Identification

identification, in psychology: see defense mechanism.

---

identification

The assignment of an identifier such as a username for a person or a name for a computer or network device. See identifier.

---

identification [ī‚dent·ə·fə′kā·shən]

(control systems)

The procedures for deducing a system's transfer function from its response to a step-function input or to an impulse.

(psychology)

The tendency of children to model their behavior after that of one or more selected adults.

A defense mechanism in which a person likens himself or herself to someone else.

---

Identification

Emmaus

where two disciples discover identity of Jesus. [N.T.: Luke 24:13–35]

Euryclea

Ulysses’ nurse; recognized him by scar on thigh. [Gk. Lit.: Odyssey]

Longinus

centurion finally sees Christ as son of God. [N.T.: Matthew 27:54; Mark 15:39; Luke 23:47; Christian Legend: Hall, 193]

Orestes

recognized by Iphigenia at the moment of his sacrifice. [Gk. Lit.: Iphigenia in Tauris, Kitto, 327–347]

Passover

Jewish festival; blood of sacrificed lambs placed on houses of the Israelites to prevent death of their firstborn. [O.T.: Exodus 12:3–13]

Sakuntala

(fl. 40) recognized as queen on return of lost ring. [Sanskrit Lit.: Abhijnanasakuntala, Brewer Dictionary, 955]

shibboleth

word used by Gileadites to identify Ephraimites who could not pronounce sh. [O.T.: Judges 12:4–6]

Simeon

recognizes young Jesus as messiah. [N.T.: Luke 2:22–34]

Stanley, Henry

(1841–1904) American journalist finds explorer, Dr. Livingstone, in Africa (1871). [Am. Hist.: Van Doren, 263]

Ulysses’

bow Penelope recognizes husband by his ability to bend Ulysses’ bow. [Gk. Lit.: Ulysses]

---

Identification 

the recognition of identity, the establishment of the identity of objects.

Criminalistics. Identification is the process of establishing the identity of a specific object or individual through the comparative investigation of the totality of general and particular characteristics for purposes of securing legal evidence. Depending on the subject, object, and method of identification, distinctions are made among investigative, criminal-record, and expert identification.

In investigative, expert, and judicial practice considerable importance is accorded to methods of identifying individuals according to handwriting, physical features, and impressions of hands, feet, and teeth. Equally important are methods of identification of seals, stamps, and typewriters according to their impressions; of weapons according to fired bullets and cartridges; of footwear according to its tracks; of instruments and tools for breaking and entering according to the traces of breakage; of transportation of vehicles according to traces of the tread and of the wheels; and of a whole through the matching of its parts (for example, the parts of a broken automobile headlight, of a torn document).

The results of criminalistic investigation must be expressed in procedural acts having legal force or they will not be admissible as evidence. Presentations for identification and examination by experts are acts of such a nature.

REFERENCES

Terziev, N. V. Identifikatsiia i opredelenie rodovoi (gruppowi) prinadlezhnosti. Moscow, 1961.
Belkin. R. S., and A. I. Vinberg. Kriminalistika i dokazyvanie. Moscow, 1969.
Koldin, V. Ia. Identifikatsiia i ee roT v ustanovlenii istiny po ugolovnymdelam. Moscow, 1969.

A. I. VINBERG

Psychology and sociology. Identification is the process of emotional and other forms of self-identification of an individual with another person, group, or model and the formation and discovery of individual identity (individuality). The term “identification” was introduced by S. Freud. Identification of the child with either the father or the mother generally serves as the model of identification in psychoanalytic literature. In sociology and social psychology the term has acquired a broader meaning, signifying, on one hand, imitation and imitative behavior and, on the other (particularly in personality research), emotional merging with an object and deep internalization of a norm or pattern of behavior.

Mathematics, technology, and related disciplines. Identification is widely used in mathematics and technology. In algorithmic languages, for example, identification symbols are used to identify operations; in coin machines coins are identified according to mass and shape. Basic tasks of identification include recognition of patterns, formation of analogies and generalizations and their classification, and analysis of sign systems. Identification establishes the correspondence between an object to be recognized and its model—an object called an identifier. As a rule, identifiers are signs for mutually corresponding objects. Identical objects are considered to be equivalent, that is, of identical meaning and significance.

REFERENCES

Zinov’ev, A. A. Osnovy logicheskoi teorii nauchnykh znanii. Moscow, 1967.
Bongard, M. M. Problemy uznavaniia. Moscow, 1967.

Chemistry. Identification is the determination of the composition and structure of an unknown compound by comparing the results of analysis, as well as the physical and chemical properties of the compound, with corresponding properties of a known compound. The identity of the unknown compound being examined with the known compound is established by the equivalence of all indexes.

REFERENCES

Veibel, S. Identifikatsiia organicheskikh soedinenii. Moscow, 1957. (Translated from English.)
Ewing, G. W. Instrumental’nye metody khimicheskogo analiza. Moscow, 1963. (Translated from English.)

---

Identification 

or presentation for identification, an investigatory action whose purpose is to give a witness—such as a victim, a suspect, or a defendant—an opportunity to recognize from among a group of persons or things the object or person either observed by the witness in connection with a crime that has been committed or known to the witness beforehand. The witness is interrogated ahead of time concerning the circumstances in which he saw the particular person or object, what factors have made it harder or easier to remember, and what features enable him to identify it. For greater reliability, the persons or objects in question or their photographs are presented to the witness grouped with similar objects. Attesting witnesses must be present during an identification. The conduct of the identification and its results are recorded in a document that can be used as evidence in a criminal case. Soviet legislation regarding criminal procedure regulates the manner in which identifications are to be conducted, as in Articles 164–166 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR.