The Dimensions of Personal Identity

In this paper I tackle the question of personal identity as to “what attributes define a person and make them who they are”.  The paper aims at informing cultural competency trainees and learning providers and therefore I shall not go into detailed discussions about what defines personhood, evidence of personhood, or about what persistence of personality is (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d.)

Lack of Consensus

Researchers and theoreticians in the fields of philosophy, psychology and social sciences, do not have a consensus regarding what factors define personal identity. While West & Zimmerman, for example, focused in their research on the effects of gender, Maddox studied ethnicity.  Cheryan & Monin’s work, on the other hand, focused on nationality and Proshansky introduced and studied ‘place identity’. Professor Vivian Vignoles, of the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex, on the other hand proposes that identity has personal and social attributes. (Vignoles, n.d.).

Why comprehensiveness is necessary

The trend of considering that identity is defined by a small number of factors continues. Psychology Today for example mentions that “Identity encompasses the memories, experiences, relationships, and values that create one’s sense of self” (Psychology Today, n.d.). But these are only four dimensions that correspond to parts 2(i), 2(ii), 5(ii) and 3(i) of the taxonomy that I am proposing in this paper (See section The taxonomy: Dimensions of personal individual identity).  The four dimensions of the Psychology Today article therefore just form a small subset of the comprehensive taxonomy proposed in this article.   Some theoreticians, learning providers and other authorities may intentionally limit their research to a subset of the set of dimensions that define identity in order to focus on their purpose.  However, missing to mention the broader concept in full and lack of comprehensiveness continue to create misconceptions.  If we are to talk the same language, avoid problems that arise from miscommunication, and cover aspects that we need to be accurate and comprehensive as we define our terms. The reliability of any resource depends on how accurate, comprehensive and well categorised it is. I am therefore putting forward a fully comprehensive taxonomy of the dimensions of individual identity.

Constructing a taxonomy of attributes of personal identity

One way to build the taxonomy is by experiment; for example, actually asking people to answer the above two questions and categorising their answers.  Our experience tells us that when asked “who and what are you” most people usually start with stating their name which is actually just a social label. After stating their name, people’s answers differ in accordance with their situational priorities.  A medical doctor for example would in most cases mention their profession.  However, that same medical doctor would introduce herself as John’s mother if she were in a meeting with John’s teachers.  Politically active people may tell us about their affiliation.  If you record some voices and play them back to people who know the speakers, you would expect the listeners to say “Ah, this is Elias speaking” as they hear Elias’ voice.  But is Elias’ voice actually Elias or it is just one of the factors that define Elias?  Some person may say “John is a COVID survivor” focusing on John’s health as a determinant of john’s identity; others may state John’s religion.

Situational personal identity

While crossing into Syria from Lebanon in the 1980’s, I noticed that two of my students were being held up at a checkpoint.  When I asked the officer in charge why they are being held up he asked me “Why?? Well, what are they?”.  “My students”, I answered innocently, but I could immediately see dissatisfaction on his face.  He repeated his question this time aggressively!  Well at the time it was extremely dangerous for me to provoke a Syrian Army Officer but I actually did not know what angered him, or what he is trying to find out or to tell me!  I had answered the question to the best of my knowledge! I thought maybe he would like to know about their genders or how I know them.  My second attempt to provide him with the information was “they are a girl and a boy, teenagers, the children of my colleague Mr. Mansour, a school principal in the UAE!”.  The officer now looked quite provoked and he threatened me saying “Are you being witty? You either tell me what they are or I will send you to jail!”.  Well, he had the authority!  I was lucky that the next thing that came to my mind was their nationality. “They are Palestinians”, I said.  At the that moment the identity of these two children was almost limited to one factor: their nationality.  He had held them up at the border because they carried Palestinian travel documents -  an unwelcome identity! 

Categories of identity

The number of possible answers to the question “who or what are you?” is enormous. However, every possible response would fall within one of the categories included in the taxonomy that follows in the section The taxonomy: Dimensions of personal individual identity.  The taxonomy is more or less a comprehensive sorted list that does not does not completely agree with any one of the standard categorisations that I found in relevant literature.

A seven-dimensional concept

The taxonomy I propose for personal identity has seven independent categories or dimensions which are: the physical, the geographical/temporal, the personal, the cultural, the psychological, the social/ professional, and the intellectual.  Each of these major dimensions has subdimensions within it, as listed below.  I believe that every description of an individual would fall within the attributes that belong to these seven dimensions.  One exercise the reader may like to do is to see if there is anything about themselves that falls outside these dimensions, or if there is any of these dimensions that does not apply to them.

Identity versus sameness

The word identity originally comes from the Latin word idem, which means the same, hence when we speak of someone’s identity we are speaking of their constancy.    This constancy poses problems for many of the attributes of the list above undergo change; people change in height as they grow up, they gain experience and new memories with time, they change careers etc.  Without going into the philosophical question and analysing this problem, we are simply going to accept that there is ‘some essence’ that remains the same in a person keeping her/him the same person as she/he undergoes change with time!

The taxonomy: Dimensions of personal individual identity

1-    Physical

                                               i.     Race

                                             ii.     Health biometrics this would include blood type, blood pressure, etc.

                                           iii.     Sexual orientation (Gender)

                                            iv.     Appearance, voice and biometrics (size, height, weight, colour, etc.)

                                             v.     Biological links (to other individuals such as parents, children, siblings,…)

                                            vi.     Physical and artistic skills and abilities

2-    Geographical and temporal

                                               i.     Geographical (place of birth, places of work, travelled places, …)

                                             ii.     Temporal (date of birth [age], dates of other personal events …)

3-    Personal

                                               i.     Memories, experience and education

                                             ii.     Habits and hobbies

4-    Cultural

                                               i.     Beliefs (including religion), moral values, principles, priorities and preferences (including views on social status and social structures)

                                             ii.     Communication: language, body language, symbols, signs and ways of interpretation

5-    Psychological traits

                                               i.     Openness and agreeability

                                             ii.     Neuroticism (stability, joyfulness, ambition…)

                                           iii.     Conscientiousness

                                            iv.     Extraversion (social and emotional expressiveness, courage, charisma)

6-    Social and professional

                                               i.     Social Label (given names)

                                             ii.     Social affiliations, allegiances and nationality

                                           iii.     Social relationships (family, friendships, marital status)

                                            iv.     Social status, economic status and career

                                             v.     Social practices such as mannerism and customs (including socialising methods, celebrations, attire, cuisine, art, social activities)

7-    Intellectual and creative traits:

                                               i.     Intellectual (attentiveness, thoroughness, precision, scientific conceptualising, scientific perception, analytic and synthetic ways and abilities, systematicity and logic, …)

                                             ii.     Creativity

 

 

 

 

 

Introducing fluidity and temporality of personal identity

The answers to the questions ‘who are you?’ and ‘what are you?’ change with time leading us to doubt the existence of some constant that defines a person and that we can call ‘that person’s personal identity’.  Career is not a constant so should we for the sake of constancy of identity remove ‘career’ from the above list? Or should we keep it because when a person who is a teacher today changes her career, they do not become a different person? We know that people will never stop considering that being a journalist, a soldier, a mechanics etc. is a part of who they are!  People’s careers give them pride and determine many of their affiliations and a lot of their social life.  We do have a problem but the good news is that there is an easy solution that depends on accepting that in spite of change there is something that remains constant and keeps a person’s identity the as  some of its attributes change.

The power of “now” surfaces again

We all realise that we keep changing, but we also realise that there is something in each of us that keeps us the same person.  We do not want to delve deep in discussing what it is. In fact when we ask someone ‘who are you?’ or ‘what are you?’, we are actually interested in finding out ‘who are you now’ or ‘what are you now’!  The word now however, is implied and was hence removed; it is redundant.  If we try not to remove all implied words from everyday speech and seek absolute precision it becomes very difficult, or perhaps even impossible for us to communicate.  We always assume meaning as we communicate.  Even in science we accept conventions and brevity otherwise we would need to spend a lot of time in order to be precise.  For example, when we mention relativity, without having to be precise and say that we mean Einstein’s theory, we do imply it.  When a nurse tells you that “your weight is 60 Kilograms”, then she actually means to say “The reading that I see on the dial of these scales that you are standing on now is 60, hence my understanding is that your weight at the moment, and according to these scales not others, and at this location in the universe, is approximately 60 Kilograms” – Now that’s precise!  Well going to these lengths of precision is completely useless.

However, ‘who are you now?’ does not mean that your personal identity will change with time but that some attributes of it will do – we will keep considering that you are the same person as you change.

Personal Identity as a perception

Returning to the story of the Palestinian students who were stopped at the Syrian borders let us look into the nature of identity again.  Other than the temporal property of identity, ie its change with time, there seems to be a subjective property that is imposed by the subject whose identity is being looked into or by the outsider who is considering the subject. The perceptions of both, subject and the onlooker determine which factor of the identity is more prominent.  Hence it makes sense to say that our identity depends on our perception within the environment and at the moment and we need to realise that it is different from how identity is perceived by another person or even creature that is observing us even if it is at the same time and in the same environment!  From the preceding analysis the concept of fluid identity was born which poses the danger of identity being so fluid that it is meaningless to talk about it being a thing. 

Summary

In summary the personal identity of an individual is a concept that depends on who is perceiving that individual, when they do it and within what environment.  As a puma, for example, lurks in the woods watching you approaching the bush, it perceives you as a possible meal if she or her cubs are hungry, a threat if you were close to her den or an unwelcome intruder if you are scaring away the game she is hoping to catch.  At the same time your partner who is speaking to you over the mobile phone perceives you as a precious person.  A military pilot manoeuvring a surveillance drone observing you from his office far away, may perceive you as a potential terrorist that he needs to obliterate! 

A brief remark about the education of middle school boys in the Middle East

We need to pay special attention to the way we deal with middle school boys as they are need a lot of care if we are to succeed in preparing them for a successful future.  In the Middle Eastern cultures boys are granted high status based on their gender.  Teenage boys especially, would be in a delicate state of ‘imbalance’ as they try to feel their way in society and learn how to face the challenges of social status, success and self-esteem.  There are compartments of boys’ brains that are not fully-grown by that age.  They are not yet ready for making wise decisions regarding outcomes of their behavior and risk taking.  Moreover, some hormones become more abundant in their bodies interfering with their decision making and hindering their insight.  Hence, the prevailing cultural approach of giving them higher status than their sisters, and in some cultures even higher than their mothers, does not help.  While boys need to learn the habit of respecting others, the prevailing culture pushes them in another direction as they are called ‘man of the house‘, starting from a very early age.  Manhood to those young boys implies oppressing others, defiance and rebellion, rather than believing in equality, and practising wisdom, cooperation and responsibility.  Boys respond well only if you are serious, clear, firm, and caring simultaneously.  They also need continuous reassurance.

Classroom management

During my tenure as regional director one of the school leaders complained to me about an "unruly" lower-primary classroom whose students did not respond positively to any reward, or other consequences system, which they and the class teacher had tried.

After meeting with the teacher, during a lesson observation that we scheduled in order to look further into the matter, the Director made sure to draw my attention to specific student misbehaviour using head and eye gestures, repeatedly. About fifteen minutes into the lesson, I suggested that we have seen what was enough for us to be able to make a conclusion. The leader agreed and added that what I have seen must have confirmed to me how difficult the group was as ''even our presence made no difference to them!''.

I politely disagreed. My point of view is that he was looking most of the time in the wrong direction: at the students - observing how they behaved, rather than at the teacher observing what s/he offered.

I explained that we could only understand student behaviour and interest in learning if we focus on the atmosphere and environment that the teacher facilitates.

I supported my argument with examples about what the teacher was doing to disengage the students and what s/he alternatively could have done to develop a captivating lesson.

Eventually, with some concerted effort that included students, the teacher and the leader, we were able to draw and execute a plan that tackled the problem successfully. 

Dear teacher,

The environment that you create is the main determinant of student interest and their learning outcomes. In all systems that I observed, it was always possible for me to find teachers who were successful in creating learning conducive environments, and who earned their students' love and respect.

To get practical advice, teachers re welcome to contact me via LinkedIn messenger, of via our website http://edugates.net/contact/ regarding specific actual classroom issues.

Ayah Bdeir is a young Lebanese who founded and is the CEO of littlebit electronics, a company which produces little colourful modules that can connect to each other in a multitude of ways. Littlebits now partnered with Pearson and developed an invention based curriculum for Grades 3 to 8.

While Lebanon struggles against sectarian affiliation that make the eradication of corruption impossible, Ayah and people like her find more room for growth abroad.

Look for Ayah Bdeir on line and if you are a teacher or interested in opening opportunities of creativity for yuor children, then check her work.

Here are a couple of links to start with

https://www.facebook.com/littleBitselectronics/?fref=nf

https://littlebits.com/pearson-littlebits-invention-curriculum

Tackling the educational state of affairs

An Educational Outlook

The predicament of the current educational systems

There is a lot of waste of learners’ talent and negative pressure current on them that current educational systems cause. Current educational systems are geared to prepare graduates who can fit into a workforce that serves the prevailing industries as they are now. There is a problem however, the technological revolution is disrupting the status quo of most industries triggering major changes in their modus operandi and human resources needs; it is also causing many industries to disappear and new ones to sprout. Moreover, while governments are struggling to create jobs, companies are struggling to fill vacancies. Economic growth is hence being constrained and the threat is serious to many economies, to the stability of many societies, and to the wellbeing of individuals.

The world does not need graduates!

Educational systems, curricula and learning environments need therefore to develop in a manner that caters for addressing the above situation. The educational systems that we need would prepare lifelong effective learners rather than graduates who are suitable for specific jobs. A lifelong effective learner is someone who is always on the lookout for and is able to identify what is important to learn, has the skills for independently developing a suitable ILP (Individual Learning Plan), and possesses enough self-discipline and awareness to be able to actually see the plan through to completion.

Written by: Saad Abou-Chakra

What makes a good school

Characteristics essential for a good school

Importance of good schooling

‘What makes a good school’ is a subject of particular significance due to the important impact of education on the future of every child and on the development of societies.  This issue is of special importance to educational authorities, educational leaders and parents because educational authorities and educational leaders are responsible for developing and implementing policies that should lead to effective schooling, and parents have to make correct decisions when selecting schools for their children and support their children's education.  In our view, a good school is one that

A brief note about current schooling

Frequently our long term interests clash with our immediate comfort. Some research shows that the ability of a person to delay comfort in order to get a better deal later is an indicator of future success.

It is normal to dislike the current strict system of schooling; I for example hated having to move from one class to another upon hearing the sound of a bell. I consoled myself however by comparing this suffering to having to take a bitter pill of pain killer, or having to undergo a surgical operation in order to recover from some ailment. I am for introducing changes to the current outdated world educational system, for example, by reducing the contents of the required curriculum to a bare minimum that only includes literacy (in more than one language), numeracy skills, and coding (information technology); while leaving ALL the rest to be approached through exploration that depends on a child's interests.

Currently ministries of education in many parts of the world impose their curricula and the number of hours and days that children should spend at school; so schools do not really have an option.