Erik Erikson was the man who originated the term “Identity crisis”. Erikson thought that his work was an extension of Freud’s and that if Freud had been given the time, then he would have come up with the same psychoanalysis theories that Erikson did. The major life developments of Erik Erikson that influenced his personality include things such as not having his father around from birth and thinking that his mother’s husband was his biological father and then finding out that the man was not his father, which caused confusion for Erikson. This is what prompted him to be interested in identity. When he entered school and the community, he was not sure how he fit in so he decided to study the aspects of identity. Erikson was bullied because …show more content…
Believing that the unconscious mind drives the way we think, act and speak. So even though we are knowledgeable about that which is in our conscience, he says that we are not mentally aware of the underlying reasons for the overt behaviors that we possess. Freud also states that “Unconscious ideas can and do motivate people (Feist & Feist,2008)”. I think this may explain why Erikson could not stop looking for his father. Erikson’s father was always in Erik’s conscience and unconscious mind, and searching for him or any clues that would lead to him, kept him searching and seeking validation from his biological father. Even after Anna Freud told Erikson to give up the notion of his father, he was always looking for something and not conscientiously knowing what was missing (Feist & …show more content…
The theory about being a by-product of your own thoughts, feelings and experiences would explain the need for Erikson to venture off in search of his father. He needed to fill the void and that is why he left home so young in life, searching for something he probably would never find. Being a wanderer, Erikson probably came across all walks of life that had influenced him in one way or the other and this can be a good thing, but the stories do not tell if anything negative had happened to him, which as well would have an impact on him. It struck me though that Anna Freud told Erikson to, basically let it go and give up the notion that he will ever know his real father. She may have been right, he may never have met his biological father and having the fantasies can lead to expectations of himself that he may never be able to uphold. Erikson felt that development functions on the principles of epigenetics (Boerre,2006). In that he says that if a stage is interrupted it will ruin the chances of the stage fully developing, losing a sense of self and missing the opportunities that come with each stage. I agree, and that Erikson was right in this respect. If a baby does not reach his milestones according to schedule, we look into possible delays and disabilities. So it wouldn’t be any different if in the later stages of life, when one misses milestones that we would do the same
Erik Erikson was heavily influenced by Freud but while Freud was an ID psychologist, Erikson was an ego psychologist. Erikson stressed that the development of the ego depended heavily on personal and social aspects. “According to Erikson, the ego develops as it successfully resolves crises that are distinctly social in nature. These involve establishing a sense of trust in others, developing a sense of identity in society, and helping the next generation prepare for the future” (McLeod, S. 1970). His theory focused on personality development through eight distinct stages. He believed that personality progressed in a stacking or pre-determined manner, this is referred to as the epigenetic principle. One must
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
In this paper I attempt to describe the similarities and differences in both Erik Erikson and Sigmund Freuds ideas on development. I also attempt to describe the many influences that contributed to the creation of both Freud and Erikson's ideas of development as well as some background information on both theorists.
Erik Erikson was born on June 15, 1902 in Frankfurt, Germany. According to his obituary that appeared in The New York Times, his parents were separated before he was born due to the fact that he was the result of an affair. He never met his birth father. His mother was young when she had him and raised him all by herself. She eventually married physician Dr. Theodor Homberger. For many years Erikson had no idea that Dr. Homberger was not his actual father. When the truth did come out, Erikson was left with confusion about who he really was as an individual. This is what led to his interest in how one’s identity is formed. This interest continued to grow throughout his school experience. He would often get teased at his temple school for not being like the others in terms of ancestry, and because he was tall, blonde, and blue-eyed. He was also rejected in grammar school due to his Jewish background. Those negative experiences motivated him even more to figure out how exactly one forms their identity and continued to influence his work the rest of his life (Cherry, 2014).
Beginning with Erik Erikson’s childhood, our textbook describes, “it is not surprising that the theorist who gave us the concept of the identity crisis experienced several crises of his own.” His first crisis occurred when he found out that his father was not his biological father. Knowing of this information, he kept his father’s last name until he migrated from Germany to the United States then changed his name to Erik Homburger Erikson. As life went on, Erikson experienced other identity crises situations that later gave him the idea of using his experiences to develop a profound theory that would change the world of psychology. At the age of twenty-five, Erik Erikson was offered to teach at a school established for the children of Sigmund Freud’s patients and friends (Schultz). Being taught by Sigmund Freud’s daughter Anna, he decided to approach Freud...
Erik H. Erikson was born on June 15th, 1902, near Frankfurt, Germany. He never knew his mother’s first husband or his birth father (Engler, 153). His mother then married a pediatrician, who adopted Erik and gave him his last name. His parents concealed the fact of his adoption from him for many years, in which Erikson later called, “a loving deceit.” Ironically, the man who was famous for the term “identity crisis” was experiencing himself a significant identity crisis during his childhood. Erikson struggled with both the quest for his psychological identity and that of his biological identity. The fact that Erikson was raised in a Jewish home, but his genetic backg...
In this paper I will be focusing on Erikson’s Theory mainly about identity versus role confusion. Finding one’s identity is not always an easy task. Everyone at some point in his or her life has had, as Erikson puts it, an identity crisis. Everyone experiences different struggles that can have either a positive or negative impact on their identity. On my path to identity, I have reached identity achievement, which means I have explored and made commitments. I will also be focusing on two articles highlighting a fifth possible outcome regarding identity and looking at identity statuses as developmental trajectories.
During the state that Freud considers the oral stage, Erikson says that babies learn to trust or mistrust someone to care for their needs. Erikson next stage which is paralell to Freud’s anal stage called the autonomy vesus shame and doubt. During this particular time, children either learn to become self sufficent or lack confidence in their own abilities. Next stage is the initiative versus guilt stage. In my opinion, this stage determines the maturity and influence of a person’s parents. With Freuds and Erikson ideas both in mind, the industy vs inferiority stage is similar to the latency. During adolescenes, according to Erikson adolescents try to figure out who they are sexually, politicall and vocationally. The next stages of itimacy versus isolation is a build on from the previous stage. During this time, a person has pretty much accepted who they are and accepted or isolated from others. The next two stages reaches beyond the depth of Freud’s ideas. According to Erikson, generativity versus stagnation develops which occurs during the middle age of adulthood. While in this stage, a person with find a way to be productive or contribute to others or become complacent and stagnate with their lives. The final state in Erikson idea is the integrity versus depair stage. It is in the time that a person
His belief was that each human developed their own personality through a series of stages and these stages developed due to the social experiences that one experienced through life. According to Erikson, there are eight stages and each stage centers around a conflict that has to be resolved. Under Erikson’s theory, if conflict or crisis is not resolved, then the outcome will be more crisis and struggles with that issue later on in life (Domino & Affonso, 2011).
Erikson’s theory has a total of eight different stages. I believe Erikson had a great idea and was correct in his theory and thoughts. His stages and repercussions of each stage can be evident in my life as well as others in my life. Erikson’s first stage is about trust and mistrust in the first year of life. In my first year of life my family was very present. There does not go a week where my family does not recount about that first year and different silly or happy stories, I do not know of first hand, but can tell you without hesitation. Being that I was the first child of my parents, so as a result my parents dedicated every day to me and to support us. On my mother 's side I was the first grandchild to be born. As a result there was always
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
This assignment’s main focus will be centred on Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, which consists of eight stages however only the fifth stage ‘identity versus role confusion’ will be discussed. Aspects such as identity crises, exploration of autonomy whilst developing a sense of self, factors that may contribute to identity formation as well as the successful/unsuccessful resolution of this particular stage will be discussed thoroughly. Erikson’s theory was also expanded by James Marcia, who identified certain identity statuses. The discussion will then progress to the psychosocial development of a case study based on Anna Monroe in connection to the difficulties she faced, such as gender, sexuality, peer pressure,
Erik Erikson was influenced by Freud and his concept of the ego. Erikson observed the impact of external factors on personality from not just childhood, but throughout the entire lifetime. He developed eight stages, which are split into different age brackets. As an individual passes through these stages, they must successfully complete the crisis to move forward onto the next one.
Erikson’s developmental theory was very detailed as compared to Freud. His theory describes the influence of social experiences in one’s life; however Freud described development based on sexuality. Another major difference between Freud and Erikson’s developmental theory is the end result of the stages. Freud believed that when fixation occurs in one stage, the problems occur associated with that stage would be permanent. However Erikson claims that the outcome of a particular stage is temporary and can be altered by experiences in later years.
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.