Erickson's Initiative Vs Inferiority Stages

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confrontational situations. Further, due to overwhelming feelings of inadequacy and lack of self confidence in my abilities, I began to dissociate myself from the cooperative learning environment and academic tasks presented at school; behaviour consistent with the negative effects of psychological maltreatment (Feldman & Landry, 2012). As such, my teachers noticed the increase in absences and the decline in my motivation. However, they were powerless to intercept and provide aide in my situation due to my refusal to confide in them about the situation I was experiencing at home. Again, my choice not to reveal my situation to authority figures was a direct result of the fear and guilt I know experienced when making decisions. I feared I would, …show more content…

According to Erikson, individuals are presented with crises that they must overcome in order to advance to the next stage of lifespan development. The psychological maltreatment that I experienced during my preschool years and continuing through to late adolescence, would have lessened my ability to succeed at the crisis presented and in the creation of a positive self-concept. During the time my pivotal experience took place, I would have been nearing the completion of Erikson’s Initiative vs Guilt stage (Feldman & Landry, 2012). The crisis presented during this stage is for the child to develop independence from their caregivers while learning to adequately contend with the guilt stemming from failure (Feldman & Landry, 2012). During this stage, I would have experienced an increased awareness of myself as an individual capable of making decisions and operating within a capacity separate form my caregivers. Returning to the example provided in this paper, one can see that the following occurred: 1. I assessed a situation to be harmful to my well-being; 2. I made a decision to tell my mother about the situation; 3. I received punishment for acting independently. My mother’s reaction to my attempt at independence not only made me question whether my concern had been fabricated or if it was as I recall her screaming at me “lies, lies, lies your …show more content…

The visual aid included in this paper is to contrast the environment in which I was raised with the environment I will work in partnership with my spouse to create for our future children. Clearly, through critical examination I can conclude that not all children who are exposed to psychological maltreatment, demonstrate the same level of resiliency that I have demonstrated. Instead, many of the children raised in environments with varying levels of psychological maltreatment are at risk of engaging in criminal activity, experiencing cognitive and or emotional disabilities and continuing the cycle of violence with their own children (Feldman & Landry, 2012). The cycle of violence hypothesis theories that individuals who were abused as children, are more likely to choose to model the abusive behaviour they have learned when disciplining or interacting with their own children (Feldman & Landry 2012). By applying the Social-Cognitive Learning Theory to the experience mentioned in this paper, I can reaffirm that behaviour is learned through the observation of others, thus, parents are primary figures in modelling behaviour that will be demonstrated in the future. Social-Cognitive psychologist Alberta Bandura postulated that through observation, that children often model the observed behaviour of another and they

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