Bongumenzi Ngcobo

219107269

Education Studies 2B Assignment

Lecturer: Mr. Maseko

Due date: 13 September 2021

Table of content
 Section 1
 Background and ideas around the Psychosocial theory
 Description of Erikson stages
 Description of significant relations
 Incorporation of psychosocial virtues

 Section 2
 Psychosocial stages linked to Zinhle’s story
 The analysis of Zinhle’s Story

 Section 3
 Recommendations

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Psychosocial development is the theory by Erick Erikson(1902 – 1994), the
psychoanalyst and professor at Harvard was convinced that the is need to
accommodate more social and cultural influences into the original psychoanalytic
theory of development, Erick believed that people are active in their own
development and that personality develops in a predetermined order, as results
developed the theory with the series of eight stages which explains how the
personality develops from one stage to another as these stages occur from infancy
to old age, so basically they surround the whole human life span, according to
Erikson during each stage the person experiences the psychosocial crises which
involves the psychological needs of an individual and conflicting with the needs of
the society, if one manages and succeed at dealing with the aspects coming along
with each stage, there would be a psychological strength gained in other words
certain virtue would be achieved as results it is more likely to progress smoothly to
the following stage, however the failure to do so may come with the adversities along
one’s development namely; maladaptation and malignancies which is inevitable that
they will endanger the future of the affected individual. The failure and success of
each stage are triggered by the biological, psychological, and social factors
sequential from birth, infancy, childhood, middle childhood, and old age. Erick came
up with the 8 stages that explicitly explain all these, theses stages are Trust vs
Mistrust, Autonomy vs shame, Initiative vs Guilt, Industry vs inferiority, Identity vs
Role Confusion, Intimacy vs isolation, Generativity vs Stagnation, and Integrity vs
Despair.

Stage 1 holds the idea of Trust and mistrust which takes place from birth to 18
months, this is the stage of total dependency, as the infant stays dependent on the
caregiver for nurture and care, love, stability, and warmth. The trust, confidence, and
sense of security are gained if the caregiver is consistent and reliable enough to the
baby, then they observe the world as a safe environment, however when care is
inconsistent and unreliable, changing abruptly, then the baby is set to develop a
sense of mistrust, in times when the caregiver rejects or fails to meet the needs of
emotionally detaches then the baby sees the world as the unsafe environment, as
results they will grow with this uncertainty which would adversely affect the
development of the kid as this progresses continuously from stage to stage, however
when an infant achieved the trust then they would move to the second stage with a
relative sense of hope and with the perception that the world is trustworthy, so the
virtue is hope to this stage.

The second stage is Autonomy vs Shame, with the autonomy simplifying control
taken over by the baby as they can do certain things for themselves, and feeling of
independence is acquired, this stage is from 18 months to 3 years when the babies
are encouraged to what they can do at the time for independence and the success
over bodily functions and taking control of simple choices leads to a sense of
personal power and feeling of autonomy, however, if overly criticize or controlled or
prevented from asserting themselves, then they may feel unable to survive on their
own and self-esteem would be adversely affected as results feelings of shame and
doubts prevail, the virtue in this stage is will.

Succedent stage to stage 2 is initiative vs guilt running from the age of 3 to 6 years,
during this stage we learn to assert ourselves and commence to direct play and
engage in social interactions, the interpersonal skills are explored, however, if overly
restricted to this exploration, through increased criticism or whatever then sense of
guilt is profound felt, yet if we succeeded to this stage we feel secure and capable as
results the virtue of this stage which is the purpose, how the balance between guilt
and initiative is vital for the development of healthy mindset. Consequent to stage 3
is Industry vs inferiority which takes place between the age 6 and 12, where we are
immersed in the world of education, learning basic productive skills expected in
society, the peer group becomes vital to compare what one can complete and not,
the challenge is taking the tasks and acquire the skills but the as results success
taking these tasks leads to the sense of industry whereas failure to do so leads to
inferiority, however, balance in stage leads to the sense of accomplishment and
competence as the virtue.

The fifth stage is identity vs role confusion taking place during adolescence, roughly
between 12 and 18, the new opportunities, experiences, and changes to the body
and mind are imperative to the sense of who we are, the adolescents try to be
independents from family constraints and search for identity establishing their special
interests, sex identity, self-image and making deeper-lasting relationships. According
to Erikson (1963), the fifth psychosocial development exists “between the morality
learned by the child, and the ethics to be developed by the adult”, success to this
stage leads to us belief that we ought to stay true to who we are, expressed as
fidelity as the virtue, successional to stage 5 is intimacy vs isolation, taking place in
young adulthood, in ages between 18 and 40, the young adults are motivated to
explore personal relationships and desire to form intimate relationships, major
conflict arise when we are compelled to keep up with the commitments and trusting
mutuality outside our families, this is accompanied by self-sacrifice, doubts, self-
adequacy, experiences of partial intimacy and loneliness, as results those with poor
sense of self are typically isolated and less committed to relationships, however
when the young adult resolves these experiences, they can shape their relative
sense of or ability to form and maintain the relationship, then love is achieved as the
virtue.

The seventh stage is generativity vs stagnation, taking place in the middle age, aged
between 40 and 65, where one is productive in work, community, and society for
longevity, despite impacting our children’s lives better, the aim is to mark the world
and nurture the things that would outlive us, therefore success to this is exemplified
by care as the virtue, however, failure to this leads to self-absorption where
stagnation occurs, as one might feel they had little impact in the world. Ultimately is
stage 8 which is Integrity vs despair which is old age, when one experience the
feeling of satisfaction and acceptance of the way life span has been, this is the
reflection stage, as people on this stage become less productive and start reviewing
their accomplishments throughout the life, leading to “sense of coherence and
wholeness” (Erikson,1982), this is the success when one passes this stage, it is
represented by the wisdom one accumulates over time as the virtue however failure
leads to feelings of despair, spending time regretting over things not done or
mistakes made.
Section 2

Zinhle who is aged 9 years old, a little girl from Nhlazatshe, is still dealing Industry
vs inferiority stage, in the story, it is evident that Zinhle in her society seems to be a
bright girl, she passed grade 1 and her parents were proud of her, this means she
successfully dealt with the preceding stage( initiative vs guilt) where one learns deals
with social interaction very well start playing very well, she must have progressed
smoothly in stage 2 which is Autonomy vs shame, where one is expected to be
independent and start doing something such walking talking in the purpose of
asserting themselves, Zinhle has the good relationship with her parents they are
providers for her and they are caregivers, which means she obtained trust in stage
one as they continuously and consistently took care of her. Now she is in the stage
where schooling takes place and it is between industry and inferiority, in her society
and school she is cruising smoothly as a lot of people find helpful and bright, she is
doing grade 3 with 2 previous grades passed, which leads to increased confidence
to rule accordingly in this stage and to be said industrious. The sudden change in
Zinhle behaviour and performance, is the environment, according to Erikson the
society has a crucial role in developing and asserting yourself, so the abrupt change
in the environment causes worry for Zinhle, The stage of Industry and inferiority has
to do with comfort, in the story it is evident that Zinhle’s aunt compared her to her
Daughter, Zinhle’s cousin who goes to private schools and has enhanced education
and English speaking abilities, when compared this brings about to drop in Zinhle’s
esteem as it becomes precisely clear that she is not speaking as her cousin at all,
this is caused by the abrupt change to the environment which needs detailed
adaptation. When Zinhle moves and start schooling at a private school, she is put on
Grade 1 which adversely affect her confidence and self-esteem, as this is new to her
because in her school she had no adversities now she has to adapt to speaking
English which is not easy as it, not her home language, this relegates and sends
Zinhle to inferiority as she the only one who seems to be different and this negatively
impacts her school marks as her intelligence is measured by her English speaking
abilities and not how she tries to express herself and how she thinks, This makes her
be known as the dumb girl and therefore not valued and respected and this certainly
makes her marks to drop and her behaviour changes involuntary but the system
traps her to be a bad girl and remain inferior among so-called smart and fluent
students.

Section 3

Zinhle just moved to a completely different environment than the one she is from
(Nhlazatshe), back home she is used to be bright as she knew her ways around,
dealing with the matters that she had adapted to, communicating with the language
she is used to, she appeared to have the vivacious life, now that she has moved to
the society which requires her to used English which she is not used to, the plausible
and reasonable to be done is for her aunt to not compare her to her daughter, as her
daughter is doing what it used to, which speaking in English and now Zinhle is
expected to do what she is not used to, as expected she would be worse and would
suck on it. Zinhle is in the stag4 which is Industry vs inferiority which mainly depend
on what the child can do not do they automatically get to be ranked between the two,
the best thing to be done is that the teachers do not measure her abilities and
intelligence by her fluency in English, this is the stage which is vital for developing
self-confidence, children receive praises and attention for performing various tasks
such as writing, reading and solving problems, if Zinhle does not receive all this and
attention, it affects her confidence, her teacher should work with her, as their
profession require them to be patient with the kids so instead of writing reports that
she is bad they should support her developing her abilities speaking, reading, writing
and interacting in English altogether. Her parents should continue supporting her and
ensure that she feels appreciated and valued so that she stays motivated, she must
not stay compared to anyone as this could make her feel less valued judging from
her abilities which will make her feel inferior seeing her peers doing what she cannot
do. There must be extensive support from parents however, they should be careful
not to equate achievement with acceptance and love, unconditional love and support
from parents can help Zinhle go through this stage

The utmost support would play the essential role, it is not a choice to remark Zinhle’s
grades and report that she is doing poorly, she should be encouraged to do better for
her development so that she does not deal with the failure of the stage as this would
make her life more difficult, so she must get assistance from all parties(parent,
teachers) for her progression and adaptation. The failure to do this and help her
could lead to Malignancy to her which involves too much negativity about things with
little hope for positives in life which is results in failure at a certain stage.