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Erik Erikson 's Psychosocial Theory Essay

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There are many methods for studying human social development. In Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory, social interactions are an important and determining factor of lifespan development. Although Erikson was influenced by many of Sigmund Freud’s studies, his studies were based upon psychosocial development versus psychosexual development. Erikson, like Freud, emphasized the importance of childhood on personality development, but unlike Freud, he believed that development occurred across the entire lifespan. Erikson thought personality developed through a series of eight stages each signified by a “crisis”. According to Erikson, if the individual successfully overcomes the situation it helps to develop a lifelong skillset, but if the crisis is not successfully resolved it may hinder development. The sense of competence or the sense of inadequacy at each stage ultimately develops an individual’s identity or “all of the beliefs, ideals, and values that shape and guide a person’s behavior (Cherry).” By examining my own social development through life and gathering information from my parents, specifically about my childhood, I made many comparisons to and connections to my own identity. As Erikson’s stages are confined by age, I considered the first five stages of the psychosocial theory of development and related them to my life. Trust versus mistrust is Erikson’s first stage and occurs during infancy, which is from birth to about two years of age. Because of an infant’s

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