Ego Integrity Vs. Despair

593 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Lifespan development psychology late adulthood

There is a belief that, when we are exposed to life challenges and experiences, the way we confront those difficulties and challenges create growth and maturity. Erickson uses the psychosocial development to describe the human life cycle in a series of eight ego development stages from birth to death. This description will focus on the last stage of development the ego integrity versus despair. This stage affects the older adults aged 65 or over, it begins during the life-changing events like retirement, loss of a spouse, or facing terminal illness and considered the life’s final stage (Cherry, 2016). Ego integrity versus despair is considered the final stage and here a life review is initiated wherein old age individual must look back on their lives with a sense of satisfaction or regret (Dunkel & Harbke 2017). This stage is characterized by a time of reflection, looking back and reviewing whilst integrating it into a coherent and acceptable whole. “If successful then the negative past experiences are reconciled, and …show more content…

In their book titled, Foundations and Adults Health Nursing (2011), Christensen and Kockrow explain that years of living and our successes, failures, strengths, weaknesses, and the early experiences influence our emotional stability when we are older. This means life experiences, challenges, ups and downs, memories, beliefs and all the doings bring up a big package about oneself and the things surrounding the life we live. In life's reality, we use all these describe our competence and incompetency and in the end, we either get disappointed or satisfied/rewarded with the outcomes. “Those who can feel that their lives have been well spent and are satisfied with their decisions and achievements have mastered this task of integrity and wisdom” (Christensen & Kickrow,

Show More
Related

  • Successful Aging Elderly (SAE)

    2206 Words  | 5 Pages

    Aging and old age for a long time presented as dominated by negative traits and states such as sickness, depression and isolation. The aging process is not simply senescence most people over the age of 65 are not Senile, bedridden, isolated, or suicidal (Aldwin & Levenson, 1994). This change in perspective led the investigation of the other side of the coin. Ageing is seen as health, maturity and personal Royal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generatively, coping and acceptance of age-related constraints (Birren & Fisher, 1995). Psychological und...

    Read More

  • “Where I’m From”- Part III: Where I’m Going

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    Fast forward my future to what psychologist Erik Erikson identifies as the Late Adulthood (55- 65 to Death) stage of life in his Stages of Psychosocial Development. There are two options as one reflects on their lives and they include: Integrity vs. Despair. I hope through the choices I make that I am in the Integrity department of happiness and content, feeling a sense of fulfillment and meaning and that I have made a contribution to life. Of course, there may be disappointments in life and we don’t know what the future holds and although I am nervous and anxious of where I will be in the next three months and in the next thirty years, I am also optimistic and excited to see what the future has in store for me.

    Read More

  • The Ego and Despair in Ordinary People

    1497 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ordinary People by Judith Guest is the story of a dysfunctional family who relate to one another through a series of extensive defense mechanisms, i.e. an unconscious process whereby reality is distorted to reduce or prevent anxiety. The book opens with seventeen year old Conrad, son of upper middle-class Beth and Calvin Jarrett, home after eight months in a psychiatric hospital, there because he had attempted suicide by slashing his wrists. His mother is a meticulously orderly person who, Jared, through projection, feels despises him. She does all the right things; attending to Jared's physical needs, keeping a spotless home, plays golf and bridge with other women in her social circle, but, in her own words "is an emotional cripple". Jared's father, raised in an orphanage, seems anxious to please everyone, a commonplace reaction of individuals who, as children, experienced parental indifference or inconsistency. Though a successful tax attorney, he is jumpy around Conrad, and, according to his wife, drinks too many martinis. Conrad seems consumed with despair. A return to normalcy, school and home-life, appear to be more than Conrad can handle. Chalk-faced, hair-hacked Conrad seems bent on perpetuating the family myth that all is well in the world. His family, after all, "are people of good taste. They do not discuss a problem in the face of the problem. And, besides, there is no problem." Yet, there is not one problem in this family but two - Conrad's suicide and the death by drowning of Conrad's older brother, Buck. Conrad eventually contacts a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger, because he feels the "air is full of flying glass" and wants to feel in control. Their initial ses...

    Read More

  • Egoism And Ethical Egoism

    2219 Words  | 5 Pages

    69. What is the difference between a '' and a ''? What Causes ‘State of Mind’ that manifests in ‘HUMAN MATERIALISM’ aka EGOISM? Once more, the ‘ordinary science’ proves itself as the master of classification, inventing and defining the various categories of Egoism. Per example, psychological egoism, which defines the doctrine that an individual is always motivated by self-interest, then rational egoism, which unquestionably advocates acting in self-interest.

    Read More

  • Psychological and Ethical Egoism

    1876 Words  | 4 Pages

    Egoism is a teleological theory of ethics that sets the ultimate criterion of morality in some nonmoral value (i.e. happiness or welfare) that results from acts (Pojman 276). It is contrasted with altruism, which is the view that one's actions ought to further the interests or good of other people, ideally to the exclusion of one's own interests (Pojman 272). This essay will explain the relation between psychological egoism and ethical egoism. It will examine how someone who believes in psychological egoism explains the apparent instances of altruism. And it will discuss some arguments in favor of universal ethical egoism, and exam Pojman's critque of arguments for and against universal ethical egoism.

    Read More

  • Erikson's Stages Of Psychosocial Development: Critical Analysis

    720 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Erikson’s End Stage of Development

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    As human beings age, according to Erik Erikson, they go through developmental stages that help to create and transform their personalities. If needs are met and the ego is gratified, then the individual is able to move on to the next challenge. Onward they march in life and in stage until they find the end level: integrity versus despair. This has been categorized as adults 65 years and older by Erikson. Here, people are to reminisce and judge their lives in terms of merit or disappointment. Erikson himself had a lot to comb through in his later years.

    Read More

  • Human Behavior and the Social Environment: A Look at Three Theories

    1296 Words  | 3 Pages

    The main tenant of the psychosocial development theory throughout the life cycle is that an individual’s personality is held to unfold over the course of their life, with healthy development based on the ability of the individual to master tasks and skills at each level or stage of life (Coady & Lehman, 2008; Hutchison, 2008). Erikson’s original model sectioned the life span into eight levels with each containing its own unique psychosocial challenge or conflict which, depending on the outcome, would help the individual experience positive growth (Coady & Lehman, 2008; (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2005/2011; Hutchison, 2008). The eighth stage encompasses late adulthood, where the conflict experienced is that of integrity versus despair. If an individual has experienced successful o...

    Read More

  • Life History Interview Research Paper

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    This reflection paper is based on the life history interview conducted on me and a 78-year-old woman who is soon going to celebrate her 79th birthday on Sep 21st. I would call her with a fictitious name “Smita” in the entire paper to maintain and protect her privacy. The interview was about our life. It was divided into six major life categories: childhood, adulthood, identity, the present, aging, and life lessons. Having an opportunity to interview a 78-year-old woman and writing this reflective paper about the life history and experiences had made me realize that I have a lot to learn about the stages of human life. Every individual lives are different and it varies tremendously. As an interviewee my goal was to collect the details of life, different stories, and experiences that makes our life unique from the rest of the people.

    Read More

  • Late Adulthood Essay

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    When elderly people move into the last of life’s eight stages of psychosocial development, they enter the ego-integrity-versus-despair stage. This process is defined by looking back over someone’s life, evaluating it, then accepting it. People who become successful in this stage feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. Erikson refers to this acceptance as integrity. This differs from generativity because one is accepting the end of their life, instead of accepting where their life will start in a sense of career and self. However, if one is to look back on their life with dissatisfaction, they may feel they have been cheated or missed opportunities. Such individuals will mostly be depressed or angry about the way life turned out and

    Read More

  • Importance Of Active Ageing

    1255 Words  | 3 Pages

    Active ageing does not stop when elderly people retire, as they can remain active through their families, peers and communities. Active ageing aims to allow elderly people to realise and bring awareness to their own psychological, physical and mental well-being. As the goal of active ageing is the autonomy and independence of elderly people (Alexandre, Cordeiro, & Ramos, 2009). Ageing is a continuing life cycle, it is an ongoing developmental event that brings about certain changes in one’s own psychological and physical state. It is a time in one's own life where an elderly individual reminisces and reflects, basks and lives on previous accomplishments and begins to finish his life cycle.

    Read More

  • Erik Erickson: My Personality Theory

    1611 Words  | 4 Pages

    Everyone is unique and not every person needs to successfully master each level to gain a previous ego skill in a future stage of life. Erik Erikson’s theory is derived from primarily an environmental influence. There is data or analysis conducted that offers insight to biological factors that could alter the stages during psychosocial development. While the environment has a strong influence over human being’s development, I believe our genetic makeup can sometimes be enough to overcome previously failed stages. An example would be a person who was raised in a poor environment, only to rise above the pain and suffering to become successful in all stages of life. I also like to think of myself as a good candidate for somebody that failed earlier stages of psychosocial development, only to gain previously lost ego skills in future stages of

    Read More

  • Theories And Differences Of Erik Erikson And Jean Piaget

    1072 Words  | 3 Pages

    Erik Erikson developed eight stages of psychosocial development (Gordon & Browne, 2014). Each stage was characterized by an emotional challenge and the stages built upon previous experiences (Gordon & Browne, 2014). His stages of development gave us the term identity crisis which describes

    Read More

  • Erik Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    Psychoanalyst Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development explains how the human identity develops and evolves in eight stages from birth to death. Each one occurs in a predetermined order; the current stage builds upon the previous one and lays the groundwork for future stages (Wikimedia). Each stage has a specific “crisis” or conflict, a turning point in the individual’s life which must be reconciled before moving on to the next. If the conflict is handled well, the individual gains “ego strength” in the form of a corresponding virtue. If the conflict is handled poorly, the individual not only fails to develop that virtue, but his/her ability to complete later stages is hindered resulting in diminished “ego quality” or psychosocial health (Erikson, 188-225).

    Read More

  • The Ego and Its Own

    578 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ethical egoism can be a well-debated topic about the true intention of an individual when he or she makes an ethical decision. Max Stirner brings up a very intriguing perspective in writing, The Ego and its Own, regarding ethical egoism. After reading his writing some questions are posed. For example, are human beings at the bottom? Following Wiggins and Putnam, can we rise above our egoism and truly be altruistic? And finally, if we are something, do we have the capacity to rise to a level that we can criticize and transcend our nature? These questions try to establish whether or not we are simple humans, bound to our intrinsic nature, or far more intellectually advanced than we allow ourselves to be.

    Read More

More about Ego Integrity Vs. Despair

Open Document