James Marcia's Four Identity Statuses

Commitment

In Marcia's system, a stable investment in one's goals, values, or beliefs.

Exploration

In Marcia's system, active questioning and searching among alternatives in the quest to establish goals, values, or beliefs.

Foreclosure

In Marcia's system, an identity status characterized by the automatic adoption of a point of view held by authority figures in one's life.

Identity diffusion

In Marcia's system, an identity status characterized by the lack of a sense of who one is or what one stands for, with no active exploration.

Moratorium

In Marcia's system, an identity status that characterizes those who are actively exploring alternatives in an attempt to form an identity.

Identity Achievement

In Marcia's system, an identity status that characterizes those who have explored alternatives and have developed commitments.

Marcia's perspective

The statuses represent the four possible combinations of the dimensions of exploration and commitment that Erikson believed were critical to the development of identity.