Each person’s own sense of who they are — their sense of identity or who they are as a human being — typically eventually becomes more and more established during one’s teens and well into the next decade of life, even beyond.

One can have a sense of identity as being a child of their own parent or parents; as a sibling; as a student; as professional worker, as a mate; as a parent — and of course as a blend of all these sub-identities.

One’s values — of any kind — make up a major part of one’s identity.

Some of our values were formed or installed during our most early and formative years, often at a deep and unconscious level within our brains.

I like to refer to what we each have learned from birth and infancy, and then beyond, as being what makes up a person’s “total mind” as being hard-wired or medium wired and soft-wired — for the sake of having a sense of understanding our own selves, as well as understanding other people’s minds, and what we often call or describe as one’s personality — or even ‘personalities’-

From all my professional studying of brain-biology and neuro-psychology, I’m not very fond of harboring the idea that any of us, from early on, can be realistically considered to have an open mind.

Much hard-wired learning occurs early and deeply.

Born in Nebraska, my early years growing up there among other folks with similar values that were predominately strong Christian, honesty and dedicated hard-working-agricultural values and life-styles, included what Dad liked to quote to me as to the immense importance of very early childhood training came from the famed Omaha Boy’s Town founder, Father Flanagan:

“Give me a boy until he is 5, and the world can have him thereafter.’’

Contemporary child and educational psychology (as well as for all animals) is still strongly promoting the virtually vital importance of which values are installed or programmed in young brains/minds.

We humans not only identify with our values and our beliefs, we defend our identity — often to the point when, for example, a person in an administrative job hires someone who later on turns out to not at all live up to the administrator’s expectations, (maybe even far worse) will defend to the hilt their choice of the hired person, primarily because they are really now defending themselves.

They are very likely — in the face of having made a poor choice — actually and primarily defending themselves and their own decision to have hired the person.

Actually, defending their own identity.

This human psychological happening is easily understandable for being a father or a mother.

And ‘‘my child is an extension of me.’’

The same being understandable for one’s brothers and sisters — even grandparents, and aunts and uncles.

By the way, you likely know some dad or mom who has (or had) put a lot of energy into “re-living” their less-than-satisfying own childhood — through their children’s lives.

More ‘identifying’ dynamics taking place.

By now you’ve most likely, if not certainly, have noticed that many humans are typically very defensive of their own choices — even to the point of denying the reality, the blatant factuality, of having made an unwise choice.

More such common examples of one’s identities dominating one’s own subjective — not objective beliefs, values and strong emotions, including one’s personal possessions.

In my home state even one’s choice of tractors and other farm implements; livestock breeds; choice of seed corn; cars; choice of a church; schools and school mascots; colleges; and of course, “There Is No Place Like Nebraska!”

Ninety-thousand plus people, on an autumnal Saturday afternoon, all identifying with the Husker’ uniforms and the cheer-songs, and even the stadium.

And perhaps most strongly of all, ones political party or religious membership — again, one’s identity.

These days now, one could wonder how many well-intentioned folks voted for Donald Trump?

And voters whose values are, “Our party values and political control are far more important to maintain — than the more basic humanistic and also basic planetary environmental values.”

The point here is that, once again, when some people make certain choices that turn out less than anticipated, or even wanted at the time, then due to one’s own “pride of identity,” there is no acknowledgement — at least publicly — of having made an unwise choice.

Not always recognized by even some mental health workers, including some folks in the medical health business, to consider the possibility that identity psychological dynamics are taking place with persons involved with chemical addiction issues.

Addictions can be either chemical or psychological.

We each have a sense of who we are — which is tied to our sense of what we are.

The psychology of our deeper identity-self is often left obscure to promoting our ideal self, which may not be our deeper real self.

Dr. M. Keene Hueftle of Pocatello holds degrees in counseling psychology, neuro-psychology, biology, zoology, ecology, chemistry, professional education and linguistics. He has been a professor affiliate at Idaho State University and has a private practice in counseling psychology. For the past several years he has been the chair of the South East Idaho Environmental Network. Hueftle is also in the process of writing a book, “Reality: And the Realities of Our Minds.”