Personality: Extrovert
Gender: Female
Age: 19 years old
Race: White
Physical Ability: able-bodied, not “athletic” but active
Sexual Orientation: heterosexual
Geographic Location: Eastern United States
Income: $50k
Personal Habits: spend time with friends without stress of homework and watching TV or movie
Recreational habits: go on walks on High Bridge Trail
Religion: non-practicing Catholic
Educational Background: up to master’s degree, doctorate is too much
Work Experience: job with different experience, up and around, traveling with job
Appearance: dress up some because it helps my productivity but not blazer, pants, and heels everyday
Parental Status: Working middle class
Marital status: no
Kids in first 7 years: quite frankly do not know yet
One identity that is important to me is my personal habits. Personal habits is an external dimension identity. I’m a very social person and I like to spend time with friends and family without worrying about responsibilities or work. To have that time to relax and not worry about what I have to would be important for me in choosing a job for my future self. I believe that my personal habits positively add to my self-esteem. Wanting to spend time socializing positively give me more value. I get to chose my personal habit that relates to my self-esteem, which increase my self-esteem specific efficacy. My personal worth as it relates to self-esteem can also be increased through my personal habits. I respect those that are able to take time for themselves, so I believe I deserve worth when I can admit that I want time to just relax. I feel I matter to people when I can interact with them and spend quality time together. Being able to have these personal habits would be beneficial to help me feel like I matter in the future. Personal habits are things that I completely get to control, which gives me high efficacy. Feeling that I can control who and how I spend my free time positively boosts my self-concept.
Another identity that is important to me and my future self is my work experience. This identity is part of the external dimension. I don’t want a job where you sit at a desk from 9-5. I know that for pretty much any job there will be some level of desk work, but in general I want a job where I can get up and move around. Ideally, I’d also enjoy a job that included travel. Work experience can be tied to my self-concept for the the future. I want to belong in a group or workplace where I can enjoy my experience and positively add to my self-concept. My work experience and being in an environment that I like what I do and want to go to work will help me positively value myself and increase my self-esteem. Having a job where I do not sit at a desk everyday and have options for movement would help to feel as though I had more control over my life, which can positively benefit my efficacy portion of my self-esteem. I also believe that by doing some that I can move around and potentially travel, I would increase my view of my personal worth. By being and honest in what I want and enjoying my job, I would feel more worthy to add to my self-esteem and feel as I deserve more respect. For my work experience, I want a job where I can help and interact people. I believe that by doing this, my work experience could positively benefit my mattering and my self-concept. Finally, having efficacy and control over my choice in work experience is also reassuring to my self-concept. I will be able to have some level of choice in my work experience and what I want to surround myself with.
A third identity that is important to me and my future self is my personality. Personality is a type of institution itself. I am a relatively extroverted person and like to interact and socialize with people. In the future, I would like to have some level of interaction in my future job. To be able to talk to people, learn from them, and see them succeed or be happy would make me happy! By being able to be myself and exert my personality, I would be having positive self-esteem. I will feel that I am more worthy because I am able to be myself and show people who I really am, which will increase my view of my personal worth through my self-esteem. Again, having the ability and to chose which position I work in and how I use my personality will help to increase my efficacy as it relates to my self-esteem. With this, I will feel that I matter more to those I work with and interact with when I am myself and not pretending to be someone I am not. Additionally, being able to be myself and show my personality will make me feel that I have greater control over situations. These are all dimensions of my identity.
A final identity that is important to me is my gender. Gender is an internal dimension identity. Being female, I have a different experience in the world. I have different motivations and different concerns than many males do. This is important to me because in the future I want to be in a job where my gender is not minimized or I am viewed as less than. It is important to have someone with these experiences that can add to the job and pass that knowledge along to others. With this identity, I view myself more positively and have more worth, benefitting my self-esteem. My efficacy specific to self-esteem can not really be impacted because I do not have control over this identity. However, my personal worth can increase because I view myself more positively to them overall benefit my self-esteem. I have a knowledge others do not and there will be certain positions that I can be more helpful in. This goes in hand in hand with mattering, as I feel that my gender influences my mattering to others. Most of my friends are also female, and that makes me believe I matter to them. As with efficacy, I do not have much control over my gender. However, it opens opportunities for me and allows me to experience life different than if I was a male.