Erik Erickson's Development And The Stages Of Development

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Development is defined as the pattern of change that begins at conception and continues through the life-span (Santrock, 2017, p. 4). Erik Erikson was a psychologist and a psychoanalyst, who believed humans develop and change throughout the life span and must go through eight human developmental stages. From being an infant to maturing into an older adult (after retirement), Erikson believed that there are requirements that everyone must reach before they can enter the next phase of life. If the person does not reach the development stage that is expected of their age, they would face social and or emotional conflicts. His views were compared to two individuals, a female aged twenty-one and another aged fifty-three. Both individuals were interviewed …show more content…

This stage involves the time an infant is born to the time they turn one years old (Santrock, 2017, p. 21). Infants build a sense of trust with their caregivers by how often their needs are attended to. If the parents are nurturing, the child develops trust (Feldman, 2016, p. 179). If the parents are neglectful, the child develops mistrust. According to Erikson’s theory, if a child does not form an attachment, those infants are unable to build relationships with a trusted individual since this stage was not reached. As a result, these individuals live life with a guilty conscientious and are most of the time judgmental of every decision they make. The second stage of Erikson’s theory is autonomy versus shame and doubt, which pertains to children aged one to three. In addition to infants gaining the trust of their caregivers, they also want to be independent. The urge to be independent is followed by the urge to make their own choices (Guinee, 1998, p. 2). Therefore, if parents guide the child, and allow them to learn on their own autonomy develops. If the parents of a child are overprotective and scolds the child for every minor wrongdoing, the child will develop shame and may begin to doubt their

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