Erikson and the Spinster: An Essay Exam
According to Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, culture and society often play a central role in fostering conflict within the ego of a healthy developing individual. Erikson maintained that one’s sense of self develops as the individual successfully resolves predicaments that are derived from a social foundation. Erikson’s model assumes that a crisis will occur at each of the eight stages of growth. Successful completion of a stage results in a vigorous personality and the acquisition of “basic virtues” that can be used to resolve crises in subsequent stages of development. Failure or incompletion of a stage, however, results in a reduced ability to effectuate those that arise later
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Stagnation” stage of Erikson’s model. It is during this stage that individuals establish their careers, settle down within a relationship and begin families. This stage is paramount to the formation of a sense of belonging and achievement in life. In failing to achieve success within this realm, individuals become stagnant and feel unproductive. It can be irrefutably argued that Emily’s biggest failure within this context is settling down within a relationship. She ultimately becomes a spinster, as her first lover whom she was purported to marry abandons her. Emily’s father drives off many suitors, deeming them not worthy to marry his daughter, and ultimately with no marriage offers in sight she is left single beyond “marrying age”. She falls in love with a man named Homer Barron but it can be argued that she kills him before he has the ability to leave her. Evidence of Erikson’s psychosocial stages is made apparent by her treatment of his body after his death. The room in which Homer’s body is enshrined in seems to be prepared for an impending wedding. A man’s suit is laid out and the room is a pale pink color. The fact that Emily has been sleeping with Homer’s corpse is evidence that her life is quite literally in a state of stagnation. Her world has stagnated around the notion of her failures as a woman and her inability to …show more content…
She encapsulates the epitome of slowing down productivity and nearing retirement in seniority. It is during this stage of Erik Erikson’s model that we contemplate our life’s accomplishments and by extension reflect upon whether or not our lives have been successful. Viewing ones accomplishments as unproductive can produce bouts of guilt about the past and create a sense of general dissatisfaction with life. Miss Brill is an aging lonely woman living in Paris who actively attempts to build a fantasy around herself in order to escape the crushing reality that she is growing old and lonely in her exile. She yearns for acceptance and a sense of belonging that can also be correlated to the “generativity v. stagnation” stage. She also lacks close relationships with people, which has surmounted into depression and overarching
Eric Erikson developed eight different psychosocial stages which emphasize the lifespan development during the major periods in life. The first psychosocial stage is infancy and it embraces the age of birth to one year old. The infancy crisis is trust versus mistrust which emphasizes that if children are taken care of; they will be able to gain confidence as well as trust. In the other hand, if they developed mistrust they will develop a sense of insecurity. Erickson’s second stage is toddlerhood which embraces the ages of one to three and deals with the stage crisis of autonomy versus shame and doubt. In the toddlerhood stage, toddlers are able to use mental skills and are able to start deciding for themselves. The third stage is early childhood, and it embraces the ages of three to six with the stage crisis of initiative versus guilt. During the early childhood stage children are able to gain the characteristics of ambition and responsibility and it is developed through the parent’s support. On the other hand if parents are too demanding children will develop guilt. The next stage is middle adulthood which ranges in the ages of six to eleven; children are able to develop the characteristic cooperation but, inferiority can also arise with negative experiences which can cause a stage crisis of industry versus i...
People change over time, and no past history sets the future in stone. Developmentalists divide life into different segments based on age known as growth stages (Berger, 2009). Each stage affects the others causing development at every stage to build upon the other (Berger, 2009). Development does not follow a straight line, it instead moves up and down, back and forth, and it moves at different speeds (Berger, 2009). Although there are several theories of development, and it would be remiss to subscribe to only one; however for the purpose of this paper, I will focus on Erik Erikson’s Theory of Initiative versus Guilt; Industry versus Inferiority; and Identity versus Role Confusion. I also prefer to take an eclectic approach in the application of counseling theories and techniques; however for the purpose of this paper I will utilize three different therapies for each stage of development.
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
Erikson believed that people develop in psychosocial stages. He emphasized developmental change throughout the human life span. In Erikson's theory, eight stages of development result as we go through the life span. Each stage consists of a crisis that must be faced. According to Erikson, this crisis is not a catastrophe but a turning point. The more an individual resolves the crises successfully, the healthier development will be.
82). As human beings, we are constantly encountering and resolving conflict events, which Erikson called developmental crisis. The approach we take to resolve these crises depends on the influences that are around us and the actions that we take. After examining each stage and my experiences with each one, I feel as if I have a better understanding of how I became the person I am today. My parents, family members, teachers, and coaches, along with all of the other people in my life, have helped me to create an identity for myself as I have moved through the stages of psychosocial development. Analyzing Erikson’s theory in this manner has granted me a better understanding of psychosocial development, which will be invaluable for my future career as an
Eric Erikson was one of the most famous theorists of the twentieth century; he created many theories. One of the most talked about theories is his theory of psychosocial development. This is a theory that describes stages in which an individual should pass as they are going through life. His theory includes nine stages all together. The original theory only included eight stages but Erikson‘s wife found a ninth stage and published it after his death. The nine stages include: trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. identity confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, integrity vs. despair, and hope and faith vs. despair (Crandell and Crandell, p.35-36)).
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.
In American society, race, class, and incarceration play a huge role in privatized corporations and in the lives of Americans. Our country has a tendency of using a person’s appearance and class to its own advantage. The U.S claims to incarcerate the vast amounts of inmates it does in order to protect its citizens but there is more that happens inside the doors of prisons. In this essay, I will argue that the United States profiteers within the prisons, selfishly uses the prison industrial complex to their advantage, and lastly, how race and class effect prisons.
Psychosocial development is development on a social realm. Psychosocial development is how one develops their mind, maturity level, and emotions over the course of one’s life. The rate of development depends on different factors such as biological processes as well as environmental factors. A man named Erik Erikson who was a psychoanalyst who believed that early childhood successes and failures were responsible for influencing later developmental stages developed this theory. Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development is based around the theory that social experience has an impact over an entire lifespan. There are eight stages developmental stages of development in the psychosocial theory and I will briefly examine all eight stages in this
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
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).
Erik Erikson developed the eight stages of life theory. Erikson’s theory focuses on the development from birth to death, social context, and interpersonal relations during each stage of life (McAdams, 2009). In the same manner, each stage of life is comprehendible in three levels, such as the body, ego, and family and culture. The eight stages of life are infancy (trust vs. mistrust), early childhood (autonomy vs. shame and doubt), childhood (initiative vs. guilt), childhood (industry vs. inferiority), adolescence and young adulthood (identity vs. role confusion), young adulthood (intimacy vs. isolation), mature adulthood (generativity vs. stagnation (or self-absorption)), and old age (ego integrity vs. despair).
Erik Erikson was a psychologist who did most of his work in the post-Freudian era, in the 1930s to the 1950s. Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, explain eight stages through which a healthily developing human should pass from infancy to late adulthood. Erikson ideas, though, were greatly influenced by Freud, emphasises the role of culture and society and the conflicts that can take place within the ego itself. Like Freud, Erikson assumes that a crisis occurs at each stage of development. For Erikson, these crises are of a psychosocial in nature because they involve psychological needs of the individual conflicting with the needs of society. According to the theory, successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and the acquisition of basic virtues. Basic virtues are characteristic strengths which the ego can use to resolve subsequent crises. Failure to successfully complete a stage can result in a reduced ability to complete further stages and therefore a more unhealthy personality and sense of self. These stages, however, can be resolved successfully at a later time. In this essay the writer will evaluate Erikson’s psychosocial stages of human development and its contribution to the study of human development.
Erikson’s stages has given me a chance to examine my life from birth in diverse stages. The channel of life that I have gone through from my early childhood and most parts of my adult life. Erikson’s psychosocial development has helped me to understand the changes as I go through life. Erikson stages is a set of guide to pave my way in to adulthood. I have learn that each stage is a form of representation of a foundational shift of life. Erikson’s psychosocial theory discovers that our development normally proceeds throughout nine developmental stages that have a moral concept of life itself.
Erik Erikson was a developmental psychologist known for his theory on psychosocial development. Unlike other theorists of his time Erikson’s theory focused on human development across the lifespan from birth to late adulthood. Erickson believed that development change occurs through out our lives in eight distinctive stages that emerge in a fixed pattern and are similar for all people. Erickson argued that each stage presents a crisis or conflict which results in either a positive or negative outcome (Feldman). In this essay I will identify incidents in my own life that demonstrate each stage of development according to Erickson that I have lived through. I will also interview my Aunt Tami who will share her experiences for the remainder stages of Erickson’s development that I have not gone through thus far.