Gender And Human Development And Erikson's Theory Of Development

Gender and age intersect in an individual’s life from their first to their last day. With this notion, there are four key ways that gender and age intersect. First, gender and personality intersect and has largely to do with Erikson’s theory of development and its eight stages. Secondly, gender and aging minds and body are usually split because they are both large concepts. Gender and aging minds relates to the cognitive aspect of a person’s development whereas gender and body looks at physical changes throughout the lifespan. Lastly, gendered social roles explore the different roles one holds from a child, to a married adult to a retired elderly person (Newton, 2016). These intersections are a great way to examine the changes a person goes through and how it varies in each aspect of their life. The one theorist covered in class and in the paper regarding gender and age intersections was Erik Erikson. He is famous for his eight stages of development largely because he was the first to develop a theory regarding personality development over a life time, instead of looking at solely

His research shows that there are four adult stages: identity, intimacy, generativity and ego integrity. Identity versus role confusion, typically during adolescents is key when looking at personality and aging because it is something that carries over throughout the lifespan. For example, Erikson says that identity formation is the exploration of an individual’s interests, morals and values (Newton, 2016). We see this concept in everyone. I see it in myself, as during my adolescence I understood that I value my friends and family and enjoy pop music more so than country. I learned something simple such as that I enjoyed working with kids and now later in life, I am hoping to turn that “like” into a career. When one applies Erikson’s theory to themselves, it fascinating to see how relatable it