The Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development.
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.
Erik Erikson was a psychologist made famous for his ideas on psychosocial development. “Identity crisis” is a term he coined within his career describing what results from an unsuccessful completion of a psychosocial stage of development. In Erikson’s theory, children advance following an order that is predetermined. He focused less on cognitive development and more so on how one relates with others in social interactions. Each stage of Erikson’s theory of development has one of two outcomes. A wholesome identity ensues when completion happens within a stage along with effective communication with others. When a stage is not completed successfully, the individual may become “stuck,” but may complete the stage at a later time. The first stage in Erikson’s theory is trust versus mistrust. A child comprehends the meaning of trust in others by trusting his or her caregiver. This stage begins at birth and lasts to one year of age. In the event that trust successfully develops, he or she attains security within the world and is able to maintain this security even when threatened. If this stage is not completed, it may result in a marked inability to trust and perception that the world is inconsistent, resulting in anxiety, mistrust, and insecurities. Autonomy versus shame and doubt occurs between the ages of one and three. This is when a child begins to assert his or her independence through separation from caregivers, choosing his or her own toy, and making choices about what he or she prefers. If an individual in this stage is supported in his or her increased individuality, he or she will develop secure in his or her survival. If an individual is condemned, excessively controlled, or is not allowed to assert his or her desires, he or...
Each of the eight stages in Erikson’s theory has its own crisis and achievement period. One stage must be completed successfully in order to move on to the next. If not completed fully, an individual might have an abnormal development and perhaps later return to the stage to try to resolve it, causing disruptions to the person’s normal life responsibilities. Even Erikson talked about this crisis and termed it “Identity Crisis.” However, Erikson stated that most adolescents do eventually achieve a sense of identity and realize who they are, what they want, and where they are headed in
Erik Erikson was a German Psychoanalyst that developed a psychosocial theory composing of eight stages of development. These eight stages span from birth to death and attempt to describe how external factors influence personality development. I seek to learn more about Erikson’s psychosocial theory by reflecting on an individual person’s account of their memories from childhood into their present life stage and out to their goals and vision for their future self.
Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development relates to my life at some milestones but not all. Erikson has eight stages he feels everyone goes through in life during a certain age frame. Each stage is divided into age categories from birth through late adulthood. The eight stages are; trust vs mistrust, autonomy vs shame and doubt, initiative vs guilt, industry vs inferiority, identity vs identity confusion, intimacy vs isolation, generativity vs stagnation, and ego integrity vs despair. The first six stages seem to mostly fit to the development of who I am today.
Role Confusion” occurs during adolescent years. This stage puts focus on achieving a sense of identity in occupation, sex roles, politics, and in other areas. For me, this stage was the harshest and toughest period of my life. I struggled to discover who I am, what I want to do in the future, and what skills I am capable of. I had to somewhat adjust how I perceive my identity and roles to how people around me and my parent’s perceive me. But because what I wanted to do and their expectations were very different, I had a lot of conflict, especially with my parents. At this period, I wanted to gain independence and valued my relationship with friends and spending time with them, but my parents always told me to think about what a “student” should focus on. I knew they respected my decisions and had trust for me, but I could feel the worry whenever they were talking to me. But luckily, as I gained different experiences through school curriculum and constantly found approaches to life, I was able to decide what I really wanted to and what was really important to me. Thus, I believe that these struggles were necessary for me to form a clear sense of who I am and what I have to do. Although this stage was a tough period, I had successfully built a sense of identity in few areas so I was able to have a favorable
Erik Erikson, a German-born American who is a well known developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst, established the grand theory of psychosocial development. Throughout his theory, persistently stresses that one’s personality advances non-stop throughout the duration of several differential stages. Erikson’s theory also goes in depth to explain the immense impact of social experiences in one’s lifespan. The main element that is produced from his theory of psychosocial development is essentially ego identity. Ego identity can be defined as a sense of self, or better, the knowledge of one’s self that forms through a process within all social interaction. Contemporary
In the article Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development it talks about how Erikson focuses and breaks down each developing stage off personality in a persons life. His ideas and thoughts about this were highly influenced by the great Sigmund Freud, however Freud was an id psychologist where as Erikson was an ego psychologist. This meant Erikson glorified the role of culture and society and problems that can take place within the ego, unlike Freud who focused on the conflict between the id and the superego of a person. Erikson came up with a lifespan model of development of taking five stages up to the age of 18 and the three more stages into adulthood. These stages are somewhat guidelines on how to successfully establish
He implemented eight psychosocial stages which includes trust versus mistrust. One example of the specified inclusions are infants. In order to come to a resolution for these feelings of insecurity, infants look towards their care givers for care and stability to fulfill their desired needs. With autonomy versus shame stage, children begin to assert their independence, utilizing their skills otherwise they will end up doubting their abilities. Initiative versus guilt is another stage where pre-scholars develop initiative by devising and carrying out bold plans. These people plan activities, developing a sense of initiative with others therefore feeling secure in their ability to lead and make decisions. The identity versus role confusion stage is noted as Erikson’s most popular. He characterized adolescence as a crucial and critical time of identity development. To achieve a sense of identity some adolescents attempt to define and explore who they are regarding their career choice, religion, political views, sexual orientation etc., figuring out a way to fit into society. According to Erikson, “the adolescent mind is essentially a mind or moratorium, a psychosocial stage between the morality learned by the child, and the ethics to be developed by the adult” (Erikson, 1963, p.245. As they go through the different sexual and
82). As human beings, we are constantly encountering and resolving conflict events, which Erikson called developmental crisis. The approach we take to resolve these crises depends on the influences that are around us and the actions that we take. After examining each stage and my experiences with each one, I feel as if I have a better understanding of how I became the person I am today. My parents, family members, teachers, and coaches, along with all of the other people in my life, have helped me to create an identity for myself as I have moved through the stages of psychosocial development. Analyzing Erikson’s theory in this manner has granted me a better understanding of psychosocial development, which will be invaluable for my future career as an