One of the most painful processes to watch, this phenomenon is intrinsically connected to children in school, from first grade through college graduation.

Typified by a near-constant rearrangement of clothing, music, friends, and loyalties, children succumbing to this effect look, to an impartial observer, as if they are slightly schizophrenic.

Anecdotal examples include:

  • Elementary School (4th, 5th, 6th grades): Constantly shifting loyalties between "best friends" and "new best friends"
  • High school (all four years): Being a table-slut during lunch
  • High School (Sophomore/Junior/Senior): Short term relationships which end messily and frequently
  • College (first few days of freshman year): Freshmen sit in their rooms, playing their favorite music in hopes of luring hallmates, passers-by, or new love/lust interests into visiting
  • College (mid semester, all years): Drastic change in hair color caused by a bad dye job in bathroom sink

Tragically, these attempts tend to cancel each other out, and leave the supplicant reeling as he or she tries to establish an identity before looming adulthood does it for them.