Identifying Your Own Identity

This essay should be between 750-1000 words long (not including heading and references). This essay needs to be long enough to get the job done thoroughly. You must cover everything listed below in order to obtain a high mark.
Writing and citations should be in APA format. For example, (Lally & Valentine-French, 2017).
Note: For all written assignments, only the material assigned in the course should be cited. Show evidence of thoroughly reading and listening to the course resources. This is preferable to outside research. If you also provide additional resources, they will be graded on their scholarly credibility; that means sources of questionable truth may result in a lower grade on the essay and sources of good credibility may result in a higher grade.
* Please use the course material as your main source:
Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French (2017). Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective.
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT: Identifying Your Own Identity
Erikson is most famous for his adolescent stage, the stage he called Identity and Identity Formation. Actually, Erikson believed that identity formation goes on all of our lives, although he felt concerned with formulating one's identity is most predominant during adolescence.
Using Erikson's theory as a springboard, psychologist James Marcia talks about four aspects of identity development (Module 5 at a Glance: Readings: Marcia). These include:
Identity Achievement
Identity Foreclosure
Identity Moratorium
Identity Diffusion
Pick one area of identity formation in your own life from one of the following areas:
career/education
religion
political beliefs
sexual orientation
gender identity
Tell how you have moved among the four aspects of identity development that Marcia identified. Include your entire life from adolescence to the present, even if your chosen aspect of identity formation has not changed since adolescence and/or even if you are in the life stage of adolescence. Your essay must include information about identity achievement, foreclosure, moratorium and diffusion.
If you have only moved through one, two or three of Marcia’s four aspects, write about those that you have gone through. Then, also write about the other stage or stages.
Your written assignment is intended to test your understanding of important concepts and discover how to sharpen your intellectual skills of analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and application. The intent of the written assignment is to provide an opportunity to more fully describe, explain, and analyze the books and other sources.