James - Marcia Theory
James - Marcia Theory
James - Marcia Theory
University of Cincinnati
February 10, 1937 in Cleveland Ohio. He was an only child and describes his family as
Ohio, Marcia enjoyed tennis, drama, speech, and music (he played both piano and
trombone). After exploring history, English, and philosophy, Marcia earned his
He also received master’s and doctoral degrees from Ohio State University, both in
clinical psychology.
Marcia was intrigued by a teenage patient who was diagnosed as schizophrenic yet was
discharged unusually early. After reading Erik Erikson’s book, Identity and the Life
Cycle (1959), Marcia noted that the teen patient was likely experiencing identity
development and felt he was finally finding terminology that described many of his
patients’ ailments. This new interest in identity inspired Marcia’s dissertation, in which
he aimed to develop a way to measure the underlying aspects of identity (something that
expand Erikson’s stage of “identity versus role confusion.” Through the development of
the Identity Status Interview and continued research, Marcia’s work helped ensure the
inclusion of Erikson’s theory in virtually all textbooks for adolescent development and
Marcia began his professional career teaching at the State University of New
for an open position at Simon Fraser University. He spent the rest of his professional
academic career at SFU where he taught for 30 years before retiring in 2002. While at
SFU, Marcia established the university’s first clinical psychology center in 1986, offering
counseling services and research and training opportunities for graduate students. During
private practice, as well as gardening and learning Italian. Additionally, Marcia attended
the University of British Columbia from 1995 to 1998 for music performance and has
The key criteria for determining one’s identity are exploration (e.g., experience)
and commitment (e.g., action). People’s occupation, ideology, and interpersonal values
are all affected by one’s identity development. Upon examining Erikson’s original
dichotomy of committed versus uncommitted identities, Marcia noted that there were
actually two forms of committed and two forms of uncommitted identities. In addition to
commitment. In this status, people reflect on their experiences and construct their own
comfortable making revisions to life plans when needed. Identity achieved persons do
not yield to pressure to conform to others’ expectations and are secure in their self-views.
This security and confidence prime them for establishing intimate relationships in
Identity diffusion is defined by low exploration and low commitment and is the
least stable identity status. Diffused persons often feel out of control of their futures and
People in foreclosure adopt a given identity whose roots are likely defined by parents or
values, and occupation tend to be carried over from childhood, and are unchallenged and
foreclosure is dependent on how well they fulfill the expectations of those who conferred
the identity.
could be referred to as an identity crisis, moratorium often describes people who are
they may exhibit signs of anxiety before they make identity commitments, they are often
Further Reading
Marcia, J.E. (2004). Why Erikson? In K. Hoover (Ed.) The Future of Identity: Centennial
reflections on the legacy of Erik Erikson (pp. 43-61). Lanham, MA: Lexington Books.
Marcia, J. E., Waterman, A. S., Matteson, D. R., Archer, S. L., & Orlofsky, J. L. (1993).
Ego identity: A handbook for psychosocial research. New York, NY: Springer-
Verlag.