ERIK ERIKSON – Psychosocial Development
- Born: June 15, 1902
- Frankfort, Germany
- Jewish
- Middle school: being bullied
because of his Jewish background
- Experienced identity crisis
- 1933 – moved to Boston, USA
- Boston’s first child analyst
- Offered a teaching position in
Harvard med school
- Work: how society affects
childhood and developmental…
- 8 stages theory – childhood and
society
May 12 – age 91
Ex:
If adolescents do not establish
their own identity, they will have
difficulty in establishing relationships as
an adult
THEORY AND CONCEPT
- Development: social in nature
and how we affiliate with people
(i.e. how you socialize with
people)
- Crisis: challenges in each stage –
if not successfully met we will be
stuck in the stage
- Each stage represents individuals
who face a crisis
1. Trust vs Mistrust (Infancy)
- Conflict/crisis: feeding
- Crying – their way to
communicate; determine their
needs
- Most important relationship –
parents / caregivers
- Characteristics: need food,
warmth, shelter from caregiver to
develop trust
- If not met, mistrust will develop
- Mistrust develops when there is
inconsistency in giving the needs
- If trust is met – security is
achieved
- If trust is not met – distress is
experienced
2. Autonomy vs shame and
doubt (toddlers 1-3 years
old)
- Toilet training
- Play just with themselves
- Characteristics: children gain a
little independence
- Common: saying no
- (when children feel inadequacy)
Caregiver should: guide them and
teach them, give them time to
master the things they are doing
= success
DO NOT SCOLD THEM – DO NOT
PUNISH OR BE HARSH
3. Initiative vs Guilt
(pre-school 3-5 years old)
- Involves independence
- Conflict: initiative
- Skits with other children
- Begin to interact with other
children – establish relationships
with other children
- Tell the children their wrong
doings
- Positive outcome (met the
conflict): parents encourage the
child not to do their wrong doings
– consistency in discipline
- Negative outcome: parents are
not very supportive = the child
growing up will rely on other
people in decision-making
4. Industry and inferiority
(school age 6-12 years old)
- Development of self-awareness
- Conflict:
- Virtue: competence
- Question: am I successful or
worthless?
- Involved their life around school
- Important relationships: friends,
family, teachers
- Children here are very competent
- Comparing = inferiority
- Feel: sense of inferiority
- Children discover pressure
- Develop: sense of
accomplishment
- Negative outcome: feel a sense
of failure
5. Identity vs role confusion
(adolescence 10-19 years
old)
- Virtue: fidelity – faithfulness,
loyalty
- Important people: family, friends
- Identify yourself where you fit in
- Identity crisis – what role do you
identify yourself
- Use experiences to influence your
future
- If the self is not identified:
- Identify yourself through
experiences and interaction with
other people
- Able to identify your role: you can
build an identity
- Identity should come within from
yourself, not from society
- Must achieve a sense of identity
in occupation, sex roles, politics
and religion
- Adolescents try a variety of roles
to identify where they fit in. they
must decide who they are and
decipher who society expects
them to be. They start using their
experiences to influence their
future.
- POSITIVE OUTCOME
o Teens discover who they
are through exploration of
the world and the people
in it. The discover their
belief and goals. This is
called – identity
- NEGATIVE OUTCOME
o Teens who do not build a
sense of themselves suffer
identity confusion. They
continue through life
without much
understanding of who they
are or where they want to
go
6. Intimacy vs isolation
(early adulthood 20-40 years old)
- Virtue: love
- Question: am I loved or wanted
by someone?
- Important event: parenting
- Important relationships: lovers,
friends, and work connections
- Characteristics
o Upon establishing identity,
people are able to form
long term commitments
o Individual seeks to develop
love relationships
o Without healthy
friendships and intimate
relationships, isolation
occurs
7. Generativity vs adulthood
(middle adulthood 40-65
years old)
- Virtue: care
- Question: will I produce
something of real value?
- Important relationship: children
and community
- Characteristics:
o “generativity” is a concern
for helping the younger
generation lead successful
lives. In contrast, feeling
live they’ve done nothing
to help leads to
“stagnation”
o Failure to resolve this
stage can lead to
overextension or rejection
8. Ego integrity vs despair
(late adulthood 65-older years
old)
- Virtue: wisdom
- Question: was my life well spent?
- Important event: reflection on
and acceptance of one’s life
- Characteristics:
o A person reflects on the
past
o If a person feels their life
was well spent, they
develop a sense of
integrity
o If they look back on a life
of disappointments and
missed goals, they develop
a sense of despair or
gloom