Erik Erickson's Theory Of Personality Development

Erik Erikson’s Stage Theory of Personality Development The purpose of this paper is to describe the underlying principles of Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychological Development. In describing the underlying principles of each stage, the writer includes an analysis of a character that best represents that stage. In each stage, the essayist discusses how the character is doing at resolving the crisis. Erik Erickson (1902-1994) maintained that people, during their lifetimes, experience turning points, or crisis; and go through eight stages “the outcome of which partly determine the course or future personality development “(Lahey, 2009, p. 322). The eight stages are; “basic trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority vs. identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair”. Stage one is “Basic Trust vs. Mistrust”. The life span is from birth to about 18 months of age. Caregivers are especially important during this time. Infants with caregivers that provide care, affection, shelter, and food help the child to develop a sense of trust. Caregivers not providing enough food, little or no love or affection, poor

inferiority” and the time span is about the ages of 5 to 11 years of age. Children learn to “meet the demands imposed by school and home responsibilities”. If not successful, feelings of inferiority begin. The character that best fits this stage is a close relative we will call Johnny. Johnny, at the age of six, during the first years of school, realized his clothes and body odor was different from his little classmates. They would make fun of him almost daily. One day, the odor was so pungent, the teacher called and asked the parent to come pick Johnnie up. Johnny, sadly to say, did not make it through this stage successfully. As a 22 year old, Johhny is an inmate with only a 9th grade