Erickson’s Psychosocial Theory of Development

 Erick Erikson
Born Erik Salomonsen
German Developmental Psychologist
June 15, 1902 (Frankfurt Main, Germany) – May 12, 1994 (Harwich, Cape Cod, Massachusetts)

 Psychosocial - psychological (or the root, "psycho" relating to the mind, brain, personality,
etc.) & social (external relationships and environment)

 Erikson's theory was greatly influenced by Sigmund Freud

 His theory is a basis for broad or complex discussion and analysis of personality and
behavior, and also for understanding and facilitating development - of self and others.

 Each stage involves a "psychosocial crisis" of two opposing emotional forces

2 DISPOSITIONS:

 SYNTONIC - POSITIVE
 DYSTONIC-NEGATIVE
 If both dispositions are not managed well, we may develop MALADAPTATION &
MALIGNANCY
 VIRTUES are being carried if a stage is managed well

Basic Trust vs Mistrust

BASIC TRUST VS MISTRUST

 INFANT STAGE: Birth to 8 months

  GOAL: to develop trust without completely eliminating the capacity for mistrust
 Developing trust is the first task of the ego, and it is never complete.

BASIC TRUST VS MISTRUST

 TRUST - Firm belief in reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.

 MISTRUST - State of being suspicious; lack of trust.

BASIC TRUST VS MISTRUST

 MALADAPTATION:
SENSORY MALADJUSTMENT- Overly trusting

 MALIGNANCY:
WITHDRAWAL - Characterized by depression, paranoia &
psychosis

BASIC TRUST VS MISTRUST

 VIRTUE:
HOPE - strong belief that when things are not going well, they will work out well in the
end.

AUTONOMY VS SHAME AND DOUBT

AUTONOMY VS SHAME AND DOUBT

 AUTONOMY - Independence
 SHAME - A painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or
foolish behavior.
 DOUBT - Feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction

AUTONOMY VS SHAME AND DOUBT

 TODDLER STAGE: 18 months to 3 years

 GOAL: to achieve autonomy while minimizing shame and doubt.
 AUTONOMY VS SHAME AND DOUBT

 Shame develops with the child's self-consciousness.

 Doubt has to do with having a front and back - a "behind" subject to its own rules. Left
over doubt may become paranoia.

AUTONOMY VS SHAME AND DOUBT

 MALADAPTATION:
IMPULSIVENESS - Sort of shameless willfulness that leads you in later childhood and
even adulthood, to jump into things without proper consideration of your abilities.

AUTONOMY VS SHAME AND DOUBT

 MALIGNANCY:
COMPULSIVENESS - A person feels as if their entire being rides on everything they do,
and so everything, must be done perfectly

AUTONOMY VS SHAME AND DOUBT

 VIRTUE:
WILL POWER - Controlling deliberately exerted to do something or to restrain one's
own impulses.

INITIATIVE VS GUILT

INITIATIVE VS GUILT
 Early childhood stage: Ages 3 or 4 to 5 or 6
 GOAL: to learn initiative without too much guilt.

INITIATIVE - a positive response to the world's challenges, taking on responsibilities, learning new
skills, feeling purposeful.
- the attempt to make that non-reality a reality.
  This stage is a time for play, not for formal education.
 OEDIPAL CRISIS- the reluctance a child feels in relinquishing his/her closeness to the
opposite sex parents.

 RUTHLESNESS - to be heartless or unfeeling or be "without mercy."

 INHIBITION - too much guilt.
 COURAGE - the capacity for action despite a clear understanding of your limitations
and past failings

INDUSTRY VS INFERIORITY

INDUSTRY VS INFERIORITY
 6-12 years old
 They must learn the feeling of success, whether it is in school or on the playground, academic, or
social.

 INFERIORITY - Competence
 Just a touch of inferiority keeps us sensible and humble

IDENTITY VS ROLE CONFUSION

 IDENTITY VS ROLE CONFUSION
 Puberty to ages 18 or 20

 GOAL: to achieve EGO IDENTITY and avoid ROLE CONFUSION

 EGO IDENTITY - knowing who you are and how you fit into the rest of the society.

 PSYCHOSOCIAL MORATORIUM
- taking a little "time out"

 PSYCHOSOCIAL MORATORIUM - one of Erikson's suggestions for adolescence in

our society.
 We need to dream a little.

 A fanatic believes that this way is the only way.

 Repudiation – state of rejection.

INTIMACY VS ISOLATION

INTIMACY VS ISOLATION
 Young Adulthood: 18 to 30 years old
 GOAL: to achieve some degree of intimacy, as opposed to remaining in isolation.
  INTIMACY - ability to be close to others, as a lover, a friend, and as a particular
participant in society.
 "Fear of commitment" – an example of immaturity

 MALADAPTATION:
PROMISCUITY - The tendency to become intimate too freely, too easy, and
without any depth to your intimacy.
 MALIGNANCY:
EXCLUSION - The tendency to isolate oneself from love, friendship and
community, and to develop a certain hatefulness in compensation for one's loneliness.
 VIRTUE:
LOVE - Being able to put aside differences and antagonisms through "mutuality of
devotion."

GENERATIVITY VS STAGNATION

GENERATIVITY VS STAGNATION
 Middle Adulthood - the time when we are actively involved in raising children.
 GOAL: to cultivate the proper balance of generativity and stagnation.
 GENERATIVITY - an extension of love into the future.
 STAGNATION - self absorption, caring for no one.
 The stagnant person STOPS to be a reproductive member of the society.
 MALADAPTATION:
OVEREXTENSION - Some people try to be generative that they no longer allow time
for themselves, for rest and relaxation.
 MALIGNANCY:
REJECTIVITY - Too little generativity and too much stagnation and you are no longer
participating in or contributing to society.
EGO INTEGRITY VS DESPAIR
 EGO INTEGRITY VS DESPAIR
 EGO INTEGRITY - Coming to terms with your life, and thereby coming to terms with the end of
life.

 DESPAIR - The complete loss or absence of hope.

 Late adulthood/Maturity/Old age
 Begins sometime around retirement, around 60
 GOAL: to develop ego integrity with a minimal amount of despair.
 Women go through sometimes dramatic menopause; Men often find they can no longer "rise to
the occasion."
 MALADAPTATION:
PRESUMPTION – This happens when a person "presumes" ego integrity without actually facing
the difficulties of old age.
 MALIGNANCY:
 DISDAIN - A contempt of life, one's own, or anyone.
 VIRTUE:
WISDOM- Someone who approaches death without fear.

"It is human to have a long childhood; it is civilized to have an even longer childhood. Long childhood
makes a technical and mental virtuoso out of man, but it also leaves a life-long residue of emotional
immaturity in him."
-Erik Homburger Erikson (1902-1994)
thank you