ERIK ERIKSON

1902-1994
PSYCHOSOCIAL
THEORY
By: Maria Elena B. Delfin
 He was born in Frankfurt,
Germany, on June 15,
1902.

 During his childhood, and

his early adulthood, he
was Erik Homberger, and
his parents kept the
details of his birth a
secret.
 When he became an
American citizen, he
officially changed his
name to Erik Erikson.
Erikson's son.
 At 25, his friend Peter Blos --
a fellow artist and, later,
psychoanalyst -- suggested
he apply for a teaching
position at an experimental
school for American students
run by Dorothy Burlingham, a
friend of Anna Freud
 Besides teaching art, he
gathered a certificate in
Montessori education and
one from the Vienna
Psychoanalytic Society.
He was psychoanalyzed
by Anna Freud herself.
 Erickson’s Theory of
Developmental Stages

Basic Theory:
 Babies are born with some basic
capabilities and distinct
temperaments. But they go
through dramatic changes on the
way to adulthood and old age.
According to psychologist Erik H.
Erikson, each individual passes
through eight developmental
stages.
Erickson’s Theory of
Developmental Stages
Each developmental stage is characterized by
a different psychological "crisis", which
must be resolved by the individual before
the individual can move on to the next
stage. If the person copes with a particular
crisis in a maladaptive manner, the
outcome will be more struggles with that
issue later in life. To Erikson, the sequence
of the stages are set by nature. It is within
the set limits that nurture works its ways.
 Stage 1: Infant
Trust vs Mistrust
Ages 0 to 1 Year Infancy
 infants need to feel cared for
and loved
 trust within and without - trust
of self as well as others
 rejected children are more
fearful, insecure, jealous,
aggressive, hostile, isolated -
mistrustful

Hope
 Stage 2: Toddler
Autonomy vs Shame and
Doubt
Ages 1 to 3 Years
 awareness of emerging skills
develops
 need to be taken seriously
 positive resolution includes
acceptance of negative
feelings - rage, anger, hatred
- as well as independence

Will
Stage 3: Preschooler
Initiative vs Guilt
Ages 3 to 6 years Preschool Age
 child decides what kind of
person to be
 initiative comes with freedom
and opportunity to initiate
motor play and intellectual
pursuits
 guilt comes from being made
to feel bad about self-initiated
activities and ideas
Purpose
 Stage 4: School-age Child
Industry vs Inferiority

Ages 6 to 12 Years School Age

 academic tasks: reading,
writing, math
 physical tasks: sports,
manual dexterity
 social tasks: making friends,
following rules, sharing ideas
 industry is orientation toward
working, doing, producing
Competence
 Stage 5: Adolescent
Identity vs Role Confusion
Ages 12 to 18 Years Adolescence & Teen
 time of psychological and
physiological revolution
 firm self-image is formed
 must develop strong identity -
sexual, personal
 time to select work goals,
career
 lack of identity = inability to
progress successfully
Fidelity/commitment
 Stage 6: Young Adult
Intimacy vs Isolation
Ages 18 to 35 Year Early Adulthood
 intimacy is the ability to care
deeply for another person
 the ability to share one’s true
feelings
 the ability to give and receive
affection
 isolation leads to self-
absorption and “social death”

Love
Stage 7: Middle-Age Adult
Generativity vs Stagnation
Ages 35 to 55 Middle Age
 become more aware of eventual
death
 question life-style, goals choices
 motivation to have impact outside
of family
 care represents concern for
others and need to give to next
generation
 stagnation reflects preoccupation
with self only

Care
 Stage 8: Older Adult
Integrity vs Despair

Ages 55 to 65 to death Old age

 wisdom comes from a meaningful
life
 integrity reflects the life well-lived
 with integrity, one can accept
death
 despair reflects a wish to do it
over correctly
 with despair, one does not find
peace

wisdom
Albert Bandura
1925- Present
Social Learning Theory
 born in Mundare, Canada in 1925
 received his B.A. degree from the
University of British Columbia in
1949
 Obtained his PH.D. from the
University of Iowa
 1953, accepted a position as a
Psychology professor at the
University of Stanford and he is
currently employed there today.
 He believed that aggression is
learned through a process
called behavior modeling.

 He argued that individuals

especially children learn
aggressive responses from
observing others either
personally, media or
environment.
 He believed that aggression
reinforced by family
members was the most
prominent source of
behavior modeling.

 “ Children learn to act

aggressive when they
model their behavior after
violent acts of adults,
especially family members.
The social learning theory
proposed by Albert Bandura
has become perhaps the most
influential theory of learning
and development. While rooted
in many of the basic concepts
of traditional learning theory,
Bandura believed that direct
reinforcement could not
account for all types of
learning.
 One of his famous
experiment is the “Bobo
doll studies. He made a
film of one of his students,
a young woman,
essentially beating up a
bobo doll.
Step 1: Attention Processes
-Developing cognitive
processes to pay attention to
a model- more developed
processes allow for better
attention
-Must observe the model
accurately enough to imitate
behavior
.
Step 2: Retention Processes
-To later imitate behavior,
must remember aspects of the
behavior

Retain information in 2 ways:

Imaginal internal representation:

Visual image Ex: Forming a
mental picture

Verbal system: Verbal

description of behavior Ex:
Silently rehearsing steps in
behavior
Step 3: Production Processes
 Taking imaginal and verbal
representations and translating
into overt behavior- practice
behaviors

 Receive feedback on accuracy of

behavior- how well have you
imitated the modeled behavior?

 Important in mastering difficult

skills
 Ex: Driving a car
Step 4: Incentive and
Motivational Processes
 With incentives, observation
more quickly becomes action,
pay more attention, retain
more information

 Incentive to learn influenced

by anticipated reinforcements
 a.  past reinforcement, ala
traditional behaviorism.

b.  promised reinforcements

(incentives) that we can
imagine.

c.  vicarious/shocking
reinforcement -- seeing and
recalling the model being
reinforced.
The negative motivations are
there as well, giving you reasons
not to imitate someone:
 past punishment.

   promised punishment
(threats).

 vicarious punishment
Self-regulation

 -- controlling our own

behavior -- is the other
“workhorse” of human
personality.  Here Bandura
suggests three steps
1. Self-Observation
- We look at ourselves,
our behavior, and keep
tabs on it.
2. Judgment. 
We compare what we
see with a standard.  For
example, we can compare
our performance with
traditional standards, such
as “rules of etiquette.”  Or
we can create arbitrary
ones, like “I’ll read a book a
week.”  Or we can compete
with others, or with
ourselves.
3.  Self-response. 
If you did well in comparison
with your standard, you give
yourself rewarding self-
responses.  If you did poorly,
you give yourself punishing
self-responses.  These self-
responses can range from the
obvious (treating yourself to a
sundae or working late) to the
more covert (feelings of pride
or shame).
Bandura sees three likely
results of excessive self-
punishment:
a.  compensation – a superiority
complex, for example, and
delusions of grandeur.
b.  inactivity -- apathy, boredom,
depression.
c.  escape -- drugs and alcohol,
television fantasies, or even the
ultimate escape, suicide.
Bandura’s recommendations to
those who suffer from poor self-
concepts come straight from the
three steps of self-regulation:
1.  Regarding self-observation
-- know thyself!  Make sure
you have an accurate picture
of your behavior
2.  Regarding standards -- make
sure your standards aren’t set
too high.  Don’t set yourself
up for failure!  Standards that
are too low, on the other
hand, are meaningless.

3. Regarding self-response --
use self-rewards, not self-
punishments.  Celebrate your
victories, don’t dwell on your
failures.
 Therapy
 Self-control therapy
The ideas behind self-
regulation have been
incorporated into a therapy
technique called self-control
therapy. .
 1. Behavioral charts. 
Self-observation
requires that you keep
close tabs on your
behavior, both before you
begin changes and after. 
- use diary approach
 2.  Environmental planning. 
Taking your lead
from your behavioral
charts and diaries, you
can begin to alter your
environment. 
3. Self-contracts. 
Finally, you arrange to reward
yourself when you adhere to your
plan, and possibly punish yourself
when you do not.  These contracts
should be written down and
witnessed (by your therapist, for
example), and the details should
be spelled out very explicitly:  “I
will go out to dinner on Saturday
night if I smoke fewer cigarettes
this week than last week.  I will do
paperwork instead if I do not.”
Modeling therapy

 The theory is that, if you can

get someone with a
psychological disorder to
observe someone dealing
with the same issues in a
more productive fashion, the
first person will learn by
modeling
Socialization

Process
          Socialization
 is the process by which
children and adults learn from
others. We begin learning
from others during the early
days of life; and most people
continue their social learning
all through life (unless some
mental or physical disability
slows or stops the learning
process).
        Natural socialization
 occurs when infants and
youngsters explore, play and
discover the social world
around them.

- is easily seen when looking at

the young of almost any
mammalian species (and
some birds).
 Planned socialization occurs
when other people take
actions designed to teach or
train others -- from infancy
on.

-is mostly a human

phenomenon; and all
through history, people have
been making plans for
teaching or training others..
        Positive socialization

 is the type of social

learning that is based on
pleasurable and exciting
experiences. We tend to
like the people who fill our
social learning processes
with positive motivation,
loving care, and rewarding
opportunities.
 Negative socialization
occurs when others
use punishment,
harsh criticisms or
anger to try to "teach
us a lesson;"
References
 Child and Adolescent Psychology Book.
 http://
www.learningplaceonline.com/stages/organize/Eriks
on.htm
 http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality
/a/psychosocial.htm
 http://www.businessballs.com/erik_erikson_psychos
ocial_theory.htm
 http://www.psychpage.com/learning/library/person/er
ikson.html
 http://www.learning-theories.com/eriksons-stages of
development.htmlp://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/co
mmittees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/erikson.htm
 http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/bandura.h
tml