Erik Eriskson's Eight Stages of Personality Development

Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, as articulated by Erik Erikson, in collaboration with Joan Erikson,[1] is a comprehensive psychoanalytic theory that identifies a series of eight stages, in which a healthy developing individual should pass through from infancy to late adulthood. All stages are present at birth but only begin to unfold according to both a natural scheme and one's ecological and cultural upbringing. In each stage, the person confronts, and hopefully masters, new challenges. Each stage builds upon the successful completion of earlier stages. The challenges of stages not successfully completed may be expected to reappear as problems in the future.

The first stage is trust vs. mistrust, this occurs in the first year of life. Infants develop a sense of trust when caregivers provide them with their basic needs, but a lack of this will lead to mistrust. If this stage is successful, the infant gains the virtue of hope. When a baby cries and its mom doesn’t come immediately, it knows the mom will come eventually. If the baby doesn’t develop hope, it instead develops fear, a fear that their mom will never come when they need them. The second stage is autonomy vs. shame and doubt in 1 to 3 year olds. In order for the toddler to reach autonomy, they have to be allowed to investigate and do things for themselves. They will gain confidence and self-control and learn to handle their mistakes. Too much independence is dangerous though since they’re fragile and could get hurt, but smothering and limiting them too much will make them doubt themselves and feel that they are unable to do things. If they feel inadequate, they may become very dependent and lack self-esteem. Balance is key in this and many of the other stages for proper growth. If this stage is successful the child will develop the virtue of will. The third stage is initiative vs. guilt, this

The first stage of Erikson's psychosocial stage is trust vs. mistrust, which is experienced, in the first year of life. Infants learn to trust in order to satisfy their needs thus developing a feeling of self-worth. When infants receive inconsistent care they

Eric Erikson was one of the most famous theorists of the twentieth century; he created many theories. One of the most talked about theories is his theory of psychosocial development. This is a theory that describes stages in which an individual should pass as they are going through life. His theory includes nine stages all together. The original theory only included eight stages but Erikson‘s wife found a ninth stage and published it after his death. The nine stages include: trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. identity confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, integrity vs. despair, and hope and faith vs. despair (Crandell and Crandell,

The second theory examined is Erik Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development. Each stage in Erikson’s theory involves a conflict/crisis that a person must work through to evolve their personality. Rosenthal (1981) explains that, “Each stage arises because a new dimension of social interaction

Erikson’s theory of personality is based on his eight stages of development. In each of these eight stages of

The first stage of crisis is trust vs. mistrust. This can be commonly associated with an infant trusting their mother and father. Normally it is connected infants because they are new and trying to decipher who they can trust to care for them, as they can’t do it themselves.

Trust versus mistrust. This is the first stage which comes in the first year after a child’s birth. In this stage, children depend entirely on adults for basic needs such as warmth, comfort and food. If the caretakers provide these needs in a reliable manner, the children become attached to them and develop a sense of security (Scheck, 2014). Otherwise, the babies may develop insecure attitude or mistrust. This theory affirms the response received from the interviewee regarding her childhood years. She explained that she used to feel more secure and trusted her father more than her mother. This can be associated with the fact that

Erik Erikson focused on how one’s personality develops over the span of their life, from childhood through adulthood. He focused on a “lifespan model of development” (McLeod, 2013, para. 5) that he

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).

Parents are primarily responsible for satisfying this stage of development in their child. It is imperative parents are attentive to their infant's needs so trust can be developed.

If the individual’s needs are not met in this stage the individual will most likely develop a mistrust that will hamper relationship in the future. The relationship between parent and caregiver is vital. “It is during the first months of life that the baby comes to trust or not, to have faith or not. Whether trust and faith are developed has direct implications for identity formation” (Goodwin, 1998) The goal of this stage is to gain ‘Hope’.

According to Erikson’s Nine Stages of Psychosocial Development, “Trust vs. Mistrust,” trust and, or, mistrust is experienced from as young as infancy. I first experienced trust when I was just an infant. Since my birth, my parents have been entrepreneurs, specializing in home decorations and home improvement. Where ever my parents went, I went, which is the reason why I found trust in them. I always knew that I would be right by my parents side at all times. Both parents pulled an equal amount of responsibility while raising me and my other four siblings, with each of us being two years apart. As claimed by my parents, I started walking at only five months and I did not crawl on my knees, as babies usually do, for a long. My parents also

Erikson focused on the various stages of personality development throughout the entire lifespan. “Erikson maintained that personality develops in a predetermined order, builds upon each previous stage.” (McLeod, 2013) The eight stages begin at birth up and expand into maturity which is 65 years old and older. Erikson felt that a crisis occurs at each stage of development and he focuses a lot on the adolescent period.

For my life journey I have chose to use Eric Erikson’s theory I have decided to use his theory because to me his theory suited my life appropriately. Eric Erikson is a well known theorist from the twentieth century, he has produced many theories. One of his most known and recognized theory is the psychosocial development. This theory describes the steps a person goes through in life. There are nine stages in his theory. Originally his theory only eight steps, but his wife found the last step after his death and published it. The nine stages are: trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy and soliditary vs. isolation, generativity vs. self absorption and stagnation, and integrity vs. despair. Although, I have not gone through all of these steps yet due to my age I am only twenty two. I will speak about the steps I have gone through so far.