A Persons True Identity

[Izzy]

When considering who somebody actually is would you only base it off of what they have done from someone else's perspective or would you include the kind of person they are on the inside?

You would probably naturally think that it makes sense to include the person they are on the inside, but I feel like myself and likely everybody thinks all kinds of things that are terrible that they wouldn't ever act on. It wouldn't be fair to judge people on thought crimes so why would who somebody is as a person be based on things that they think and not do.

You could also act in a certain way that is a complete lie such as a sociopath would. You can fool people into thinking you are somebody else when to yourself you could be incredibly corrupt.

It also doesn't make a lot of sense to start picking and choosing parts out of your real actions and thoughts to make up what should be considered your identity.

[L.B.D.D]

I Am Naruto

[Izzy]

I don't believe it.

[h4rpy]

An identity is an observer's perception of something. From the perspective of an onlooker, you're whatever you appear to be. In your own perspective, you're whatever you think you are. You don't actually know much about yourself, though.

The internet is great.

[reuben_tate]

In my personal opinion, our identity is constructed and based upon our interactions with others. Often times, even our interactions with others can determine how we perceive ourselves. How would you know whether you looked good or not or whether you were smart or dumb, or whether you were nice or mean if you've never had any other human interaction.

Anyways, I think an interesting and perhaps important question to ask would be, "Would someone want other people to view themselves as something different from how that person views themself?" If the answer is no, then wouldn't that suggest the person's actions is a reflection of their "inner" identity thus making a person's inner and perceived identity indistinguishable?

[Spenner]

You can get a great sense of a person's personal nature if you ask them revealing questions/have the ice broken with them and are in a state where you can see their personality through the patterns of decision making choices. It's true that expressions can be totally fabricated to construct an identity of someone you just wish to portray, but then your identity manifests in the fact that you don't want others to truly know it, and being someone who desires secrecy. It's still an aspect of their character.

A "true identity" though, is nothing more than a pattern recognition that's been built up over time. The self is something that is in constant change, it is not concrete, even if there is consistency. To say that an identity really is true, you'd need to be able to freeze a frame in time, assess all of the features of the person at the instantaneous moment. ALL of the features, down to the synapse even. But even then, the closer you look, the more confusing it will become, if you try to associate individual synapses and attempt to deduce someone's character from them. Unless you step into someone's mind you'll probably never truly know, you'll always be missing some details.

What you are talking about in the OP is not a true identity, but someone's social identity. I think a "true" identity is something that is elusive, because we lie to ourselves a lot of the time too, if we are to try to assess our own traits, or we may misinterpret.

[TheSaxRunner05]

Identity is a moving target, which can lead to a lot of cognitive dissonance when it comes to our actions.

[MixMasterLar]

Originally Posted by Izzy

You would probably naturally think that it makes sense to include the person they are on the inside

I actually don't.

A friend asked a similar question once, and I answered "One is defined first by his actions, then the effect that said actions caused, and lastly his motives."; the thing to note is that motives are a very distant 3rd place. If you do something that results in something horrible happening, you are naturally going to be judged on what affected others and not your motives.

[Izzy]

Originally Posted by Spenner

What you are talking about in the OP is not a true identity, but someone's social identity. I think a "true" identity is something that is elusive, because we lie to ourselves a lot of the time too, if we are to try to assess our own traits, or we may misinterpret.

I guess I'll take that answer. As soon as you try to objectify your own identity it is likely already being changed and misinterpreted by yourself.

[Cavernio]

Originally Posted by MixMasterLar

I actually don't.

A friend asked a similar question once, and I answered "One is defined first by his actions, then the effect that said actions caused, and lastly his motives."; the thing to note is that motives are a very distant 3rd place. If you do something that results in something horrible happening, you are naturally going to be judged on what affected others and not your motives.

So people who do not act aren't real? People who are in vegetative states but can't move, can barely or not even interact with someone else, but are shown to still have an inner life in their brain, they are what...nothing?
What about less extreme cases of disability? Someone with down syndrome, or someone who requires nearly 24 hour attention since they can't look after themselves, or even less disabled people who can only barely look after themselves, much less be a productive member of society? When someone's actions are limited or hindered, I don't think it's right to think of that person as less than someone else.

I like to think of people as more than just their actions, and I think we all do to an extent. I rather take it that since there's all sorts of horrible things that someone thinks, then that is a part of their identity as much as good things the person thinks. The fact that it's socially hidden is important for society to function, but upon intimate levels of interaction with someone else, I think it's important to let one's guard down and share parts of you, good and bad, with someone else. Besides which, whatever it is that you think that's awful and horrible, other people will have similar thoughts, we all pretend to an extent that we're someone we're not, even if that's only done by hiding specific parts of ourselves.

Some people love individuals who have not only thought heinous things, but have also committed them. It's called unconditional love, and it's a beautiful, if fucked up, thing.

[awein999]

The average person: A person's identity is shaped around their natural brain vs the nurture that has occurred and whatever needs to be done to survive. Everyone in the world has a unique experience and all of our brains are pushed and pulled in different directions because of what we see.

If you are conscience of yourself all the time: All of the above + Based on what we perceive, we decide who we think we are and if you convince yourself to be confident enough you create action based off of that.