Erik Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development

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

The middle adulthood stage of development is from about forty years of age until about sixty five years of age. At this stage, the typical person has found their desired career path, a relationship worth settling down with, and their piece of the bigger picture. Being successful and giving back to the community is important during this time frame. According to Erikson’s psychosocial stages of human development, this is the point in life where the question is generativity or stagnation. Generativity is reached if a person feels that they are successful and doing a good service for the rest of the world, but if the feeling of failure in these areas arises stagnation, inactivity, is reached. Both generativity and stagnation are developed mainly

20 is a strange age, you don’t have the excuse of being a teenager to fall back on but people still treat you like a child. Since high school, I’ve been interested in psychology, a topic many people engage in because as humans, we all naturally try to learn more about ourselves as a whole, but also as individuals. Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development mark the eight points people go through from infancy to elder hood. Based on Erikson’s theory, twenty year olds are at the end of adolescence where we wonder who we are and what we can be, as well as being at the beginning of early adulthood where we have formed most of our identity but are also now trying to find love and where we fit into the world.

Rachel Getting Married is a movie about a drug addict who 's coming home from rehab to attend her sister’s wedding. The main character’s name is Kim. In the movie, she is shown to have many issues going on, ranging from an incomplete stage of Erikson 's to symptoms of depression. Throughout the movie, she goes through many emotional turmoils and drama, which changes her behavior.

When their eyes met mine they began to cry, I could tell that this had shattered them. All they would ask was, “Why Jocelyn, why?” How could I explain to them all the emotions I kept inside? Would they even understand? Of course not! How could they? They had no idea what it was like to feel so low all of the time, and sometimes for no reason at all. They were normal, I wasn’t, and that’s all I wanted to be. I didn’t want to let little things like arguments get to me, but they did and it wasn’t even my fault, that wasn’t the person I knew I truly was, but the depression had taken over my life completely. I thought if I died, people, including my family would simply move on and not give a single thought to why I would end my own life, or even care too much for that matter. But when I looked into their eyes, I saw people who truly cared about me, people who loved me so much that they would give up their own lives to save me. I realized how much pain I had caused them and that was something I never expected to come out of this. I hated causing a cut-straight-to-the-heart kind of pain, which I myself dealt with most of my life. It made me see some things in a different light.

Erik Erikson’s lifespan development theory has proven to be popular and applicable to many people. However, Erikson’s theory was a bit bias and generalized groups of people whose cultures, genders and environments did not apply to his theory. This paper will focus on Erikson’s last four stages of development, and discuss how each stage may be impacted by these various factors.

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).

According to Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, Neveah is in middle adolescence, which is focused on the conflict of identity verses role confusion (Ashford & LeCroy, 2010). The developmental characteristics of middle adolescents include sexual identity, role experimentation, moral development, and self-discovery (Ashford & LeCroy, 2010). Adolescents are evaluating how they fit into society and more specifically their social sphere. During this time, friends, social groups, and cultural trends greatly impact the adolescent. According to Gibbs (2015), at this stage in development it is critical to be valued and accepted by a peer group. To evaluate Neveah’s stage of development, her ethnicity, immigration, and history of childhood abuse must be taken into consideration. According to Ashford and LeCroy (2010), adolescent immigrants face the unique challenge of fulfilling their sense of belonging, while facing issues of acculturation and minority status. As they seek to develop their own identity, they must combine the norms, values, and culture of their minority status and the dominant Caucasian culture (Ashford & LeCroy, 2010). Adolescent immigrants face more discrimination as well as are hyper-cognizant of their differences in appearance and language (Ashford & LeCroy, 2010). According to Chicchetti and Toth (1995), child maltreatment effects the development of attachment and affect regulation. They further state that studies

The second stage in Erikson’s psychosocial development is anal-muscular, where the crisis experienced is autonomy versus shame and doubt. During this stage, children learn how to use the toilet; being potty trained allows children a sense of control and independence. As a result of this stage, a child can either become autonomous, where they gain self-control, or they can become shameful and doubtful, where they may feel self-conscious and uncertain. If the child resolves this stage successfully, they will gain the virtue of willpower. However, if this stage is not resolved, then the child will develop the maladaptive tendency of impulsivity or the malignancy of compulsion. If the child is impulsive, they have no control over their actions,

How is Laura’s behavior indicative of role confusion as discussed by Erik Erikson’s model of psychosocial development?

The psychosocial theory of development was formulised by the German psychoanalyst Erik Erikson. His theory considers the impact of external factors, parents, and the society, on personality development from childhood to adulthood (Candida, 2010, p. 51). According to Erikson’s theory, every person must pass through a series of eight interconnected stages (split into general age ranges) over their entire life cycle.

Erik Erikson was a psychoanalyst who accepted many of Freud’s ideas while placing more importance on the social and cultural features of human development across the lifespan (Upton, 2011).

One of the main elements of Erikson 's psychosocial stage theory is the development of ego identity. Ego identity is the conscious sense of self that we develop through social interaction. According to Erikson, our ego identity is constantly changing due to new experiences and information we acquire in our daily interactions with others. As we face each new stage of development, we face a new challenge that can help further develop or hinder the development of identity.

Adolescence is the fifth stage in Erikson's psychosocial development theory. It is posited to last from ages 12 to 18, and the basic conflict inherent in the adolescent stage, which the person must resolve, is between identity and role confusion. This conflict between identity and role confusion especially plays itself out in peer relationships, but the teenager also navigates through identity and role confusion with relationships in the family unit. Identity and role confusion issues can arise with sexuality, as well as worldviews.