompanying positive and negative emotions, their level of educational exploration and commitment. We generated linear growth models for each individual separately, using Dynamic Linear Modeling. These individual models generate regression weights that indicate how strong the impact is of exploration, positive and negative emotional experiences on changes in micro-level commitment for each individual. Our main finding is that both positive and negative emotional experiences are indeed related to changes in educational commitment.Positive experiences, but surprisingly, also negative experiences, are related to increases in educational commitment for the majority of individuals. Moreover, for the large majority of individuals, the impact of emotional experiences is larger than the impact of exploration. We therefore conclude that it is highly likely that emotional experiences are an essential part of the micro-level mechanisms of identity development.3

The Landscape of Identity Model: An Integration of Qualitative and Quantitative Aspects of Identity Development

“…In addition to whether the experience is the result of exploration, we suggest that the weight of the experience may also matter: much like how trampling heavily in a valley can be expected to have more of an impact on the valley than walking carefully, our model suggests that experiences that have more weight will have a larger impact on someone's identity development than an experience will little weight. This is supported by findings showing that the more emotionally intense an experience is, the more likely it is to affect the strength of an individual's commitment (Van der Gaag et al, 2017).…”

“…The importance of experiences in the formation of identity is supported by several theorists (e.g., Bosma & Kunnen, 2001;Grotevant, 1987;Kerpelman et al, 1997;De Ruiter et al, 2017), as well as by empirical studies that stress the importance of emotional experiences in identity development (Vleioras & Bosma, 2005). In fact, emotional experiences often impact changes in commitment more strongly than acts of exploration do (Van der Gaag et al, 2017). This indicates that while exploration may be an important catalyst for identity development, experiences have a more direct influence on commitments.…”

“…We think it may be useful to think about commitments as existing on an integration continuum, ranging from very abstract to very concrete, because this conceptualization allows us to bring together lines of research that have, thus far, defined identity in two different ways (Carlsson, 2015;Van der Gaag et al, 2017;Waterman, 2015). The first concerns an individual's commitment to, and exploration of, relatively abstract ideas that the individual has about themself in relation to specific domains of life (e.g., Bosma, 1985;Bosma et al, 2012;Marcia et al, 1993).…”

“…With the quantitative aspect of identity we refer to the strength of the commitments (that is, one's dedication to facets of identity; e.g., Crocetti et al, 2008;Luyckx et al, 2006) and the amount of exploration that may have accompanied these commitments. With the qualitative aspect of identity, we refer to the content of commitments, the extent to which the content is integrated into a coherent whole (see also , and the quality of one's experiences (Van der Gaag et al, 2017).…”

“It’s a New Chapter Now”: Establishing Commitments in the Romantic Domain during Young Adulthood

“…The results of the present study are supported by previous studies, which have indicated that positive emotional experiences (Vleioras & Bosma, 2005) and low levels of conflict (Kunnen, 2006) may precede a strengthening of commitments in various relational domains. Furthermore, a recent study by van der Gaag, Albers, and Kunnen (2017) showed that positive emotional experiences were more strongly related to an increased strength in micro-level commitments than exploration in the educational domain. Role changes, such as becoming a parent or a partner, also seemed to influence some of the participants to view romantic relationships as more important to them.…”