Erik Erikson once said, “In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity”. This is very true, how can you feel alive without knowing what a person or entity is? The sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch of a person or object is what living is about. Our daily interaction with nature physiques our life experiences. Day after day we experience new things and learn how to make a calculated decision in the future. We sometime forget that we didn’t’ simply become who we are today, but we were developed into that person. We were developed by our society, family, friends and our experiences. Erikson’s (1959) theory of psychosocial development has eight distinct stages that help us understand …show more content…
Many consider Erikson to be an ego psychologists. That claim comes from one of Erikson’s main elements of the psychosocial stage theory being the ego identity. As defined Ego identity is the cognizant sense of self that we develop through social interaction. Erikson believed that personality develops in a series of stages. Erikson 's theory defines the impact of social experience across the whole lifespan. Erikson 's alleged conflicts are arranged to ripen a psychological quality or if handled poorly obstruct develop of that quality. The opportunity for personal growth is great, but so is the potential for social disaster. If people successfully handle the conflict correctly, they surface from the stage with psychological strengths that will compliment them well for the rest of their life. If they fail to deal with the conflict at hand commendably they may not develop the vital skills needed for a strong sense of identity. In a nutshell Erik Erikson’s is about psychosocial. Psychosocial is defend by google as relating to the interrelation of social factors and individual thought and …show more content…
I believe that I have completed the first five stages of Erikson’s theory. The trust Vs. Mistrust stage, the Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt stage, the Initiative vs. Guilt stage, the Industry (competence) vs. Inferiority stage, and the Identity vs. Role Confusion stage. My development was very different from that of my eldest cousin. My cousin Miguel was the first born grandchild amongst my mother’s side and her five sisters. They gave Miguel everything he ever needed because he was the first grandchild. I was the third grandchild, the second however was a female and her name is Shaun. She was given everything because she was the first female grandchild. The constant attention and consistency with things being given to them worked great for their trust in that everything would be good in the world. The stage that I question until today is how that trust affected stage two in their lives. I clearly have embodied the will to do without and with anything I earn to make the next day brighter. My two cousins on the other hand have a hard time getting up and moving without a push. In stage one I was given a lot of attention but not as much as everyone else, I barely received gifts and I was always punished for thing that I had done by being deprived of something I wanted. My grades were better and I always did extracurricular activities in school, yet I received
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
Human development is a highly complex lifelong process. Identity is a self-definition or sense of who one is, where one is going, and how one fits into society. It relates to our basic values that dictates the choices we make in life. It is considered that identity formation is a means of finding oneself, by matching one’s talent with available social roles. Crisis is a vital part in one’s development. It occurs in every stage of finding one’s self and without resolution, may lead to tension and role confusion. Dedicated and influential theorists such as Erik Erikson and James Marcia have contributed significantly to the broadening and understanding
In Erickson’s psychosocial stage theory, one of the main components he focused on is the development of the ego identity. Ego can be defined as the conscious sense of self that is developed through interaction. According to Erickson, our ego is constantly changing due to the new and different interactions that we have on a daily basis. We can either hinder or strengthen our ego identity by the interactions we experience. Erickson believed that a hindered ego or an ego that isn’t developed can lead to a person feeling an inadequacy as well as losing the meaning of life. However, if a person’s ego is strengthened and mastered a person will feel accomplished as well as the sense of belonging. This feeling can also be referred to as the ego strength or ego quality. During the times of ego identity, the person’s potential of growth is high, however, the potential of failure is also present.
The first stage of Erik Erikson 's theory of psychosocial development takes place between birth and one year of age. It is the most important stage in life. He named this stage, Trust vs. Mistrust. At this important time in a child’s development, the child is completely dependent on an adult for everything; food, love, warmness, protection, and nurturing. If the caregiver fails to be successful in providing acceptable care and love, the young child will feel that they cannot trust or depend on the adults in their life. When a young child develops trust, the child will feel safe and protected in the world. If a child fails to develop trust,
Development throughout the lifespan goes through many stages. According to Erikson, who is a renowned developmental theorist, development throughout the lifespan is psychosocial. Erikson’s theory is still prominent in today’s models of personalities and developmental psychology. Erikson believed that you had to move through each stage to be successful in subsequent stages. The stages of psychosocial development start at birth.
The last stage of Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, which I have no personal experience with, is the crisis between integrity and despair. Swartwood (2014, p. 86) states that at this stage individuals “struggle [with] the acceptance of impending death and the fact that our lives are primarily historical, rather than in the future.” When the elderly look back on their lives and realize that they lived their life with purpose, they are filled with a sense of integrity. On the other hand, individuals who fail to view their life in this positive light tend to fall into despair.
Erikson’s first stage was trust verses mistrust and it occurred from zero to 18 months of age. The point of this stage is to establish trust. Erikson believed this was the most important period in a person’s life. Since a baby depends entirely on his/her parents, the care giving plays an important role in the shaping of this stage (Cherry, 2011). If the child successfully develops trust then the child will feel safe and secure in the world, but the lack can lead to thoughts of an inconsistent and unpredictable world (Cherry, 2011). In the business world, the lack of trust can create a whole new problem. The lack of trust can lead to the “…unseen cost in life and business…” as said by Stephen Covey (2006). Lack of trust creates “…hidden agendas and a guarded communication, which slows the decision-making process” (Covey, 2006). When there isn’t trust in a situation, it hinders productivity, innovation (Covey, 2006).
In this crisis, the boy would have to balance between developing a unique and individual identity while still being in a position to fit in, accepted or have a sense of belonging to a certain group. However, it is important for the individual to determine who they want to be in their life and the manner in which others would perceive them. According to Erikson, if an individual manages to navigate through this stage successfully they would emerge with the best understanding of their identity from a personal perspective in which they will also share with others. Therefore, the individual would be referred to have a life that is well adjusted or healthy. At the same time, the individual would be in a better position to associate freely with others, as they would not lose their own
Claireece Precious Jones is currently experiencing the adolescent stage of her development and is transitioning into adulthood. Her experience as a teenage mother, growing up in poverty, and history of abuse all have implications for the development of her identity, cognitive functioning, and biological factors. We will focus on Erikson’s Psychosocial Stage for Adolescents to gage the evolution of Precious’s growth, while addressing the person in environmental theory that also attributes to the biopsychosocial context in which a young person develops.
Erik Erikson developed eight psychosocial stages that occur through life. These stages help parents of younger children understand what the child is thinking and why they are acting the way that they do. For a person to become a well-rounded adult they need to succeed in each level. This essay will discuss the first six stages into young adulthood.
The Purpose of this Paper The purpose of this paper is to apply two developmental concepts, as proposed by Erikson, to the real life experiences of Joe Smith. This paper will emphasize the influence of social structures expressed as risk or protective factors and any traumatic experiences that have shaped their developmental outcomes. Concept #1 will include an exploration of Joe’s psychosocial development during puberty, tied in with Erikson's fifth stage of development: identity versus identity confusion. Concept #2 will include an exploration of Joe’s psychosocial development in middle adulthood, tied in with Erikson's seventh stage of development: generativity versus stagnation.
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).
The first stage of Erikson’s theory occurs in infancy, which occurs roughly from birth to 18 months. Infancy is an important stage according to Erikson’s theory. In this stage, the individual learns how to trust other individuals. If all the individual’s needs are met in this stage...
Erik Erikson viewed socioemotional development as the challenges that we faced throughout life and he also created the eight stages of socioemotional development: infancy, toddlerhood preschool, preadolescence, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, and old age to explain how we go through life (Macionis, 2017). The social theories of development were viewed differently by a sociologist named George Herbert Mead, who viewed that our identities are developed through social interaction and in order to engage in that process, we have to view ourselves through the eyes of the people around us (Theories of Self-Development). How this relates to my social group is that the members of my family experience socioemotional development differently. We are all going the different stages of life and developing in our own way and we all have our own individual social groups of friends and others to help go through
This assignment’s main focus will be centred on Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, which consists of eight stages however only the fifth stage ‘identity versus role confusion’ will be discussed. Aspects such as identity crises, exploration of autonomy whilst developing a sense of self, factors that may contribute to identity formation as well as the successful/unsuccessful resolution of this particular stage will be discussed thoroughly. Erikson’s theory was also expanded by James Marcia, who identified certain identity statuses. The discussion will then progress to the psychosocial development of a case study based on Anna Monroe in connection to the difficulties she faced, such as gender, sexuality, peer pressure,