overidentificationn.
/ˌəʊv(ə)rʌɪˌdɛntᵻfᵻˈkeɪʃn/, U.S. /ˈˌoʊvəraɪˌdɛn(t)əfəˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/ Chiefly Sociology and Psychology.
The action of identifying oneself to an excessive degree with someone or something else, esp. to the detriment of one's individuality or objectivity.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > identification with other > [noun]
einfühlung1904
feeling1909
overidentification1933
empathy1946
1933 Jrnl. Educ. Sociol. 6 393 Overidentification with and dependence on mother,..whose advice is sought before action on most trivial matters.
1950 Times 10 Feb. 8/7 [He] is called in to restore confidence, tighten discipline, and resist that insidious disease called ‘over-identification with personnel’.
1968 W. E. Lambert et al. in J. A. Fishman Readings Sociol. of Lang. (1968) 487 This pattern of over-identification with the American culture is not found among the Franco-American students in the Maine communities studied.
2001 L. R. Aiken Dying, Death & Bereavement (ed. 4) xi. 306 Less common and seemingly more pathological reactions to a profound loss, but actually not all that unusual, are..overidentification with the deceased, and idealization of the deceased.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1933