Identity refers to how people answer the question, " Who are you? " This question may be posed explicitly or implicitly, at a personal or a collective level, to others or to oneself. Schools of thought within the identity literature tend to emphasize either personal or social contents and either per...

Extending theories of distinctiveness motivation in identity (Breakwell, 1987; Brewer, 1991; Snyder & Fromkin, 1980), we discuss the precise role of distinctiveness in identity processes and the cross-cultural generality of the distinctiveness principle. We argue that (a) within Western cultures, di...

The term "identity" has a much longer tradition in Western philosophy than in psychology. However, the philosophical discourse addresses very different meanings of the term, which should be distinguished to avoid misunderstandings, but also to sharpen the key meanings of the term in psychological co...