ERIK ERIKSON (1902-1994)

Product of extra-marital relationship

Suffered identitity crisis (coined the term) and psychological identity, unsure of biological odentity>> 2 nd father paediatrician

Raised in jewish backgrounf but background Danish, NORDIC features made him an outcast amongst jwish peers and
ironically german classmates rejected him as a jew

Converted to Christianity

Professional identity in Vienna>>worked with peter Bos, researcher on adoloscence and pioneer of a nongraded school that
gave appropriate optimal freedom to children.

 Child analyst>>worked with Anna

 Key figure in psychoanalysis

Wrote articles on Montessori phil of edu and Psychoanalysis>>two complementary perspectives enabled Erikson to make a
unique contribution to our understanding of child development.

1938, he learned of a unique opportunity to study child-rearing methods among the Sioux in South Dakota

Observed how childhood events are shaped by society and its customs

Erikson extended Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory in four main ways.

1. Increased our understanding of the ego, showing how it is a creative problem solver>>emerges out of the genetic,
cultural, and historical context of each individual
2. Elaborated Freud’s stages of development, making explicit a social dimension that was implied in Freud’s theory but
never clearly stated.
3. extended our concept of development to embrace the entire life span, from infancy to old age
4. explored the impact of culture, society, and history on the developing personality and illustrated this in
psychohistorical studies of famous people

ENHANCED UNDERSTANDING OF EGO:

Background:

Debate btw anna and hartmann>> H explored egos ego’s adaptive responses to its environment. Wile anna soley restricted

restrict the ego’s function to warding off drives,

As an educator, Erikson was interested in how one might strengthen and enrich the ego of young children.

found it difficult to conceive of the ego as adaptive if its role was limited to a set of defenses against inner drives.

Ego in Erikson’s theory:

the ego is the part of the mind that gives coherence to experiences, conscious or unconscious

Agreed with F that many aspects of ego functioning are unconscious, e believed the ego has an overall unifying purpose that
leads to consistent behaviour and conduct

Ego has the positive role of maintaining effective performance, rather than just a negative role of avoiding anxiety. Its
defenses are adaptive as well as maladaptive

did not believe that we can best reconstruct the ego’s functions from an understanding of its dysfunctions

elaborated on its adaptive capacities, its ability to deal with stress, to resolve vital conflict, to recuperate, and to contribute
to identity formation

In the final analysis, Erikson defined the ego as a strong, vital, and positive force: an organizing capacity of the individual
that leads to “that strength which can reconcile discontinuities and ambiguities”
development of the ego is clearly outlined in Erikson’s psychosocial stages of the life cycle.

ego develops certain strengths or basic virtues that enable it to move forward.

ego strengths lay the foundation for a set of ethical rules based on ideals that we can strive for, since Erikson also conceived
of the superego and human consciousness in terms of an evolutionary process

psychosexual stages of dev:

Erikson’s psychosocial stages centers on an emotional polarity or conflict that children encounter at certain critical periods.

psychosexual stages of development, Sigmund Freud concentrated on their biological character and tended to neglect the
social dimension

Freud’s stages children are doing more than coming to terms with their own sexuality

For Erikson, children are trying to understand and relate to the world and to others.

Erikson made explicit the social dimension implied in Freud’s work

New environmental demands introject positive and negative emotional components into the development of personality

Both emotional components are incorporated but if conflict is resolved SATIFACTORALIY

Positive component is reflected to a higher degree

If conflict is not resolved adequately>> -ve component dominates

Erikson’s first four stages correspond to Freud’s psychosexual stages (oral through latency). Erikson then subdivided the
genital stage into four phases that represent growth and development throughout maturity.

Erikson’s stages are epigenetic>>stage develops on top of another in a sequential and hierarchical pattern

each successive level the human personality becomes more complex