Erik Erickson’s Developmental theory is the development of a person’s ego identity. Erickson’s states “the conscience sense of self that is developed through social interaction” evolve a person’s ego identity. Erickson’s theory states that we go through eight stages and that in each one we face a conflict that can either be successfully or unsuccessfully resolved. If unsuccessfully resolved it could back later on in one’s life and cause emotional problems. This theory gives Psychologist developmental stages to work with; example a Psychologist would be able to go back to anyone of Erickson’s stages and pinpoint which developmental stage the person has unsuccessfully completed. Example; maybe something happened during the patient’s infant stage (Basic trust vs. Mistrust) where he or she was sexually abused, which resulted in the patient repressing his or her childhood memories, then a traumatizing event/experience later on in his or her life brought those repressed memories back. I unfortunately have seen this happen with a young teenage Marine who graduated from high school and within 3 months of graduating from boot camp, he was sent straight to war. During the conflict this young man had to kill in order to ensure his platoon safely returned back to base camp. That is a lot is a lot of responsibility for a young man to have to carry, so early in his life. The young man continued to perform in an exemplary matter, and eventually was recognized by his command for his valiant actions. However, upon returning to the states the Marine’s work performance started to dwindle, he would come in late to work and alcohol was now being abused regularly. Once his Command became aware of the Marines actions, they figured it was (PTSD) Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, since the Marine was involved in several gun battles during his time in Iraq. After initial observations by our Medical Aid Station he was referred to our Mental Health Office, which is staffed with five Psychologists. Immediately after seeing the head Psychologist it was reported that this young Marine was suffering from PTSD, however not from the war, but from being sexually abused by his step-father when he was between the ages of 3 to 4.
In each stage Ericson believed that people experience a conflict that serves as a turning point in development. In eriksons view, these conflicts are centred on either developing s psychological quality of failing to develop that quality . during these times, the potential for personal growth is high but so is the potential for failure.
Erick Erickson created his theory of psychosocial stages of development based off of his interpretation of Freud’s psychosexual stages, and with added aspects of social development. Erickson describes nine, age related, stages in which a person faces conflicts that could have positive or negative outcomes. Successful development through a particular stage helps the person develop ego strength (competence) in that area of life. Assuming that all developmental stages can be successfully traversed then provides a framework of normal development that psychologists can use for, “understanding and intervening with clients whose development is not processing according to normal expectations” (Rubin, 2001, p.226).
Erick Erickson came up with a theory of psychosocial development which is basically concerned with how personality and behavior is influenced after a child is born mostly in childhood all the way to adulthood. He came up with eight stages in the socialization process which he named “the eight stages of a man” and each stage he regarded it as “psychosocial crisis” according to an article by Child Development Institute, LLC (2010).
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
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
Eric Erikson was one of the most famous theorists of the twentieth century; he created many theories. One of the most talked about theories is his theory of psychosocial development. This is a theory that describes stages in which an individual should pass as they are going through life. His theory includes nine stages all together. The original theory only included eight stages but Erikson‘s wife found a ninth stage and published it after his death. The nine stages include: trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. identity confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, integrity vs. despair, and hope and faith vs. despair (Crandell and Crandell, p.35-36)).
Erikson believed that people develop in psychosocial stages. He emphasized developmental change throughout the human life span. In Erikson's theory, eight stages of development result as we go through the life span. Each stage consists of a crisis that must be faced. According to Erikson, this crisis is not a catastrophe but a turning point. The more an individual resolves the crises successfully, the healthier development will be.
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
One of Freud's followers, Erik Erikson, developed his own theory called the psychosocial theory. Similar to Freud's theory, psychosocial theory also has a series of developmental stages. For example, in adolescence where Frued deems it to be the genital stage, Erikson calls this stage Identity vs. Role Confusion. The psychosocial theory focuses more on a series of choices an individual has to make throughout their life, each choice leads them to develop differently.
Erik Erikson was a psychologist specializing in post Freudian studies. Many ideas and foundations of his theories came from the Freud way of thinking. Erickson could be considered a neo Freudian, someone who is influenced by and still practices elements of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis. Erik Erikson’s development theory expanded on Freud’s original five stages of development, consisting of a new eight psychosocial stages of development known as The Life Cycle. The ego and sexual development are a large focus for Erik Erikson’s stages. In each of his stages there are two main terms for the child to learn and they are always opposites of each other. In addition to psychologists today still using Erikson’s stages of development for assessments on patients, research is still being conducted to prove the validity of Erikson’s design. His work is important to various areas of psychology including development and personality.
Erik Erickson’s eight stages of psychosocial development is argumentatively one of the best theories to explain how human beings should healthily develop from infancy to late adulthood. Every stage of the theory must be successfully completed for optimal human personality growth. Stages that are not successful completed may result in reoccurring problems throughout one’s lifespan. Every stage is broken down by a psychosocial crisis, each with a conflicting matter that must be resolved. If the person fails to resolve this conflict, they will carry the negative trait into every remaining stage of life. Furthermore, if the person successfully resolves the conflict, they will carry the positive trait into every remaining
Theorists have expanded our knowledge of psychology, influenced one another to broaden, and built upon each other’s theories to develop their own. One theorist who has built upon previous theorists was Erik Erikson. Erikson developed an eight-stage theory of identity and psychosocial development, which has countless strengths and weaknesses.
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.
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).
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.