Many psychologists have performed examinations over personality for many decades. With a vast amount of theories behind the meaning of personality, there still is no true explanation to why we are who we are. Some would argue that our personality is inherited and passed down through birth, whereas some theorist believes one’s personality is altered by life events and choices. I find it hard to grasp the idea that personality travels through the gene pool. I believe that personality changes frequently, in the sense that we adapt to our environment. Our surroundings, actions, and decisions all play a role in developing a personality. For example, a child that grew up in foster care might show signs of aggression or depression, whereas a child …show more content…
Erikson believes a person’s personality changes throughout their lifespan and primarily focuses on ego. Furthermore, ego is a person’s sense of self-importance or self- acceptance. This is a major factor when discussing personality because how we perceive ourselves, reflects onto others. Erikson’s eight stages of psychological development consist of infancy, early childhood, preschool, middle school, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age and old age. He indicates that during each stage of life a person experiences a psychological crisis, which could aid in a negative or positive result. During the infancy stage, the psychological crisis is trust vs. mistrust, meaning total dependence on the mother or father. If either or both parents show love and attention, then the child will develop trust, or otherwise mistrust if neglected. Early childhood, around the ages two to three years old a child becomes more mobile and shows signs of independence. The caregivers will either assist the child in all their needs or wait patiently as they figure them out on their own. Erikson distinguishes the importance of allowing children to face their own challenges with the tolerance of failure. This will provide the willingness to push through hard times and overcome adversity. Stage 3, initiative vs. guilt describes the interaction between other children and their ability to make decisions. A child will initiate activity with others continuously when he or she feels secure. Nevertheless, when children are told ‘no’ they react with feelings of guilt. The fourth stage of Erikson’s theory begins to explain inferiority. In this stage, a student will be introduced to teachers who become a major part of a child’s psychological development. With encouragement, children will feel confident in themselves, whereas negative reinforcement may cause self-doubt. Identity vs.
An example when an adult was scaffolding an infant during the time I was observing Lab 1 would be when George of 1 year and 3 months was wobbly walking and exploring his surroundings and worryingly one of the instructors said “no, no” and instead he walked towards another designated play era and uncertain he looked back and made eye contact with the same instructor. She reassured him that he could go play into the area by gesturing and saying “that’s okay ” so he proceeded to play in that area.
Erikson developed the eight psychosocial stages of which the first 3 stages: Trust vs. Mistrust, Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, Initiative vs. Guilt affects a child’s development. A child’s relationship with his caregiver is very important because if a child doesn’t have a good relationship, and is constantly shamed for doing things and not succeeding can affect the child overall. For example, a child in his preschool age (3-5) who is trying to help his mother clean, but is too slow a mother could stop him and prevent him from and this will cause a child to be fearful of doing things because he was never permitted to do something on his
The first stage of Erik Erikson 's theory of psychosocial development takes place between birth and one year of age. It is the most important stage in life. He named this stage, Trust vs. Mistrust. At this important time in a child’s development, the child is completely dependent on an adult for everything; food, love, warmness, protection, and nurturing. If the caregiver fails to be successful in providing acceptable care and love, the young child will feel that they cannot trust or depend on the adults in their life. When a young child develops trust, the child will feel safe and protected in the world. If a child fails to develop trust,
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” Personality is characterized by many dimensions of a person’s overall being. The belief that personality stems from one origin is small minded and on many levels, unsupported. If the scope of personality is expanded, it suggests that there is not a single explanation determining a person’s personality and how it is formed. Personality Theories have been generated for centuries by individuals who desire to identify what distinguishes a person’s personality and how it affects their behaviors. What is it that comprises all the unique characteristics about a person?
Development throughout the lifespan goes through many stages. According to Erikson, who is a renowned developmental theorist, development throughout the lifespan is psychosocial. Erikson’s theory is still prominent in today’s models of personalities and developmental psychology. Erikson believed that you had to move through each stage to be successful in subsequent stages. The stages of psychosocial development start at birth.
There are eight stages of psychosocial development, according to Erik Erikson. Erikson’s first stage is infancy, which approximates from birth to one year old. The issue for infants is trust vs. mistrust. In this stage, infants depend on others for food and warmth; therefore, infants must be able to trust the parent for providing those. If the infants’ needs are properly cared by the parent, infants will not only develop trust and security attachment with the parents, but also trust their environment. If not, infants will develop mistrust towards people, things in their environment, and towards themselves. Erikson’s second stage is toddlerhood, which approximates from one year old to three years old. The issue for toddlers is autonomy vs. shame and doubt. In this stage, toddlers have an opportunity to build self-esteem and autonomy as toddlers learn new skills for themselves; toddlers also tend to be helpless during this stage, they have sometimes felt shame and low self-esteem during an inability to learn certain new skills. Erikson’s third stage is preschool, which approximates fro...
According to Saul McLeod (2008), in his article, Erik Erikson, he states, “Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development has eight distinct stages, taking in five stages up to the age of 18 years and three further stages beyond, well into adulthood. Erikson suggests that there is still plenty of room for continued growth and development throughout one’s life” (Paragraph 7). Erikson developed his theory of their being eight different psychosocial stages that a human being will encounter during their life. The eight states are: First, Trust vs. Mistrust, this is the first stage that Erikson developed in his theory. This stage will occur from a person’s birth to one year of their life. Trust is an essential part for children to see the trustfulness of other and the fundamental sense of building a relation through trustworthiness. For an example, Erikson decided that if an infant received food and comforted when needed the child will be able to develop a sense of trust for the caregiver. Not only was Erickson determined that children need a sense of comfort to develop trust, but mistrust is necessary for children to learn the difference between honest and a dishonest person in their life. Second, Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, this is Erick Erikson second stage of his development theory children will go through between two and three years old. This is the time children can develop a sense of self-control without a loss of their own self-esteem. When children can be independent from the trust they have gain. If trust and a supportive atmosphere were not provided to a child, where the parents were over controlling, children will experience a low self-esteem and will always doubt their abilities. Third, Initiative vs. Guilt will begin to occur between ages four and five. During this time a child will be more independent to realize who she/he
Erik Erikson developed eight psychosocial stages that occur through life. These stages help parents of younger children understand what the child is thinking and why they are acting the way that they do. For a person to become a well-rounded adult they need to succeed in each level. This essay will discuss the first six stages into young adulthood.
Erik Erikson introduced us to eight stages of development that happens over a person’s lifespan. At each stage, there is a developmental task with a crisis that will need to be resolved to successfully go through that stage development. During these tasks, vulnerability is increased and there is enhanced potential. If the task is handled successfully, then we can see healthy development occurring. This idea of people going through different stages helps to explain why people develop differently and how one develops during childhood can directly affect how they will be and/or act during later years in life. This paper will examine my personal
I made a question regarding each stage as it applied to the child’s age. As a result of the interviews with the two different families, I concluded that their responses supported Erikson’s developmental stages. I started with Erikson’s first stage of development “ Trust vs. Mistrust (infants 0 to 1 year old)”. This is the stage were infants ask the question: Is the world a trustworthy place? During this stage, infants learn to know on whom they can rely on and based on the responses of these two families, their child most likely learned trust because the parents seem to know how to meet their child’s needs. Followed by the second stage “Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt (Toddlers 2 to 3 years)”. In this stage children learn to become independent, they do things on their own rather than relaying on someone else. For the most part the two children of these particular families developed autonomy. Parents said they were patients about their child’s development, but parent 1 noted that she did push her child a little if she knew her child was could do more sooner. Regarding the third stage “Initiative vs. Guilt (Preschool, 3 to 6 years)” the children of these two families most likely to experience guilt after initiating something they knew if was not necessarily good for them. Parents from both families demonstrated to have a demanding reaction towards their child in these situations. The fourth stage “Industry (competence) vs. Inferiority” only applied to one the first family. The child of this family showed more signs of industry. Because of her mother’s reaction towards her actions, it was probably easier for the child to answer the main question in this stage: How can I be good? For example, the mother rewarded her child when got a good grade in school, this reaction will most likely let the child to develop competence and start to be doing things that make her
This assignment’s main focus will be centred on Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, which consists of eight stages however only the fifth stage ‘identity versus role confusion’ will be discussed. Aspects such as identity crises, exploration of autonomy whilst developing a sense of self, factors that may contribute to identity formation as well as the successful/unsuccessful resolution of this particular stage will be discussed thoroughly. Erikson’s theory was also expanded by James Marcia, who identified certain identity statuses. The discussion will then progress to the psychosocial development of a case study based on Anna Monroe in connection to the difficulties she faced, such as gender, sexuality, peer pressure,
The first stage in Erikson’s psychosocial theory is the Trust vs. Mistrust stage. This stage is from birth to about one year of age. This is the time when an infant child learns to depend on another for affection, comfort, and nutrition eventually learning to blindly trust the primary caregivers to provide these things (Cooper, 1998). When the infants needs are met, then the infant develops a specific attachment with their caregiver, if the outcome is negative then the infant learns to mistrust the people around them and the environment that they are in. This brings us to the next stage in psychosocial
The individual must resolve the crisis successfully in order to move onto the next stage of development (Sokol, 2009.) Erikson’s theory includes eight stages. The first stage of his theory is trust vs. mistrust. This stage occurs in the first year of life. An infant depends on his caregiver to provide him with the necessities of life. Provided that the infant is well taken care of, he will develop trust which will help develop relationships in the future and build the virtue of hope. The second stage is autonomy vs. shame and doubt. This stage occurs around ages eighteen months to three years old. In this stage a child begins to discover that he can do things for himself and thrives from encouragement and knowing when to ask for help. Succeeding in this stage will instill the virtue of will. The third stage, initiative vs. guilt, occurs from ages three to five. In this stage a child learns how to take initiative while playing with other children, such as deciding what game to play. Children also begin to ask questions at this stage and if adult acts as if the child is asking to many questions or being annoying, the child will begin to develop a sense of guilt. If a child succeeds in this stage he will develop the virtue of purpose. The fourth stage, competence vs. inferiority, occurs between ages five and twelve. In this stage a peers begin playing a larger
“According to Erikson’s theory, every person must pass through a series of eight interrelated stages over the entire life cycle.” (“Erikson’s stages of development,” 2016). An example would be basic trust and mistrust. This stage is from birth up to a year old. A baby develops trust when being held, fed, or simply being touched. If the baby does not develop trust it will result in the baby having insecurity and mistrust. Another example would be identity vs role confusion, this stage is during adolescence. During this age adolescents begin to discover their identity, those who do not begin to try to be like others which is also known as “fitting
Erikson was a developmental psychologist and he was very well known at the time of his psychosocial development among human beings. Erikson developed eight stages that show growth across a lifespan in every human being. Each of the stages that Erickson developed, build on one another and after every successful stage the outcome is called “virtue”. Erikson believed that difficulty on one stage can have a result later on in life. There is one main contradiction between Erikson and Freud which is Freud was an ID psychologist, Erikson was an ego psychologist. He emphasized the role of culture and society and the conflicts that can take place within the ego itself, whereas Freud accentuate the conflict between the ID and the superego. (McLeod, S. A. (2013). Erik Erikson) The eight psychosocial development stages that Erikson developed are; trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame/doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair.