“Identity encompasses how individuals understand themselves, how they interpret experience, how they present themselves and wish to be perceived by others, and how they are recognized by the broader community.” (Lieff et al, 2012). By definition, identity is how and why a person acts and reacts to different situations. The identity of all people can be affected by outside factors and influences. The differences between those people correlate with the differences in what factors impact their lives and also how they affect the way people understand the world and their experiences. Not only does it affect their own lives, but a change in one’s identity can have an impact on the people they surround themselves with on a day-to-day basis. That is why …show more content…
It is hypothesised that cognitive ability would account for age differences in the components of ethnic self-identification, ethnic constancy, and ethnic knowledge. Results showed that cognitive ability did not account for the age differences in ethnic self-identification or ethnic constancy. In contrast, it was thought that it would, to a lesser extent, account for ethnic knowledge. Ethnic knowledge actually has more of a correlation to the outside influences. An increased understanding of social constancy reflects learning through socialisation mechanisms. Children gain their knowledge by developing these mechanisms as they grow and mature. As infants, children only have one way of communicating with their parents, and that is through crying or whining. In the toddler stage, they begin to communicate more with words and hand gestures. When a child reaches school age, they develop a more intelligent understanding of their language and how they can express themselves to others. If children can not interact, then they can not educate or be educated about their ethnicity. (Ocampo et al,