Erik Erikson 's Psychosocial Development Theory

Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development was the first theory that demonstrated the development from “womb-to-tomb.” His theory posited three tenets, the first that each era in life had a developmental crisis, and that at each period there was the opportunity for growth and development. Each developmental stage poses a developmental crisis that is central to that age, and as stated in Erikson’s second tenet, if there is an interruption in the development of one of the stages, the stages following will be effected. Though each developmental stage has one fundamental stage that is being worked on, Erikson’s third tenet states that the challenges of all of the other stages are still present; although there is one crisis that is

Erik Erikson was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1902. Because his mother was Jewish and his father was not, he was often bullied in school. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, so his Jewish peers mocked him for standing out and being different, and his peers at school teased him simply for being Jewish. His own internal conflict with his identity sparked his interest in identity formation and development. Although he never actually received a degree in medicine or psychology, he became friends with Anna Freud who helped him study psychoanalysis. Erikson supported and was influenced by many of Sigmund Freud’s ideas. Freud had a theory on development, he called it the 5 stages of psychosexual development, this is one of the theories that Erikson

Since the development of Erik Erikson’s psychosocial model of development in the 1960s, it has become one of the most widely used measurements for studying emotional and personality development across the human lifespan (Dunkel & Harbke, 2017). Erikson’s model contains eight developmental stages, beginning in infancy and progressing until old age, and as a person ages they begin to pass through the stages, with a new psychological crisis arising at each stage (Svetina, 2014). Whitbourne, Sneed and Sayer (2009) describe how the outcome of each crisis is met with identity attainment and new personal adaptations (positive outcome), or with an incoherent identity (negative outcome). Additionally, each new stage allows for the reassessment of previous achievements, and in some cases, failures (Dunkel & Harbke, 2017). Erikson’s model is commonly recognised as a developmental ladder – each previous stage lays a foundation before an individual can progress toward the next stage (Malone, Liu, Valliant, Rentz & Waldinger, 2016). It is important to note that whilst they are referred to as “stages”, they should be viewed as being on a continuum rather than fixed categories (Dunkel & Harbke, 2017).

Erik Erikson has made numerous contributions to society as a psychologist. His developmental theory had a great impact on the way to understand psychology in modern world. There is not dough that all of his professional accomplishments have leaded us to a better understanding of the field of psychology

Erik Erikson progressed human development studies when he branched off of Freud’s developmental perspective and created his own theory regarding human development containing the “Eight Stages of Man,” (Robins, Chatterjee & Canda, 2012, pg. 213). Erikson believed that the environmental aspects combined with the biological makeup of an individual created a crisis in each developmental stage to which a person would have to resolve, successfully or unsuccessfully, before entering the next developmental stage, (Sougstad, Face-to-Face #3, 2018). In the following, Erikson’s first four stages of development will be analyzed based on needed components of successful completion as well as disadvantages that may occur due to individual specific life experiences.

This theory is the third of eight parts to Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development. Erikson states that we progress through these eight stages of development in a fixed order with each stage involving a crucial event or predicament that must be overcome in order to progress to the proceeding stage. This event takes place during a critical period within the individual’s development, thus if it is negatively resolved then it will prevent optimal development into the following stages however if it is positively resolved then the individual will advance normally. The manner in which we progress through each stage shapes our personalities and abilities, as even if we negatively complete a stage, we still pass through it, however the consequences are revealed later on in the next stage and so forth.

In the field of development psychology, we have been exposed to plenty of development theorists and idea during this class. One of the theorists, whose theories I found very fascinating was Erik Erikson, especially his eight stages of psychosocial development, from infancy to adulthood. However, as I had to pick a theorist who was not covered in class, I researched the four given theorists to choose from, I chose James E. Marcia. He refined and extended Erikson’s work. His main focus was on adolescence development.

In addition to the beginning stages of life and Erikson’s psychosocial development theory, the last four stages apply to young adulthood and late adulthood. The last four stages of Erikson’s psychosocial stages are adolescence (12-18), young adulthood (19-40), middle adulthood (40-65), and late adulthood (65 to death). During adolescence, the central crisis of identity vs role confusion occurs. In young adulthood, intimacy vs isolation begins. Middle adulthood, the central crisis generativity vs stagnation begins. Lastly, maturity is where ego identity and despair emerges. In this analysis paper, developmental experiences that contribute to each crisis will be discussed; as well as factors that are not accounted for by Erikson’s

Erik Erikson was convinced that personality development takes a lifetime, unfolding over a series of eight stages from infancy through late life. During each stage of life, a person experiences a psychological crisis. This can have a positive or negative outcome for their personality development. There are eight stages in Erikson’s theory of psychosocial

"Erikson's main contribution was to bridge the gap between the theories of psychoanalysis on the problems of human development, which emphasize private emotions, and the broader social influences that bear upon the individual. He was a strong proponent of the concept that social environment plays a major role in the development of personality. Going beyond the of a child's early life, Erikson concentrated on broader issues of peer culture, school environment, and cultural values and ideals. This led him to study the period of adolescence, in which he documented the interaction of a person's inner feelings and impulses with the world that surrounds the person."

Developmental psychologist Erik Erikson changed the way that people viewed the psychosocial development in humans throughout their lifespan. Using the foundation provided by Freud’s psychosexual stages, he modified the concepts to where they demonstrated external impacts on development as well as making it more about emotional conflicts than necessarily physical drives. This eight-stage theory is sequential, and requires the person to overcome conflicts in each stage to become a productive member of society (https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/human-development-14/theories-of-human-development-70/erikson-s-stages-of-psychosocial-development-269-12804/). These stages are: trust versus mistrust, autonomy versus shame, initiative versus guilt, industry versus inferiority, identity versus role confusion, intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation, and integrity versus despair.

Erik Erikson has made numerous contributions to society as a psychologist. His developmental theory had a great impact on the

Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development throughout the life span, much like Sigmund Freud, organizes human personality development in a series of stages (Cherry, 2011). Erikson’s psychosocial theory covers personality development from birth to death; other developmental theories explicitly focus on childhood (Harder, 2009). The eight stages of Erikson’s psychosocial theory distinguish a human’s successful transition into the following developmental stage by successfully overcoming crises and struggle a particular developmental stage presents (Hutchison, 2011, p. 315). Each stage of psychosocial development presents a crisis; the successful resolution of the crisis determines the positive or negative outcome of a particular stage

1 Describe the growth and developmental tasks that were displayed by the child you interacted with in this setting (Erikson, Piaget, and Freud). Were these tasks age appropriate? Did you assess any developmental challenges in the client that you interacted with? How were they dealt with (by you and by the health care team)?

Erikson’s theory followed Freud´s and it was based on many of Freud´s ideas. He had studied at Anna Freud, Freud’s daughter in Vienna. Erikson´s and Freud´s theories have similarities. Both theories admit the importance of the unconscious on development. They also both separates development into stages of a person´s life and handle similar age spans for these developmental stages. However, there are also differences that exist between names of the stages and the developmental subjects that are assumed during each stage. Part of the reason for that is that each psychologist has his own exclusive view of what causes a person’s development.