Erikson's Eight Stages of Social Development Explained

Erik Erikson discusses the eight stages of social development throughout the entire life span. In each stage, there is a crisis or conflict that is connected to a developmental task. If each stage of development is completed then a person will develop a healthy personality. The first stage occurs from the birth to age one, the main conflict being trust versus mistrust. In this stage babies learn to trust or mistrust based on whether their needs are met or not. Stage two’s conflict is autonomy versus shame and doubt, which occurs from the ages one to three. During this time, toddlers begin to gain independence. Erikson believed that if this behavior is encouraged then they will learn to become independent rather than have feelings of shame and doubt. Imitative versus guilt is the conflict that arises during Erikson’s third stage. It occurs with preschool age children, aged three to six. At this time, children learn to start activities on their own. If this stage is completed correctly a child will a sense of social responsibility and self-confidence. However, if this stage is not fully completed then a child might have a sense of guilt. At ages six through twelve, children deal with stage four’s crisis which is industry versus inferiority.
First, Freud is praised for creating psychoanalysis which is used today as a form of therapy (Huffman, 2012, p.469). Talking about sex during the mid-1890s was very uncommon, so when Freud developed this theory that openly discussed sex he became well respected. However, Freud’s theory did have its flaws. Huffman (2012) states, “Freud based his theories almost exclusively on subjective case histories of adult patients” (p.469). If read, the theory also seems geared more towards male development rather than both sexes. Although there are some negatives, Freud has still had a large impact on many different works of psychology