From the life course perspective, midlife behavior has both antecedents and consequences. Earlier life experiences can serve either as risk factors or as protective factors for the health and well-being during this stage of development. According to the study Journey from Childhood to Midlife completed by Werner and Ruth Smith in 2001, by middle adulthood, most people have noted a balancing in their lives and improvement in overall quality of their lives. The period of early adulthood had provided positive turning points such as community college, marriage to a stable partner or military service. A contributing factor is relationships that provided emotional support as well. The presence of a nurturing caregiver from infancy, as well as emotional support along the way from extended family, peers, and caring adults outside the family created a positive environment for the person to continue along the life course. Erik Erikson, Karl Jung and Daniel Levinson are three prominent developmental theorists on human development on the journey of life. Erik Erikson, Karl Jung and Daniel Levinson are three prominent developmental theorists on human development on the journey of life. Erik Erikson theory surrounding middle adulthood is it a time of balancing everything in the person’s life. It is the time for a person to take stock of their accomplishments, the direction their life is going and the purpose of their life. Erik Erikson theorizes middle adulthood significant task is to transmit values and culture to their children and working to create a stable environment. Family and the work environment are first things listed as priorities in this stage of development. Erikson theory feels generativity is of great importance in this ... ... middle of paper ... ...ioner can assist with the balancing. In doing so, the social work practitioner needs to be aware of both the historical and cultural aspects the person’s life. Using the social convoy method the social work practitioner and client can assess whether relationships are either a protective or risk factor to the client. After do so, areas of weakness can be addressed and improve the person’s emotional well-being. Suggestions could be ways to include and make friendships pr evaluate the reason why the client does not have any if this adversely affects their overall well-being. Identifying relationships, their roles and community involvement can help the client balance out their life in their life journey through middle adulthood. Works Cited Hutchinson, Elizabeth D. Dimensions of Human Behavior: The Changing Life Course. (2008) California: Sage Publications 2008
Eric Erikson developed eight different psychosocial stages which emphasize the lifespan development during the major periods in life. The first psychosocial stage is infancy and it embraces the age of birth to one year old. The infancy crisis is trust versus mistrust which emphasizes that if children are taken care of; they will be able to gain confidence as well as trust. In the other hand, if they developed mistrust they will develop a sense of insecurity. Erickson’s second stage is toddlerhood which embraces the ages of one to three and deals with the stage crisis of autonomy versus shame and doubt. In the toddlerhood stage, toddlers are able to use mental skills and are able to start deciding for themselves. The third stage is early childhood, and it embraces the ages of three to six with the stage crisis of initiative versus guilt. During the early childhood stage children are able to gain the characteristics of ambition and responsibility and it is developed through the parent’s support. On the other hand if parents are too demanding children will develop guilt. The next stage is middle adulthood which ranges in the ages of six to eleven; children are able to develop the characteristic cooperation but, inferiority can also arise with negative experiences which can cause a stage crisis of industry versus i...
Erikson modeled his life cycle schema after the Shakespearean play “As You Like It”. The play identifies the seven ages that men experience starting with infancy and continuing in to old age.In the play the first age is infancy which lasts until a child is old enough to go to school. The third age is when a man falls in love. Next the man becomes strong and mature like a soldier and then becomes just and wise like a judge. The sixth age is when a man reaches old age and incompetency followed by age seven which is death. Erikson believed that Shakespeare had neglected to include the play stage in his seven ages presented in the play “As You Like It”. “In the late 1940s Eriksons received an invitation to present a paper on the developmental stages of life at the midcentury White House conference on children and youth. The paper they were to contribute for the conference was on growth and crisis of the healthy personality.” (Capps, 2004) It was on the way to this conference that the Eriksons realized that if Shakespeare had left out a stage then they too may have forgotten a stage. Erik Erikson realized that his life cycle model went from intimacy, signifying young adulthood in stage six to old age in stage seven. After this realization the Eriksons added “Generativity Versus Stagnation” as the new seventh
Hutchison, E. D. (2017). Essentials of human behavior: integrating person, environment, and the life course. Los Angeles:
Erikson’s theory, developed in 1963, supports the idea that early life experiences impact an individual across their lifespan. This theory considers that the growth of an individual is a result of interaction with the environment, biological maturation and societal influences, therefore, allowing for experiences from early life, to influence an individual throughout their lifespan (White, Hayes, and Livesey, 2009). Erikson’s theory focuses on eight different developmental stages within a lifespan and in order to progress from one stage to another, an individual must overcome a potential crisis of two opposing forces at each stage. There are two types of resolution of each stage, successful and unsuccessful. If an individual is
...son, E. D. (2008). Dimensions of Human Behaviour: Person and Environment. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
In conclusion, Erickson has taught us that we all at some point in life go through 8 different psychosocial stages of life. Each step has to be completed in order to have gained knowledge and to be able to be successful in the next stage of development. Researching this topic has taught me that we can’t skip over skills and expect to have success or live happily ever after. I now realize how important learning from my mistakes can be. Childhood becomes the remembered past and adulthood the anticipated future (McAdams, 2001).
Erikson was particularly interested in the stages of life and what mental, emotional, and physical developments occurred within these age brackets. He outlined a series of developmental “tasks” or a developmental agenda that is followed by all humans throughout the life cycle. Tasks are in sequential order and each task builds on the one preceding. For example, an adolescent who fails to establish a solid identity will not be able to move on to healthy intimacy.
The lives of people never remain in stasis; instead, as a human develops, his or her life path changes accordingly with his or her gains and losses in cognitive and physical ability. This essay will discuss how these changes in life path affect people in middle adulthood (40 – 60) with reference to Erikson’s developmental theory and give examples of how these changes impact social function. It will use peer-reviewed journal articles and books as references to form a reliable information base when discussing the theories and scientific outcomes of aging. It will begin by explaining and critiquing Erikson’s developmental theory and then continue to discuss the kinds of changes being made in middle adulthood and the impact of these
“Though the age boundaries are not set in stone, we will consider middle adulthood as the developmental period that begins at approximately 40 to 45 years of age and extends to about 60 to 65 years of age” (Santrock, 2013, p. 485). I interviewed two individuals for this paper. Each person was asked the same fifteen questions (Appendix). I interviewed a male and a female who fell in the midrange of middle adulthood.
Erik Erikson developed the eight stages of life theory. Erikson’s theory focuses on the development from birth to death, social context, and interpersonal relations during each stage of life (McAdams, 2009). In the same manner, each stage of life is comprehendible in three levels, such as the body, ego, and family and culture. The eight stages of life are infancy (trust vs. mistrust), early childhood (autonomy vs. shame and doubt), childhood (initiative vs. guilt), childhood (industry vs. inferiority), adolescence and young adulthood (identity vs. role confusion), young adulthood (intimacy vs. isolation), mature adulthood (generativity vs. stagnation (or self-absorption)), and old age (ego integrity vs. despair).
Hutchison, Elizabeth. Dimensions of human behavior: the changing life course. 3. ed. London [u.a.: SAGE, 2008. Print.
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).
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.
Hutchinson, Elizabeth D. Dimensions of Human Behavior: The Changing Life Course. (2008) California: Sage Publications 2008
Erik Erikson was a developmental psychologist known for his theory on psychosocial development. Unlike other theorists of his time Erikson’s theory focused on human development across the lifespan from birth to late adulthood. Erickson believed that development change occurs through out our lives in eight distinctive stages that emerge in a fixed pattern and are similar for all people. Erickson argued that each stage presents a crisis or conflict which results in either a positive or negative outcome (Feldman). In this essay I will identify incidents in my own life that demonstrate each stage of development according to Erickson that I have lived through. I will also interview my Aunt Tami who will share her experiences for the remainder stages of Erickson’s development that I have not gone through thus far.