Erik Erikson: The History, Development, and Significance of His Work Erik Erikson has had a tremendous life and has left an amazing legacy. He was an influential and pioneering psychologist, psychoanalyst, and author whose development of his psychosocial stages are immeasurable to the study of personalities. Erikson came from a somewhat troubled past, not so much economically, but psychologically. Erikson was born on June 15, 1902 in Frankfurt, Germany to his mother Karla Abrahamsen (Friedman, 1999). According to Lawrence Friedman (1999) and his discussions with Erikson showed that he did in fact have a troubled path growing up. His mother, Karla, had been married to Valdemar Isidor Salomonsen in 1898. According to Friedman (1999), “Their marriage had not even lasted a night before Valdemar had fled to either the United States or Mexico” (p. 30). With Erik being born in 1902 it was obvious to the Abrahamsen family that Valdemar could not be the father of Erik. This caused a great controversy within the family as they tried to identify the father. Karla remarried on June 15, 1905 to Theodor Homburger. Theodor and Karla agreed that Theodor would adopt Erik and they would tell him that Theodor was his biological father in an attempt to bury the controversial past (Friedman, 1999, p. 28). This seemed to work for awhile until Erik’s sisters were born. He had three sisters Elna, Ruth, and Ellen. Elna died in 1909 at the age of two. However, it was Theodor’s relationship with his two surviving daughters that raised questions for Erik. This caused Erik to feel as if he did not belong. It was also just the little things that made Erik feel this way, for example, Theodor took his daughters on a walk every Sunday but Erik had to stay ... ... middle of paper ... ...nd his contacts within the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society (Friedman, 1999, p. 91). After living in the United States for a short time he was admitted to the American Psychoanalytic Association amongst criticism for not having a degree from a higher educational institution (Welchman, 2000, p. 26). Erik never did obtain a college degree and this would be at the center of much criticism of his work. The family moved to Northern California and began a small practice and his career began to take off. Works Cited McComas, J. (2000). Erik h. erikson. Retrieved from http://www.psychology.sbc.edu/mccomas.htm A different beginning. (2011, November 29). Retrieved from http://allpsych.com/personalitysynopsis/erikson.html Cherry, K. (2011). Erikson's theory of psychosocial development. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/psychosocial.htm
Erik Erikson was the man who originated the term “Identity crisis”. Erikson thought that his work was an extension of Freud’s and that if Freud had been given the time, then he would have come up with the same psychoanalysis theories that Erikson did. The major life developments of Erik Erikson that influenced his personality include things such as not having his father around from birth and thinking that his mother’s husband was his biological father and then finding out that the man was not his father, which caused confusion for Erikson. This is what prompted him to be interested in identity. When he entered school and the community, he was not sure how he fit in so he decided to study the aspects of identity. Erikson was bullied because
In Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, individuals can obtain unhealthy personalities as a result of how they were treated during each stage of their development. These stages are not in chronological order, but essential to development. I agree with Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development because it outlines specific stages everyone goes through in life and attaches a virtue. The theory is specific but not so definite that it cannot appeal to everyone’s personality development in some way. (Engler, 2014). Unlike Freud's stages of psychosexual development, Erikson does not limit these stages to a specific year of life, rather he uses stages such as infancy and
grew up in Europe and spent his young adult life under the direction of Freud. In 1933
Erikson's Psychosocial Development in Psychology 101 at AllPsych Online. (n.d.).Erikson's Psychosocial Development in Psychology 101 at AllPsych. Web. 1 December 2014.
In Erik Erikson’s theory he explains that in every stage, a positive or a negative attitude is developed within an individual. During our developing stages we are either successful or we fail. Each stage will come to us whether or not we’re ready for them or not. You can think of the stages as learning stages where crisis occur .Only if we have learned from the previous crisis we are successful. You cannot avoid 1 stage and move to a next stage because of the developing process. The outcome of our lives depends on the way we chose to progress throughout each stage in life. Erikson had his own way in describing each stage in life that we all must go through.
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, born June 15th, 1902 in Frankfurt, Germany was a developmental theorist who proposed a “comprehensive psychoanalytic theory that identifies a series of eight stages, in which a healthy developing individual should pass through from infancy to late adulthood”. After developing what is a crucial theory to revealing the developmental process of children, Erikson died on May 12th, 1994 at age 91 in Harwich, Massachusetts. His theory would later become an important contribution to the study of childhood education. Along with his theory, he wrote many books as well as won two awards including the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Award in 1970.
There are many different theorists with several different ideas. I have chosen to focus on Erikson’s theory of Trust vs . Mistrust. I have to strongly agree with his ideas because I believe that experiences that a person might go through as an infant can have a huge impact on their life. I must say that I chose to take in serious consideration his beliefs as I am raising my daughter.
Massey, R. F. (1986). Erik Erikson: New-Adlerian. Individual Psychology: The Journal of Adlerian Theory, Research & Practice, 42(1), 65. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
His belief was that each human developed their own personality through a series of stages and these stages developed due to the social experiences that one experienced through life. According to Erikson, there are eight stages and each stage centers around a conflict that has to be resolved. Under Erikson’s theory, if conflict or crisis is not resolved, then the outcome will be more crisis and struggles with that issue later on in life (Domino & Affonso, 2011).
Erik Erikson was an American psychologist famous for his theory of psychosocial development. Erikson postulated that psychological and social factors played an enormous role in human development. The psychosocial theory brakes down human development into eight interdependent stages, with each stage having specific culminating goals and a pair of crises (Woolfolk, 2013, p. 99). The failure to achieve the goals of one stage could hinder the successful completion of subsequent stages.
Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development were complex, but simple. It is something everyone will go through and experiences will always be different. The lack of reinforcement to the positive aspects of his stages can lead to quite a disaster. Surprisingly, previous stages are highly influential to the proceeding stage. The lack of reinforcement to the positive aspects of his psychosocial stages can have a very devastating effect on a person. This is because the effects built up rather than taking the place of one another. The effects are quite horrifying, but with the right environment, experiences and beliefs, everything can go well.
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.
Erik Erikson was influenced by Freud and his concept of the ego. Erikson observed the impact of external factors on personality from not just childhood, but throughout the entire lifetime. He developed eight stages, which are split into different age brackets. As an individual passes through these stages, they must successfully complete the crisis to move forward onto the next one.
No matter who you are I believe that everyone will go through stages in their life that will get them to where they are on today. I am a person who has a very interesting story; this is the first time it will be told in full. We were asked to use Erik Erikson’s theory of development as a guideline to telling the story of our lives. At first I was very nervous; however, I soon realized that this would be a fun task. Erik Erikson has eight stages of Development (Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman). I will be walking you though my life using each one of his stages drawing out the map of my life. Within my life I have had some very interesting encounters. I have been through foster care, abuse, rape, molestation, starvation, adoption, depression, and success. Although my life may not be perfect, I believe that I have overcome these battles and become the person that I am on today. I will be talking about a few crises, milestones, and some of the people that were set in place to help me and or hurt me.