Erik Erikson's Theory and Legacy

Erik Erikson was dabbled in art after he finished high school and then traveled through Europe. He then knew what he wanted to study after his friend suggested him to study psychoanalysis. So he did and later on down the road he received a certificate from Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. He then moved to the United States in 1933 and had a teaching position at Harvard Medical School. He began a private practice in child psychoanalysis. He also held a teaching position at the University of California, Berkeley, Yale, San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute, Austen Riggs Center, and also the Center for advanced Studies of the Behavioral Sciences. He published many books on his theories and research. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and also he was awarded with the national Book Award. He began to studying the cultural life of the Sioux of South Dakota and the Yurok of Northern California. The Knowledge he had gained of the cultural, environmental, and the social help to further the development of his psychoanalytic theory. He contributed to help us understand the personality while it is developed and also shaped over the course of lifespan. One of his quotes say “ You see a child play and it’s so close to seeing an artist paint, for in a play a child say things without uttering a word. You can see how he solves his problems. You can also see what’s wrong. Young children, especially, have enormous creativity, and whatever’s in them rises to the surface in free play.” He took the facts from when he was child and put it into his work and he found much easier from looking at it from a child’s point of view.

Erik Erikson was born June 15, 1902 in Frankfurt Germany. He was raised by his mother and he never knew his father. His parents had s...

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...ey don’t have that trust. When you are not treating a child right and not being a caregiver they won’t be able to trust and they will have mistrust. See the same thing today still work the same.

Erik Erikson was a very wise man, who not only found a theory that would only last in his time, but he also found one that will go on long after his death. Erik’s childhood helped him become successful later on in his life. Like finding out the man that you’ve been calling father all these years is not your father. Being picked on or being looked down upon because of his Jewish background. That was enough for Erik to realize that he will become something and will noticed about a lot of people even the people that was rude to him. His theory’s is a big thing and it will always be known.

Works Cited

http://psychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/psychosocial_3.htm