Learning to be a psychologist: Identity transitions in the university classroom

Author: Leticia Nayeli Ramírez Ramírez y Claudia Lucy Saucedo Ramos
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the meanings and identity transitions that psychology students project while participating in the subject of Applied Psychology. The study was conducted with 16 students at the Iztacala Faculty of Higher Studies, of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, using qualitative observation and in-depth interviews. We analyzed the aspects of the shared learning processes that took place in the classroom and the ways in which the participants performed crossovers of analytical and social contexts, between theory and practice, between their condition as students and as sons and daughters, and between their present identities and the projection of themselves as professionals. The study concluded that
the classroom constitutes a learning space that tends to promote processes of identity formation.