Erikson's Theory Of Personality Development

“Personality is the unique way in which each individual thinks, acts, and feels throughout life” (Ciccarelli and White, 2015). Personality development is very crucial in the first four years of a person’s life. These four years are known as the formative years. During these four years is when the child’s personality begins to form and shape them into who they will be as they grow older.
The Personality and how it is developed can be a vast topic considering there is more than 7.6 billion people on Earth. A few of the “many different types of personalities are submissive vs. aggressive, introvert vs. extrovert, and negative vs. positive” (Sagolsem, 2011). A submissive personality and an aggressive personality are different because submissive

Erikson believed that personality development included the impact of society, culture, and the relationships that are made. The psychosocial theory developed by Erikson included eight stages: stage one (basic trust vs. mistrust), stage two (autonomy vs. shame and doubt), stage three (initiative vs. guilt), stage four (industry vs. inferiority), stage five (identity vs. role confusion), stage six (intimacy vs. isolation), stage seven (generativity vs. stagnation), and lastly, stage eight (ego integrity vs despair). Erikson’s first stage, basic trust vs. mistrust, is when the child will develop trust based on how their needs are being met. Erikson’s second stage, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, the child will soon begin to understand the struggle for control of oneself. Erikson’s third stage, initiative vs. guilt, child will develop a sense of control over oneself and learn to take responsibility of one’s actions. The fourth stage, industry vs. inferiority, is when the child will begin to encounter social interactions daily and these social interactions will cause the child to compare himself/herself to others to measure success and failure in oneself. Erikson’s fifth stage, identity vs. role confusion, the child will begin to decide what it is that one wants to gain from life and what to be as an adult. The sixth stage in Erikson’s personality development, intimacy vs. isolation, young adults will spend time trying to figure out with whom to share a personal relationship with. The seventh stage, generativity vs. stagnation, is a way to figure out how to become a nurturing individual in order to create the next generation. Lastly, Erikson’s stage eight, ego integrity vs. despair, learning to accept that one’s life is coming to an end (Ciccarelli and White,