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Analyzing Erikson's Psychosocial Stages Of Development

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In 1963, the psychology theorist Erik Erikson, developed the idea that each life stage has a psychosocial task that they must conquer. I was given the opportunity to observe his theory on my own through a series of interviews. The first person that I interviewed was an adolescent, whose psychosocial developmental conflict is between identity and role confusion. The next person that I interviewed was a young adult, whose conflict is between intimacy. The next person that I interviewed was of middle adulthood, whose crisis is between generativity and stagnation. Finally, I interviewed a woman in the stage of late adulthood, whose crisis is integrity versus despair. Ultimately, I was able to be a first-hand witness to development throughout life …show more content…

Isobel seemed to be right on track with the conflict of the adolescent, which is the struggle between identity and role confusion. Identity is often confused with what is called social identity. Identity is the sense of self that comes from within ourselves, whereas social identity is the person that we think we are based off of the people we surround ourselves with. Intimacy and peers play a large role in this stage of development. Erikson also noted that, “adolescents forge their identity early, simply by adopting their parent’s values and expectations.” Bella’s answers gave me a sense that both her parents and her peers play a very important role in her life. While her parents love, understand, and support her, she knows that her friends are also people that she can trust with anything. One of her most unique qualities is her ability to read people’s emotions and help them when they are feeling their lowest. As one of Bella’s closest friends, I can personally vouch that one her greatest gifts is her support and love for her friends. Bella’s kind heart truly proves her maturity. Bella may even be a bit ahead of her adolescent conflict, or at the very least, towards the end of it. A number of her answers seemed to point to her maturity level. While oftentimes teens struggle with faith as a key in their life, Bella uses her love of God to center her when times are difficult. Bella does not find her faith to be …show more content…

It was interesting to see how people’s attitudes change over time, while still keeping the same values. All four of the people that I interviewed gave similar advice, along the lines of always being yourself and always working hard for what you feel will pay off in the end. In addition, while the times are constantly changing, family and friends are always a constant love and need, and determination to succeed is always important. While I was skeptical at first, this project ended up being a very interesting and fun analysis of what life is all

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