Erik Erikson’s theory, which describes the psychosocial development of humans over the course of their lives, consists of eight distinct stages (Mcleod, 2017). Erikson details our lives from birth all the way to death, examining each developmental stage in the human life. Through this essay I will apply each level to my individual life, depicting how far I have come in my psychosocial development. The first stage of this theory is trust vs. mistrust. During this stage we learn whether or not the world around us is a fundamentally safe place or not, which is why it is important for children to learn that their needs are provided for (Mcleod, 2017). While in the stage of trust vs. mistrust I discovered the importance and trustworthiness of my …show more content…
The second stage is autonomy vs. shame and doubt, which is when we acquire a sense of will and realization of an inability to be completely autonomous (Mcleod, 2017). During this stage I developed the ability to move independently and take minor actions at my own will, like eating, playing, and being able to communicate with others. Another integral part of this stage in my development that was discovered is my inability to do exactly everything on my own. An example of my incomplete autonomy I discovered from talking with my mother is that as a young child I would frequently desire cookies from the high counter, and due to my stature I was unable to independently satisfy this need. This is when my limitations became clear and I used the assistance of my much taller parents to fulfill my wish. Even being nineteen years old I am still unable to be completely free of a need for assistance and support from others. While I have had no trouble managing life on my own in this year away from home, there is still an emotional element of support that I need. To fulfill this I still use my parents and frequently communicate with …show more content…
role confusion. During this stage humans discover our most sacred values and what we are willing to sacrifice and fight for (Mcleod, 2017). This identity discovery is also in conflict with the multiple roles we may play in our own lives (Mcleod, 2017). Throughout my life the values of integrity, hard work, a desire for excellence, and loyalty have all become very instrumental in guiding my daily actions. This has led to conflict between being loyal to those I care about and maintaining the proper integrity I believe all should abide by. An example of a conflict between integrity and loyalty was in high school when my friends attempted to cheat on an exam. Although I cared about these people I knew the consequences would far outweigh the benefits, and because of this rationale I persuaded those people against making this decision. The next stage is intimacy vs. isolation. In the intimacy vs. isolation stage humans become faced with a decision to share themselves and all their imperfections with another person or simply be alone (Mcleod, 2017). I believe I have only reached a fairly surface level depth in my exploration of this stage. To this day my romantic relationships have been relatively surface level and I understand that I am years away from the emotional maturity to foster a relationship as deep as marriage. In my opinion there is much left in this development. The seventh stage is the
In each stage, there is a crisis of two opposing emotional forces (McLeod, 2013). From birth to age one is Erikson’s stage of trust vs. mistrust. If taken care of well and protected, a child will achieve a healthy balance of trust and mistrust. Even though Precious’s physical abuse did not start until she was three, there is a high chance that her living environment was not surrounded by safety and love. Precious may have developed mistrust because later on in her life she because suspicious of others and was not able to connect because of an overwhelming sense of fear and inability to trust.
The second stage, autonomy vs. shame, doubt, is the age of the toddlers, 18 months to three years of age. Autonomy is taking a chance, exploring, and doing things
Over 12 years of injustice have been given to the inmates at Guantanamo Bay prison. Guantanamo Bay prison is unfair and unjust for many reason and should be closed.The first reason is nasal feeding enforced even though it is painful and harmful. The second reason is inmates are subject to cruel punishments .The third reason is prisoners have no way of proving that they are innocent.This is just the tip of the iceberg on why Guantanamo Bay prison should be closed.
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,
grew up in Europe and spent his young adult life under the direction of Freud. In 1933
At the beginning of this paper I mentioned that there are eight stages in the psychosocial development theory starting with trust vs. mistrust. This stage begins at birth to one year of age. This is when I should have formed a trust with my primary caregiver or caregivers. My dad was absent most of this stage, so my mother was my primary caregiver. Since she never taught me good behavior, right from wrong, and was uncaring when I was born, I did not feel safe or secure around her. I was told through family members that she was unable to hold me without me screaming all the time, and that the doctor said I suffered from anxiety at infancy because I could feel the tension of my mother’s stress, anger, and anxiety towards me. The beginning of me learning to mistrust, and feeling
The First stage in Erickson’s theory is trust vs. mistrust, this stage occurs during infancy, from birth to one years old. This stage is all about trust, it is the stage where you hopefully begin to trust not only yourself but others as well (Crandell and Crandell p. 36). An infant gains trust in infancy because they can not do anything for themselves, they depend on others to do everything for them therefore in this stage they develop trust in others, their caregivers, that they will do all that they can to take care of their well-being. Developing trust in infancy is crucial because this makes the individual grow up feeling safe and secure in the world. A positive outcome of an infant developing trust is that they grow up feeling safe in the world, a negative outcome would be that the individual grows up in fear of the world. There is no way to develop one hundred percent trust or one hundred percent doubt, Erikson believed that the best way to come out of this stage is with a balanc...
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).
The first stage in Erikson’s psychosocial theory is the Trust vs. Mistrust stage. This stage is from birth to about one year of age. This is the time when an infant child learns to depend on another for affection, comfort, and nutrition eventually learning to blindly trust the primary caregivers to provide these things (Cooper, 1998). When the infants needs are met, then the infant develops a specific attachment with their caregiver, if the outcome is negative then the infant learns to mistrust the people around them and the environment that they are in. This brings us to the next stage in psychosocial
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...
In discovering the absence of a favorable virtue, it does not make it meaningless, but instead increasingly meaningful. With the ability of imperfection, there is time for mistake and room for progress. An improvement period is an ongoing, unending process; one may keep advancing their knowledge of integrity and assessing how to create their personalized approach at potential. Potential can fail occasionally, but there is ability to try again and again, until satisfied. Growth, commitment, fairness, and honesty are similarly far from a human’s vision, but with the aid of some glasses, with the aid of trial, error, time, and desire, a better potential is easily in sight.
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
According to Erikson, someone of my age should be facing the crisis of intimacy vs. isolation. A positive outcome brings the virtue of love and is characteri...
All erikson’s personal and life experiences lead to his most famous theory known as the 8 physiological stages of development. In this theory he explains the changes and why its important to be aware of what you would expect as you step farther in life from the beginning of your life as an infant. The first stage is Trust Vs Mistrust, it starts from bi...
During the first stage, the first or second year of life, the major emphasis is on the whether the child develops trust. Children learn to trust or mistrust their environment and their caregivers. Trust develops when children’s needs are met consistently, predictable, and lovingly (Morrison, 2007, p. 126); therefor...