Interview with Ms. Gleeson, school social worker

Interview Summary

    We interviewed our school social worker, Ms. Gleeson about the basics of identity.  She told us how an identity was formed.  People in the person's environment and surroundings help form the basis of identity.  People can be influenced by others and their cultures when they are establishing their identities.  When people grow up in a hostile environment, they are more prone to having and identity crisis.  They may wonder what their place in the world is and why they are here in the world.  Some of these questions may become too big and too important in their life.  It is important to have a solid identity, or the person may experience an identity crisis and a loss of self.  These can lead to dangerous behaviors that may harm the person.  Sometimes, when people do not have a solid identity or are uncomfortable with who they are, they feel the need to impersonate another person.  This does not mean literally "stealing an identity", but it means taking on traits that are not supposed to be yours.  You may copy the people around you or celebrities.  These people seem to be confident and perfect, and people who are impostors copy these people.  Most of the other information in the interview was consistent with our research.