Abstract

Erick Erikson was a psychodynamic theorist who believed that people grow from lifes challenges (Mcdevitt and Ormrod 2002 p.418). Erikson was a German-born American of Jewish decent. As a child he faced his own struggles with who he was as a person. He was an artist and a teacher in the late 1920's when he met Anna Freud, an Austrian psychoanalyst. With Anna's encouragement he began to study child psychoanalysis at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute. He immigrated to the United States in 1933. He taught at Yale and Harvard Universities, despite not having a degree of any type some say he may not have even finished high school. Erikson's greatest innovation was to postulate not five stages of development, as Sigmund Freud had done with his psychosexual stages, but eight. He then later added a ninth stage in his book "The Life Cycle Completed". Erik Erikson believed that every human being goes through a certain number of stages to reach his or her full development, theorizing eight stages that a human being goes through from birth to death. Erikson elaborated Freud's genital stage into adolescence, and added three stages of adulthood. Erikson is also credited with being one of the originators of Ego psychology, which stressed the role of the ego as being more than a servant of the id. According to Erikson, the environment in which a child lived was crucial to providing growth, adjustment, a source of self-awareness and identity.

Eriksons Stage 1 Erikson Theory has eight stages to it. The first stage is Trust vs. Mistrust which takes place from birth to age one. According to Eriksons theory the primary task of infants is to learn whether or not they can trust other people. When parents or caregivers can be depended on to feed them, change them, and provide affection, an infant learns to trust that others are dependable. When parents or caregivers ignore an infants needs, are inconsistent with their actions, or are abusive, the infant learns mistrust. That the world is an unpredictable and dangerous place ( Mcdevitt and Ormrod, Pg.418-419). My stage 1 experiences, from what my parents, tell me was great. I was contently held and I was rocked to sleep every night. When I would wake during the night one of my parents would be there to feed me, change me, or just rock me back to sleep. My mother even rubbing me bald and that was crazy for a baby that was born with a full head of hair. According to my aunt I looked like an old man, I had hair all around the sides but none in the middle. I was my mom and dads first child and my grandmothers (my moms mom) fourth grandkid but her first from my mom, so lets just say I was spoiled. I feel like I came out of stage 1 trusting people rather than mistrusting them.

Eriksons Stage 2 In Eriksons second stage of development, Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt takes place during ages one to three. As toddlers gain better control of their bodies, they become capable of satisfying their own needs. They learn to feed, wash, dress themselves and learn to use the toilet. When parents and caregivers encourage self-sufficient behavior, toddlers develop autonomy or a sense of being independent. But when parents or caregivers demand too much too soon, refuse to let children perform tasks of which they are capable, or ridicule early attempts of being independence, children may instead develop shame and doubt about their abilities and conduct themselves inappropriately (Mcdevit and Ormrod, Pg.418-419). During this part of my life I still had my grandmother, who spoiled me, but by the end of this stage I had lost her and gained a brother. At about age one I gained some independence, I got a big girl bed. I got kicked out of my crib because my brother was going to be born soon, when I got my own room and everything. At around age two or three, I lost my grandmother but I do not remember it much, my mother did not think it was appropriate to have a toddler at a funeral service. I have told that I was a very independent child, I would go off and play by myself or with others, but I liked to terrorize my newborn baby brother, although I do not remember that. I often picked out my own play cloths, but I was not allowed to pick out my own cloths if we were going somewhere. I believe, from the things I have been told, that I came out of this stage as an independent child. I got the freedoms, choices, and praise that I needed to succeed at this stage of my life.

Eriksons Stage 3

Eriksons stage three is Initiative vs. Guilt. If all goes well, children spend their infancy and toddler year learning that the world is a good place, with people that love them, and they can make things happen. With a growing drive toward independence, preschoolers begin to have their own ideas about activities they want to pursue. For example, they may undertake simple art projects like drawing houses or roadways or even share superhero fantasies with other children. When adults encourage such efforts children develop initiative or energetic motivations to undertake activities independently. When adults discourage such activities, children may instead develop guilt about acting improperly (Mcdevitt and Ormrod, Pg.418-419). During this stage of my life I was a bit more limited in what I was allowed to do. My mother would have structured activities for me and my brother. She would limit our access to things such as glitter and glue; she would even do this while we were doing craft activities with her. I get it she did not want to have glitter and glue everywhere but she limited out creativity as well. She would tell us No!, and get on us if we did something wrong. We tried to show initiative but the more we were told No, the more my brother and I leaned toward the guilt part of this stage.

Eriksons Stage 4

Eriksons fourth stage is Industry vs. Inferiority. This stage takes place during ages six to ten. When children reach elementary school, they are expected to master many new skills, and they soon learn that they gain recognition from adults though their academic, sport, artistic, and community activities. When children complete projects and are praised for their accomplishments, they demonstrate industry, a pattern of working hard, gaining mastery in tool use, and persisting at lengthy tasks. However, when children are ridiculed or punished for their efforts, or when they find that they cannot meet adults expectations, they may develop feelings of inferiority about their own abilities (Mcdevitt and Ormrod, Pg.418-419). During this stage of my life we had stopped moving around, so I was able to stay at the same school. I was getting good grades and was consistently on the A/B honor roll, for which my parents were so proud and encouraging. At one point, however, around age eight, my grades took a down-turn and my teacher suggested that my mom have my learning tested. The tests determined that if I worked hard I would be capable of getting As and that I did not have a learning disability, my parents and teachers concluded I was just not applying myself. In 4th grade, around age ten, I joined choir and my parents went to every performance from that time until I graduated from high school. My parents were always encouraging, complementing everything in any way they could. I was always being praised in everything that I did and I came out of this stage with a good sense of industry.

Eriksons Stage 5 The fifth stage of Eriksons theory is Identity vs. Isolations. This stage takes place during ages 10-20. As children make the transition from childhood to adulthood they wrestle with questions about who they are and how they fit into the adult world. Values learned during childhood are now reassessed in light of new sexual drives and the desire to be true to oneself. Initially, youth experience role confusion or mixed feeling about the specific ways in which they fit into society and may experiment with a variety of actions and attitudes. In Eriksons view, most adolescents eventually achieve a sense of identity regarding whom they are and where they are headed (Mcdevitt and Ormrod, Pg.418-419). At the beginning of this stage of my life I just stated at a new school for 4th grade. From about 4th grade though most of middle school I was what you would call introverted. There were times when I would break out of that shell but for the most part I kept to myself. That changed when I was in high school, somewhat, as I was involved in drama and choir. Outside of these activities, however, I still kept to myself and hung out with my close group of friends. My first year of college kind of changed me and I became a little more outgoing. I attended Taylor University Fort Wayne that year; I was 18, shy and had an outgoing, crazy roommate who broke my shy shell quickly. At the end of that year we went our separate ways but have always kept in touch. Over that next summer I got a new job that allowed me to work with the public and school age children at Minnetrista. This job broke my shell wide open; I could not be shy and work in the environment that I was working in at that time. I still get nervous in new situations but after a minute I am all good. I know most kids went though phases such as wearing all black and listening to

heavy metal but I have always remained about the same in terms of attitude, but perhaps a little more outgoing.

Eriksons Stage 6 Stage six of Eriksons theory is Intimacy vs. Isolation. This stage takes place during young adulthood. Once people establish their identities, they are ready to make commitments to one or more other individuals. They become capable of intimacy- that is, they form close, reciprocal bonds with others and are willing to make the sacrifices and compromises that such relationships require. When people cannot form intimate relationships as senses of isolation may result (Mcdevitt and Ormrod, Pg.418-419). Throughout my life I have been able to form close friendships. As a matter of fact I have had the same best friend since age two and she is like a sister to me. There have been times, however, that I have not been able to have that close relationship. For example with my ex-boyfriend, he was stuck on his ex and it did not allow me any space to create that intimacy factor. I know that during this stage of my life I would like to finish school, get married, have kids, and get my career as a teacher started. Maybe not in that order but for the most part I do want to stick to it. I know that is a tall order but I know it will happen in due time. God has a plan for all of us and right now I am following His plan for me. So hopefully by the end of this stage I will come out of it on the intimacy side of things.

Eriksons Stage 7 Eriksons 7th stage of development is Generativity vs. Stagnation. This stage takes place during middle age so this is just my hopes and dreams for this part of my life. During middle age, the primary developmental tasks are contributing to society and guiding future generations. When an individual makes a contribution to society such as raising a family or working to make society better, they develop a sense of generativity or productivity. In contrast, an individual who is self-centered and is not willing to help others develop, then will have a feeling of stagnation or dissatisfaction with a lack of production (Mcdevitt and Ormrod pg. 418-419). I have yet to reach this stage of my life. I am only 23 but I do have goals I wish to have accomplished by the time I reach middle-age. Once I reach this stage in my life I hope to be fulfilling my dream of being and educator, wife, and mother. I hope my career will be in a place where I am happy and able to touch as many lives as possible. I hope to be in a marriage that is wonderful, fulfilling, and walking on the right side of the water. I also hope to have children; I hope they would be in middle or high school by this point in my life. I do not want to have young children when I am older. These are my hopes and dreams for this stage of my life. I hope to come out of this stage being on the generativity side of things, being a helpful person and helping others achieve their goals.

Eriksons Stage 8 In Eriksons eighth and final stage of life we reach retirement. The name of this stage is Integrity vs. Despair. According to Erikson, the final developmental task is a retrospective on. As individuals look back on their past experiences, it is hoped they have feelings of contentment and integrity if they believe they have led a happy, productive life. Alternatively, they may have a sense of despair if they look back on a life of disappointments and unachieved goals (Mcdevitt and Ormrod, pg. 419). Well I am only 23 so retirement is not really all that close for me. I hope to retire to Florida or just some place warm. Yes, I know this is something everyone dreams of. I want to still live my life to the fullest. I hope to be able to spend time with my grandchildren and children and watch them continue to grow. I want to look back on my life and see the choices that I have made have been worth it. I want to see that I have made a difference in someone elses life. I want to come out of this stage on the integrity side of things. Throughout this entire project I have explored my past, present, and future self, and it is kind of scary to think about some of these things. I now realize that my past experiences have affected my present self, in both positive and negative ways. I hope to work on my present self and make my future self a better person. Over all this project is one that I would do again in a heartbeat if I had to; it was insightful and made me really think about things that I really did not think were so important.

References
Erikson's Biography. (n.d.). SUNY Cortland - Faculty and Staff Web Services. Retrieved September 4, 2012, from http://web.cortland.edu/andersmd/erik/bio.html

Eriksons Stages of Development | Learning Theories. (n.d.). Learning Theories. Retrieved September 4, 2012, from http://www.learning-theories.com/eriksons-stages-ofdevelopment.html

McDevitt, T. M., & Ormrod, J. E. (2013). Child development and education (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson.