Identity and emotions: An overlooked link

Adolescents and young adults need to decide what profession to follow, in what values to believe, how to relate with important others, and how to view themselves. In the related literature, such views (what we call "identity") are formed after actively thinking over alternative ideas. We consider such a process likely in some but not in all identity domains. We suggest a process of identity formation that is based on emotions: What people feel is important for how they view important issues in their lives. We show that: (1) having made decisions on identity issues is important for being psychologically well, but the way these decisions are made is not; (2) parent-related emotions provide more information on changes and stability of people’s views on their parents than actively looking into their relationships with them; (3) peer-related emotions also provide information on changes and stability of people’s views on their parents; and (4) parent-, peer-, and self-related emotions provide information on the changes and stability of people’s views on themselves. In conclusion, emotions play an important role in the formation of identity. This link was for long overlooked in the related literature