Real-Time Identity Processes: Empirical Applications

We are delighted to present the special issue “Real-time identity processes: Empirical applications.” It was with great pleasure and excitement that we received many high-quality submissions in response to the Call for papers, and because of that, we could divide the special issue into two parts. The first part was entitled “Real-time identity processes: Theories and methods” (Identity, Vol. 21, No. 4). In that issue, the contributions provided a promising framework for understanding and studying real-time identity (De Ruiter & Gmelin, 2021; Klimstra & Schwab, 2021) and discussed various useful methods to assess real-time identity (Gmelin & Kunnen, 2021; Hellinger & Schachter, 2021; Marshall et al., 2021).

Articles in this second part of the special issue concentrate more on answering empirical questions indicated in the Call for papers: “How does identity manifest itself in real-time, and thus, how can we measure real-time identity? How does real-time identity relate to developmental-time (or long-term) identity? How do contexts play a role in real-time identity processes?” Six papers in this issue address these questions from unique, novel, and diverse perspectives. Needless to say, contributors present how they define real-time (or real-time identity) in their research. Therefore, we believe that this issue serves as an excellent showcase for readers who can find a variety of practical examples, tips, and hints to put their own research on real-time identity forward.

Overview of the special issue

In our Call for papers, we, as editors, initially provided a general definition of real-time identity as the process of individuals’ ongoing efforts to construct, maintain, and revise their own identities, lasting short-term such as weeks, days, hours, minutes, or seconds. However, after repeatedly reading the papers in the first part of the special issue, focused on theories and methods, we concluded that we need to refine and broaden our idea about studying real-time identity (Kunnen & Sugimura, 2021). First, real-time identity can be studied in both short-term and long-term time scales, or even in back-and-forth movements between the short- and long-time scales. Second, real-time identity can be studied in both individuals’ concrete actions/experiences and abstract thoughts/reflections/concepts. Third, real-time identity is understood mainly by relying on within-person approaches, but also the between-person approach is useful for grouping different types of processes. Each of the papers in this issue on empirical applications deliberately addresses these three issues (i.e., various time scales, a broad range of concepts, and within- and between-person analysis and emphasis on individual differences) in various ways. We describe the highlights of each of the papers below, especially paying attention to these three issues.

Kunnen (2022) examined the relations between real-time experiences among psychology students in clinical internship and the vocational commitment strength. Using a diary method, students weekly reported the most relevant experience of their past week and their strength of commitment for 5 months. Thus, this study addressed short-term processes, focusing on the relation between variables on the level of one observation. The real-time experience was operationalized as “diary reports about a specific experience” (p. 7), meaning that real-time here was studied in reflections of experiences. The reported experiences were coded using a framework of need fulfillment (e.g., the basic need was fulfilled or frustrated) and examined in terms of their associations with commitment by both inter- and intra-individual analyses. When looking at the results on a group level, need fulfillment and commitment meaningfully related to each other: There was a positive relation between experiences of positive need fulfillment and commitment strength. This provides insight into how concrete experiences (precisely, in this study, they were one’s reflections of experiences) shape commitment development – a more abstract aspect of identity. Importantly, this study also emphasized individual differences: The above pattern of association could be applied to almost all individuals, yet some participants revealed atypical relations. Kunnen investigated when this happened through a qualitative case study and found that a lack of good fit between student and internship (e.g., a bad relationship with supervisor) lied underneath those atypical links. Thus, a gap between findings on a group level and an individual level provides an important clue for an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms of commitment development.

Sugimura et al. (2022) explored what identity exploration looks like in real-time interactions among peers. In group discussions, exploration in real-time interaction was defined as “individuals’ ongoing actions that last minutes or seconds” (p. 17). University students engaged in 20-minute group discussions (four groups of three) for 9 weeks; thus, this study addressed short-term processes and used direct observation of moment-to-moment concrete actions in discussions. Recorded conversations were analyzed within groups using a grounded theory approach to identify characteristics of exploration unfolded in real-time. Exploration in real-time interactions with peers revealed the “real-time version” of depth and breadth types of exploration that are “well-known” as exploration operationalized at abstract, reflection/thought level (for a review, see, Crocetti, 2017). However, exploration in real-time entailed much nuanced aspects. For instance, some characteristics of exploration served as building conditions of exploration (e.g., support, meta-exploration), which were the novel findings about exploration. Moreover, some characteristics (e.g., creating an idea) were viewed as a part of exploration in real-time and also as part of the commitment formation process; thus, “exploration and commitment are strongly intertwined in this real-time process of creating new ideas” (p. 30), suggesting some of the mechanisms involved in commitment formation.

Wong et al. (2022) examined how everyday concrete events shaped positive identity concepts with a sample of sexual and ethnic/rational minority youth who had faith. They used a voice diary method. Participants input 5–10 minute voice messages over the period of 2–4 weeks about a moment (or event) of the day that they had special feelings (e.g., seen, loved, authentic, joy). Thus, they focused on reflections of experiences/events. Real-time identity in this study refers to “identity expression in specific interactions and concrete events” (p. 36). Wong et al. applied a within-person analysis using an interpretative phenomenological approach. In such very short diary entries, they found that youth started to express their real-time concrete events, and then, this expression “prompted participants to reflect on their broader identity conceptualizations across time” (p. 41). Thus, Wong et al. started from addressing a short-term time scale but eventually found a relation with long-term processes: Participants automatically enriched the description of the specific event of the day and connected it to the global and integrated conceptualization of the self (i.e., identity). Here, participants’ internal experiences of presence (being here and now) and gratitude (evaluation of one’s good nature) played a critical role in their shift of focus on micro-events to a focus on macro concepts of identity. These findings are particularly intriguing as they indicate back and forth movements between a “concrete” and “abstract,” “micro” and “macro,” or “local” and “global” level of recognition of one’s identity relevant issues.

Meca et al. (2022) demonstrated that cultural stress (e.g., perceived discrimination) is a key factor that impacts daily identity processes (i.e., coherence and confusion) and depressive symptoms among Hispanic college students. Using a diary method, students entered their reflections on these variables on a daily basis for 12 days. Real-time identity in this study is defined as a day-to-day dynamic interactive process between coherence and confusion. Meca et al. addressed the relation between short- and medium-term time scales, focusing on the characteristics of each of the 12 observations, and also related them to the pattern in the 12 observations (e.g., average daily identity coherence). Findings of between-person associations revealed the detrimental role of cultural stress in identity and depressive symptoms. Indeed, Day 1 cultural stress negatively predicted average daily identity coherence, positively predicted average daily identity confusion and depressive symptoms, and further predicted a stronger daily association between identity confusion and depressive symptoms. These daily-level associations inform us about the possible long-term consequences of everyday stressful experiences in identity development. It is also impressive that within-person associations revealed significant individual differences of the average daily associations between identity and depressive symptoms. A positive link between identity confusion and depressive symptoms was found in almost all individuals, but the association was very weak for about 25% of them; furthermore, 3% of the sample showed even a positive link between identity coherence and depressive symptoms. Such variability, or a “counter-intuitive” (p. 60) result, should not be neglected as it provides a rich resource for future research on mechanisms of identity development.

Vincent and Lannegrand (2022) focused on everyday emotional experiences evoked by social media and examined how such experiences play a role in identity processes among university students. In this study, real-time identity processes are operationalized at a micro-level: Exploration refers to one’s investigation of the fit between the chosen context (i.e., educational or relational) and the self, and commitment is defined as a feeling of the fit. As identity processes at a micro level are reflections upon experiences but they are more unconscious than those at a macro level, the authors focused on the perceived feeling of “fit” rather than broader concepts of the self. This study addressed a short-term time scale, in which emotional experience and identity processes were assessed at three daily measurement periods (7 days) within 15 weeks, using an online questionnaire. Vincent and Lannegrand clearly illustrate large heterogeneity (individual differences) in the relations between social media emotional experience and identity processes. This is especially evident in the relational identity domain: At the between-individual level, positive associations between emotional experience in the social media and identity commitment and exploration were found; at the within-individual level, however, this pattern of association did not apply to some youth, which revealed the opposite relations. This tells us that we need to put more emphasis on the fact that so-called “well-known” association between the study variables “is only true for the majority, not for all” (p. 79).

Parada and Salmela-Aro (2022) also highlighted the heterogeneous nature of youth career goal construction in the post-high school transition. They used a longitudinal case study design (diary approach to four individuals), weekly assessing dimensions of career goal appraisal (e.g., confidence), and elements of career goal system (e.g., content), which can be classified as reflections upon experiences, for 9 months. “Real-time” in this study refers to the week-to-week dynamics of relevant dimensions and elements of the career goal system. They related these real-time goals to characteristics of the whole trajectories (that cover 39 weeks). Thus, they address the relation between short- and long-term time scales. Parada and Salmela-Aro strongly emphasized individual idiosyncratic features, applying a within-individual analysis. Although a group-level analysis showed some similarities in participants’ reactions to challenging events regarding their career goals, the strategies employed in respective challenging situations and other properties involved in an individual career goal system had diversity across individuals. Thus, as they conclude, “there did not appear to be one optimal transition strategy” (p. 98). Such diversity determines different behaviors of individuals’ career goal systems.

Closing remarks

The rich collection of papers in this issue shows various ways in which researchers are currently tackling the issues of real-time and real-time identity. These papers focused on different time scales. Three papers addressed short-term time scales (Kunnen, 2022; Sugimura et al., 2022; Vincent & Lannegrand, 2022). Among the other three papers, one focused on the relation between short- and medium-term (Meca et al., 2022) and one on the relation between short- and long-term time scales (Parada & Salmela-Aro, 2022; Wong et al., 2022). It is important to note that Parada and Salmela-Aro addressed a more extended time period (i.e., 39 weeks), while Wong et al. illustrated the long-term identity phenomena unfolded within a few minutes of narratives. Thus, there are various interpretations about time scales. The concept of real-time employed in the papers was also different. One article described real-time by direct observation of concrete actions in discussion (Sugimura et al., 2022), and all other articles focused on reports of and reflections upon experiences. Direct observation of the ongoing moment-to-moment actions is useful for obtaining insights into how concrete actions/experiences in real-time could shape abstract reflections/thoughts of identity. As only one paper addressed this point in this special issue, we expect that future studies will utilize various creative approaches to capture ongoing phenomena.

As for the analytic approach, two papers applied within-person analyses (Sugimura et al., 2022; Wong et al., 2022). Four papers focused on both within- and between-person processes (Kunnen, 2022; Meca et al., 2022; Parada & Salmela-Aro, 2022; Vincent & Lannegrand, 2022). These studies all showed remarkable differences between the results of group-level analyses and the intra-individual analyses, and they stressed the strong differences between individuals. These findings confirm salient non-ergodicity in the identity processes that are studied, and they stress again the importance of using within-person analysis as the basis for conclusions about individual development.

Overall, articles in this special issue reveal that identity in real-time is a dynamic and nuanced process, and it often embraces atypical features. Hence, it can provide insights into complex mechanisms of identity development. These papers also illuminate how contexts where identity is constructed (e.g., culture, social media, and school transition) play an important role in real-time identity processes, as promotors or obstacles. Despite these fruitful results, in concluding this editorial, we would like to echo the conclusions in the first part of this special issue: “The study into real-time identity development is still in its infancy” (Kunnen & Sugimura, 2021, p. 274). As editors, we believe that the six papers in this issue shed light on the entrance into research on real-time identity. We hope that researchers interested in investigating the mechanisms of identity development in time will open the door with clues presented by these impressive papers.