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Erikson psychosocial development stages free essays
Erikson psychosocial development stages free essays
Erik Erikson 4th stage of psychosocial development
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Greg is a forty-one year-old man, who is retired from the military. He is in stage seven of Erikson’s psychosocial development called Generativity vs. Stagnation, which includes middle adulthood, forty to sixty-five years of age. According to Capps (2004), Erikson defines generativity as “the concern in establishing and guiding the next generation” (p. 25). This stage claims the largest stretch of time on Erikson’s chart encompassing middle adulthood. Greg has become successful throughout this stage and has a feeling of accomplishment by being active in his home and community. Stagnation represents an individual that is disconnected or uninvolved in their community because they fail to find away to contribute to society. Greg realized he was …show more content…
Her philosophy is to “go with the flow” and take life one day at a time. She falls into Marcia’s and Josselson’s identity diffusion status. During this stage, she has shown to have low levels of exploration and commitment because she has not considered her identity at all. In addition she has not established any type of life goals. Her “go with the flow” attitude reflects her hedonic behavior as she floats through life. The social process of how she learns who she is has not become integrated yet because she has not realized what her social identity is or defined her personality traits; therefore, she bounces from one thing to the next with no certainty. Many individuals in this stage of diffusion are obsessed by seeking out things for the gratification of pleasure (Oswalt, …show more content…
“ For example, an adrenaline junkies might bungee jump or jump out of a plane, so I would suggest they cut down on the life threatening situations or a dangerous situations by replacing it with a healthy and safe activity. For the college student, I would suggest taking care of the whole body. By getting plenty of food, exercise, and sleep a college student can be more productive. Try working out because there is a release of adrenalin that helps refocus your attention. Pace yourself and learn time management, so learning can become
Our identities are constantly evolving throughout our lives to adapt to certain people and environments. Lars Fr. H. Svendsen states “Self-identity is inextricably bound up with the identity of the surroundings” One’s morals and characteristics are forever changing and these self resolutions are influenced by the encompassing aspects of life such as significant events, environmental revolutions and one’s relationship with another. Due to factors sometimes beyond our control, one’s self prowess is merely an expression of their own prior experiences which conclusively preserve and maintain a state of fluctuation for one’s character. A similar concept is evident in the film ‘The Sapphires’
“Trying to merge into mainstream society and cover her brown skin with makeup, of having no sense that she had her right to her own opinion”(Shierly) The journey to finding yourself is approached in many different aspects, which varies from person to person. As a child children we see a blurred image of ourselves not knowing exactly who we are, however as we grow older the blur becomes more apparent to us and eventually a reflection of who we truly are, is revealed. This is evidentially shown in the novel Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson, where Lisamarie discovers her new identity as an empowered and strong woman through the positive motivation from her family, role models to whom she looks up to and her acceptance to her own culture.
In the middle adulthood life stage the developmental task are “managing a career, nurturing intimate relationships, expanding caring relationships, and managing the household”. (Cite From Book) June is experiencing the psychological crises of generativity versus stagnation. June is comfortable taking her mother’s place at the table in the United States and not even looking for her sisters. However, when her aunties told her that they had received a letter from her sisters she fought the stagnation part of the psychological crises. According to Newman and Newman generativity is “to bring into existence”. (CITEp.513). This could be though “introducing new things, ideas, beings, or bonds to relationship-all of which not had existed before”. (CITE) June then switch to generativity in where she wanted to do what was best for her mother’s future generations. June wanted to meet her siblings to discuss the type of person their mother was and tell the sacrifice their mother made for them. June felt obligated to meet her sisters to contribute and bring forth the bond with her
Generativity vs. stagnation is Erikson's seventh stage of development, which occurs in adulthood. Generativity includes responsibilities such as raising children and being productive in a job. Adults who do not perform these tasks become stagnant.
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...
Jeffrey Arnott’s theory of “emerging adulthood” provides a context in which I can evaluate my life in terms of my remerging development into adulthood. I am in my early twenties. Physically, I am a fully developed female that understands my own biological functions with great awareness. Cognitively, I am in the process of developing critical thinking skills by attending college, which has allowed me to develop my own ways of processing thoughts and ideas outside of my family and high school. This cognitive development is a very difficult process, which continually engages me to open my mind and learn new ways of thinking about life, society, and mental development. Socially, I am also developing a broader sense of cultural, racial, and think
Many philosophers and psychologist from Jean Piaget to William James have theorized what makes a person who they are, their identity. Jean Piaget believed that the identity is formed in the sensorimotor stage and the preoperational stage. This means that a child is forming his identity as late to the age of seven (Schellenberg, 29) However, identity is strongly impacted by society such as school, church, government,and other institutions. Through our interactions with different situations our personality develops (Schellenberg 34). "In most situations there is a more diversified opportunity for the development of social identities, reflecting what the individual wants to put forth to define the self as well as what others want to accept,"(Schellenberg 35). Therefore, humans, much like animals, adapt to different situations based on who they are with. Individuals are always changi...
The journey towards finding one’s “self” is a long and arduous one, twisting and turning in every direction. The destination is a personal identity -- a definition of who one is, independent of anyone else. Some people find a straight path that leads them directly to the discovery of their “selves”. Other people take the road that has many switch-backs and obstacles to overcome, but eventually these people make it to the destination of “self” as well. There are still others who get lost along the way.
The purpose of this paper is to apply two developmental concepts, as proposed by Erikson, to the real life experiences of Joe Smith. This paper will emphasize the influence of social structures expressed as risk or protective factors and any traumatic experiences that have shaped his developmental outcomes. Concept #1 will include an exploration of Joe’s psychosocial development during puberty, tied in with Erikson's fifth stage of development; identity versus identity confusion. Concept #2 will include an exploration of Joe’s psychosocial development in middle adulthood, tied in with Erikson's seventh stage of development; generativity versus stagnation. The goal of my interview with Joe Smith will be to assess the correlations between his experiences during his teenage years with that of his experiences in middle adulthood.
In conclusion, the formation of one’s identity has many components. Beginning at the onset of adolescence and continuing to expand, grow and form and reform as we live through the struggles or success of life. Many theorists have endeavored to clarify the development of identity formation. However, Erik Erickson offered one significant theory involving the formation of one’s identity. Expounding on Erickson theory, Marcia developed his Identity Status Model according to the existence or absence of crisis and commitments. These four statuses, diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium and achievement can combine in various ways to produce a self. One’s sense of identity is determined largely by the choices and commitments made, therefore, having a well-developed sense of self can provide an individual with insight to their strengths, weaknesses, and individual uniqueness. An individual that finds themselves
I have always viewed my life in simple stages. For example, I knew I wanted to graduate high school, go to college, have a career, be in a relationship, and eventually start a family. However, I never thought of my life in the stages that Erik Erikson describes in his psychosocial theory of development. In his theory, Erikson describes eight stages of development starting in the first year of life and ending in late adulthood. These different stages attempt to explain the psychosocial obstacles we encounter at each developmental milestone, who we are most influenced by, and what internal questions we might need to answer. How people chose to confront these different obstacles can effect how healthy or unhealthy development might be.
A person’s identity is shaped by many different aspects. Family, culture, friends, personal interests and surrounding environments are all factors that tend to help shape a person’s identity. Some factors may have more of an influence than others and some may not have any influence at all. As a person grows up in a family, they are influenced by many aspects of their life. Family and culture may influence a person’s sense of responsibilities, ethics and morals, tastes in music, humor and sports, and many other aspects of life. Friends and surrounding environments may influence a person’s taste in clothing, music, speech, and social activities. Personal interests are what truly set individuals apart. An individual is not a puppet on the string of their puppet-master, nor a chess piece on their master’s game board, individuals choose their own paths in life. They accomplish, or strive to accomplish, goals that they have set for themselves throughout their lifetime. Individuals are different from any other individual in the world because they live their own life rather than following a crowd of puppets. A person’s identity is defined by what shaped it in the first place, why they chose to be who they are, and what makes them different from everybody else in the world. I feel that I have developed most of my identity from my own dreams, fantasies, friends, and idols.
The heavy workload in college is very different than from that in high school. Some college students tend to have difficulties handling so much school work at a time. Binge drinking becomes a habit for them and becomes their way of getting rid of the problem. Harvard researchers have found that even some binge drinkers are seven times as likely to miss classes and eight times as likely to have their grades fall during the semester. (David L. Marcus, 1999) Individuals encounter various situations that create feelings of stress in their lives. Most of the tension may come from school, work, and family. Many university students experience pressure from taking college exams, writing research papers, and from their places of employment. Stress is expected to occur in the lives of college students, but how they cope with their stress is the issue and that is how binge drinking comes into
Going to college can be an exciting new experience that can challenge a person more than he or she thought was possible. Attending college, especially for the first time, can be a very stressful time in a person’s life. Some of the stress that is associated with attending college are living in a new place, having to meet new people, having new responsibilities, and of course the homework that goes along with taking classes. If a person does not learn to cope with these stressors in a healthy way, that person may become very overwhelmed and possibly depressed (Hoeger & Hoeger, 2010) .To keep one’s body and mind safe from the overexposure of stress, they can practice the following techniques.
In Erikson’s Identity vs. Role Confusion stage, I thought, “Who am I?” countless times like many other adolescents. I occupied much of my time trying to construct a firm identity of myself, which I now realized did more harm than good. Letting myself explore different interests would have helped me find my identity than me trying to fake some firm identity.