Boston, Massachusetts, US
Posts: 5
LTQ Post 1
Our environment and the people we surround ourselves with shape our identities. This is why friends tell a lot about a person, because people tend to want to be with others who share at least some similar views. If we see ourselves as hardworking, we wouldn’t want to be friends with a bunch of people who are slackers. Our personal identities are greatly shaped by our social ones, but most people don’t show every aspect of their personality to everyone they meet. In addition, although our identity is malleable, society tends to put people into a box to better understand them and fit them into their perceptions of the world. This is reflected in the instance where a white male audience member in one of Beverly Daniel Tatum’s presentations came up to her and said that she was articulate for a Black woman. The audience member had already put Black people in a box of inarticulateness, so he was surprised by not being able to understand why she didn’t fit in his world view. These boxes socially limit us from reaching our full potential and doing all that we want to do with our lives. We might see ourselves as one thing with one group, and a different thing with another group in a different environment. Because of this, it can be easy to suppress parts of yourself that were important, or code switch when you change groups, which I saw in some of my classmates’ projects. In addition, many people found it harder to describe how people saw them than for them to describe themselves, and their descriptions of how others saw them were often negative, like having an RBF. Something that surprised me was that a lot of my peers had heritage that wasn’t easily visible, such as how someone is Serbian and grew up speaking it at home, as well as how someone else is a Danish citizen.
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Posts: 5
Identity Vessel Reflection
One’s identity is made up of so many facets that it is hard to define exactly what is and isn’t a part of it. We see ourselves through a heavily biased lens, struggling to grapple with both the positive and negative aspects of our identity. I would say that our identities are heavily influenced by the memories and experiences we have lived through, affecting how we form social circles and interpret others. Our identities are so malleable and influenced by not only our own judgment but by how we think others perceive us that we try to fit in and make ourselves fit in, slowly changing our identities in a method of self actualization, we want to fit in with a certain crowd and act like another person does and initially the replicated behavior feels performative but eventually becomes natural and changes into our actual identity. A consistent theme across each identity vessel were the generalizing words that often highlighted some insecurities that they didn’t feel people understood with their external perception. I believe that the feeling of misinterpretation is exacerbated with social media as it pushes people to fit in or paint a picture of themselves that isn’t accurate. Social media is a major influence on one’s self perception as they try to fit in with the norm perpetuated by influencers and others’ posts. In the article How Social Media Shapes our Identity Eichhorn describes a state in life called the moratorium period as “a period of trial and error that society allows adolescents, who are permitted to take risks without fear of consequence, in hopes that doing so will clarify a ‘core self’—a personal sense of what gives life meaning.” (Renner 4) The presence and immortality of content on social media makes it hard for children to make mistakes, learn, and move on from them, leading to excessive internalization and creating an identity that is hypercritical of themselves.
LTQ Reflection
Everything around us shapes how we see ourselves. It is heavily influenced by other people, especially in the form of self-affirmation and self esteem. The average person will like themselves if they are liked, and dislike themselves if it is how other people feel. Ever since I could remember, I have stressed about how others see me. If someone doesn't like me-or even hangs out without me, I start believing that there is something about me that they don't like. Then, I figure that I need to find out what that is and fix it. This same stress is expressed in the introduction paragraph of Beverly Daniel Tatum's "The Complexity of Identity: 'Who Am I?'". In it, the author describes how humans naturally see themselves through the perception of other people, by giving the dialogue "Who am I? The answer depends in large part on who the world around me says I am. Who do my parents say I am? Who do my peers say I am?". This is a thought process that every person has considered at least once. Our individual identities impact our personal and social choices because we try to fit into groups that we see ourselves in. This project has allowed for me to see how personal and social identities are connected, and how are they different. Many vessels that I read were accurate, especially on the outside. All people that I think are "quiet" wrote "quiet" on the outside of their vessel, however elaborated further into their identity on the inside. This project made me realize that every person is more complex from how I perceive them. The outsides of many vessels were accurate to how I viewed my peers, though the insides were different and more personal. Personal and social identities are connected strongly, as our social identities rely in part on the perception of others. They are different because we are more complex than what others perceive of us, in every way possible.
Boston, Massachusetes, US
Posts: 5
Identity Vessel Reflection
Our own experiences are the biggest factors that determine how we see ourselves and present ourselves to the world. Depending on how you were raised, what groups you grew up with, or whatever relationships you may have made, your identity is made from these experiences. Our individual identities our what we think of ourselves, and so in a public setting we choose which parts to show or hide of ourselves. While looking at the identity vessels, it was guaranteed that there were ideas and beliefs that we believed in, but chose not to share. We recently discussed the idea of conformity and it is all the more relevant now. Our social identity is the identity we make for the public, which has been tuned to appease them or disagree with them to whatever extent we deem fit. Our social identity isn't us, because it is constantly changing and being molded by the beliefs of the people around us, because if it isn't we fear scrutiny. The identity vessels reflected this, with the way other people saw them being vague, generic, and unoffending, such as “funny”, “chill”, or “smart”, while the inside displayed personal hobbies and beliefs that may have isolated them from other people. Some facts I found from my friends or people I hadn't ever met but automatically put them into certain categories I would have never known for this project. As I recently mentioned, our brains use limited information to make decisions, unfortunately at the subconscious level. People do not share intimate information due to fear of ostracization, and even confident people who do can often face backlash for doing just that. Our brain has been programmed since ancient times to create groups, with the one you are in being the optimal one, and others being worse. Even if it is a hobby that hurts no one, like enjoying video games, that can be quickly used against you to put you in the “out” group. All of these factors lead to people hiding who they are, and trying to conform and blend into the group as best as they can.
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Posts: 5
LTQ 1
While looking at my fellow classmates’ identity vessels I realized that many people are perceived based on what they put forth into the world. For a lot of people, on the outside of the box there weren’t just physical aspects of how they appear at first, but also parts of their personality that they would first bring up with someone they didn’t know or clubs and affiliations they are part of. Especially in the age of social media, people perceive us based on how we present ourselves online. I think that this is a really unique aspect of the class of 2026 in particular, since many of us joined BLS during the pandemic, and as such much of our first impressions of eachother were online through zoom, instagram, flipgrid, and even discord. The way that we presented ourselves in 7th grade I think still permeates through our later years of highschool especially since everything is archived online. I feel that a lot of people try to ignore or forget how they acted in their earlier BLS years, not recognizing how much they were influenced by those times. One example of this is a get-to-know-you video I made in 7th grade that I am, and always will be, incredibly embarrassed by. Even though I would love to forget that the video was ever made, I have to admit that many of the personality traits that led me to make that video I still hold today, although I express them in different ways. Generally speaking, in person, these first impressions are easy to lock away in the back of your brain never to be accessed again and are often forgotten by others, but unfortunately this video I made in 7th grade was on flipgrid and as such can easily be accessed by anyone who was in my cluster, “[Social] media can prevent those who wish to break with their past from doing so cleanly” (Renner, 3). This phenomenon will be a steady trend throughout the course of our lives. As a generation that grew up with social media and the ability to represent any and all part of ourselves to anyone at any time, it can be incredibly hard to distance ourselves from who we were in the past even though we may want to.
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Posts: 4
LTQ 1: Our Ever Changing Identity
Our identity can and is shaped by factors both in and out of our control. For example, in the process of building my project and looking at others, a large part of people’s identity is shaped by the perception of their, race, ethnicity, and or cultural heritage. Additionally, I realized that these parts of people's identity are parts we simply cannot change. The fact that we are Indian or Jewish is a part of how we are always going to see ourselves as individuals. Furthermore, this notion that there are parts of our identity that we are unable to let go of is perfectly represented in a quote from “Fear” by Khalil Gibran, “She looks back at the path she has traveled, / from the peaks of the mountains, / the long winding road crossing forests and villages… Nobody can go back. / To go back is impossible in existence”. I think Khalil uses the journey through mountains and on long winding roads as a metaphor for the part of our identity that is already with us and is not going to change. Furthermore, by closing with “to go back is impossible in existence” they create a sense of certainty that this is going to be with us forever unless we want to destroy ourselves. In the end, these non malleable parts of our identity form the foundations of who we see ourselves to be.
Conversely, there are parts of our identity that are more malleable like our physical appearance or our interests. Furthermore, these more malleable parts of our identity are the parts that can be influenced by the opinions of others. This pressure from others can limit our ability to have new interests that might be less popular or looked down upon. This could cause individuals to not change parts of themselves out of being left out of society. In the end, we have to take advantage of our ability to choose our own identity and create a vision of ourselves we are proud of and a vision that is not muddied by others.
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Posts: 4
Learn to Question: Identity Vessel Reflection
Through this project, I began learning more about the different emotions I have taught myself to cope with. I mask my true emotions with ones that make other people feel comfortable. I do not account for my own sanity and well-being as I try to please those around me. I used to think that if my friends were happy then I would be too, but during my time at BLS I have come to learn quite the opposite. It was a common trend for other people as well to be perceived as these confident, charismatic people that did not allow themselves to feel sadness, but this was just the facade they upheld to fit in with different friend groups. This project highlighted the social identity theory that has mentions of different ways people will want to be the “in group” and avoid becoming an outsider. We all yearn to have friends that respect our values and accept us for who we are, rather than what they want us to be; especially if it is not something we see for ourselves in the present or future.
We all have our own first impressions of people, but this project forced us to look beyond our initial thoughts and biases to see the person for who they are, ignoring this idea of an outsider as stated in the video “The Science Behind Us vs. Them.” We were able to place ourselves into each other’s shoes and better understand how everyone operates under various situations, primarily due to everyone having such contrasting views about what makes up their identities. This ties into how conformity influences our expectations of each other, as we each assume the behavioral habits that have actually been instilled in us from before. For example, how we act with friends in school could differ drastically from how we interact outside of the classroom setting as we are not expected to be as professional. In “How Social Media Shaped Our Identity,” Nausicaa Renner urges the reader to understand how technology “allows us to produce a narrative of our lives” and grants a person more freedom of expression (Renner). However, the internet is often the root of many problems, especially today in such a time that depends upon the internet to thrive. Many people will become fixated on putting out the perfections of themselves and will desperately try to conceal their flaws, even if they must jeopardize their morals. This toxic culture is integrated into young minds at such a fast rate that it has increased the number of insecurities and identity crises teenagers endure. It has become normalized for everyone to peep into each other's lives and make judgments about it, but they are only imploring their own biases based on societal interactions they have had, excluding the reasoning that someone may have for doing something. However, empathy was a key theme to the identity vessel as everyone needed to have respect for all that people have faced in life to fully grasp the impact it has on their views.
Boston, Massachusetts , US
Posts: 2
Contrary to what one might think, the main influence on how we view others does not have to do with who they authentically are but rather from the information that we have gathered from our own personal experiences. Everybody has biases and preconceptions about the world around them. So when you briefly see someone, or even talk to them for a short amount of time, the information that you are lacking will subconsciously be filled in with what you believe to be true. Due to this a person's identity is malleable. They can often pick and choose the parts of themselves that form our perceptions of them. For example if you have a conversation with a classmate and they only talk about football, even if they do ballet as well, the small part of their identity they share shapes what we see.
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Posts: 5
LTQ 1
If you do not pre determine your identity, and be confident in who you are as a person, then your identity is easily malleable, and easy to be changed by society. This project opened my eyes to this because going through the process, as well as seeing other people’s vessels, you realize in many different cases, that there is almost always something you do not expect on the inside for each person, or the thing inside is not commonly known. Despite something not being commonly known, it is still an important part of you, so if you do not solidify that part of yourself, it can easily be changed when facing the real world. Especially in today’s society, where many times social media and other people pressure you to believe one thing, it is hard to keep your personal identity. Since social media holds a big variety of strong opinions, people tend to not even have time to form their own, so that leads them to just choose one, without actually taking a second and really forming an idea. Living in an era like this leads to many people constantly changing and being simply a reflection of all the ideas put onto them. Khalil Gibran, in his poem, Fear, talks about this a little bit. He talks about a river being afraid to join into a big and vast ocean, as well as it never being able to turn back. Like us, the river is afraid of losing their own personal qualities when joining the ocean. Also, sometimes when you speak on something, people see you differently so you can not simply just turn back on that opinion. So whenever you feel strongly about something, and that something is a part of your identity, you need to make sure that is what you believe, and it is strong enough to hold up when you join an ocean.
