This paper describes the methods used to teach identity formation in a college course entitled "Identity and Society," through an exploration of the autobiographies of several prominant Americans. The three phases of an autobiographical approach to one's present identity are discussed as the search for facts according to criteria, illustrated by the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes; the structuring of these facts by an ordering principle of time or content, explained by the ideas of John Locke; and the use of memory to discover new information about oneself, explored through the writings of David Hume. Activities to help students develop each phase of autobiographical recognition include: (1) the organization of life into phases; (2) the meshing of life facts into the conceptual scheme of different psychologists; (3) a review of autobiographies in terms of time and content structures; (4) the writing of a semester-long journal to develop analogies between personal experiences and the experiences of the historical individuals; (5) the recall of past events; and (6) the review of self as a third person. (NRB)