Erikson Identity Crisis

According to Erik Erikson, adolescence is marked by the child’s questioning his or her identity during what he refers to as the identity versus identity confusion developmental stage. During this phase, the adolescent becomes mindful of his or her identity and seeks his or her purpose in life, as well as the answer to the eternal question, “who

Sociological Accounts on Individuals Acquiring Their Identities The concept of identity has been defined as 'A sense of self that develops as the child differentiates from parents and family and takes a place in society' (Jary and Jary, 1991.) Through the process of socialization, individuals acquire their identities, but this issue cause different understandings according to sociological accounts. Here, I will show these accounts, and make an analysis understood by me.

With respect to Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development, the adolescence is the stage of identity versus role confusion. He also believes that identity as the significant personality achievement of adolescence is an essential step toward becoming a productive happy adult (Feldman, 2006). I remember so vividly my high school experience; especially

It outlines the struggle an individual faces in finding stability between developing a sense of forming a unique identity while still being accepted and “fitting in” with society. Erikson believed that when teenagers adequately navigated their way through this crisis, they would transpire into having a clear understanding of their individual identity and easily share this new ‘self’ with others. However, if an individual is unable to navigate their way through this crisis period, they may be uncertain of who they are which can result in a lack of understanding, leading to disconnection from society and the people around them. If youth become stuck at this stage they will be unable to become emotionally mature adults, according to Erikson’s theory. This period of an individual’s life allows them to investigate possibilities which will lead them to discovering their own identity based upon the result of their explorations.

Erik Erikson has developed the psychosocial theory that proposes eight stages across the life span of human development. Each and every one of the stages has a “crisis”, a significant psychosocial topic that is important in that moment. The theories are deliberately having an impact on by social and cultural influence a process of development of the ego and self. “According to Erikson, the ego develops as it successfully resolves crisis that are distinctly social in nature. These involves establishing a sense of trust in others, developing a sense of identity in society, and helping the next generation prepare for the future. (McLeod 2008, p. 1) In this paper I will be talking about each of the main characters in the movie, “On Golden Pond” and what they all go through to a crisis of psychosocial development using Erikson’s theory.

One of the theorists to investigate the development of identity would be Erik Erikson. According to Erikson (1968), throughout an individual’s life-span, they experience conflicts. These conflicts arise at certain points in life and need to be successfully resolved for the progression in to the next of Erikson’s eight stages (Sigelman & Rider, 2015). The specific stage relevant to the development of identity formation in adolescence would be the ‘identity versus role confusion’ stage. Identity development involves exploring options and making commitments to obtain a relatively stable self-perception (DeHaan & MacDermid, 1996). In contrast, role confusion occurs when individuals are not able to commit specific life choices (DeHaan & MacDermid,

The public self is often times not the true self. This indication of a difference between the public and true self leads to the idea that the self and identity of an individual are different concepts. The self, is a person’s essential being that makes each individual unique compared to others; whereas the identity, is a person’s character that is essentially created to help the individual fit into society. These two concepts begin to form early in life through influences from society, family, and culture. However, as the individual beings to assimilate the world around them, their sense of identity transforms in order to adapt to the new environment, while their sense of self remains the same.

Identity crisis is not just in everyday life it’s also in literature and can effect an author’s work. “Identity crisis is a psychological term that describes someone who in the constant of searching for his/her identity. So identity crisis doesn’t refer to a real crisis, but it just describes a normal stage of personality development. ”(M.Farouk Radwan). Many people in this world suffer from it, and some may not even know that they do.

Erikson (1968) believed that the primary psychosocial task of adolescence is the formation of identity. Therefore, he called developmental conflict identity versus confusion. There are various contributing factors to the formation of identity such as cognitive development, personality as well as schools and communities etc. The onset of puberty during adolescents leads to newfound cognitive skills and physical abilities (Kroger,2004) . In addition, increased independence and autonomy leads to greater interactions with communities and schools etc. according to Erikson (1968), this allows the individual to explore relationships and ideologies. He gave particular attention to the career domain, starting “In general, it is the ability to settle

The video was very emotional and touched me on a very deep level. I’m only 22 and I’m just starting to experience death. My Aunt recently passed in May and she was terminally ill for a couple months. The ordeal was very difficult to deal with because she was very secretive about it. She did not want the family to worry, so she withheld information from everyone, including her daughter. Watching this video really helped me see what my Aunt was going through personally. However, she tried every preventative surgery the doctor’s offered her, and the family thinks the constant surgeries are what hastened her death. Each story was sad and difficult to watch. What each person was going through did not just affect them, it affected everyone around them. The wife from the first story described her emotions as a “cycle of anger and depression.” She also had to hire a nurse to help care for him. The wife from the other story took care of her husband until she could not deal with his agitation longer, so she put him in hospice care.

During the adolescent years, the conflict of interest in Erikson’s psychosocial theory deals with identity and identity confusion (Ashford et al, 2013). These years are crucial in developing a youth’s self-esteem. Young people are highly self-conscious. Their perceptions of self

“The identity crisis….occurs in that period of the life cycle when each youth must forge for himself some central perspective and direction, some working unity, out of the effective remnants his childhood and the of his anticipated adulthood.”   Erick Erikson

According to Erikson, the development of the lifespan is a lifelong process from birth to death and includes the formation of identity (Broderick & Blewitt, 2010). I will cover in the paper six life events that influence my identity development from childhood to middle adulthood. Each life event will be explained based on the significance of the event as well as the impact the event had on my development. Also, theories will be discussed as they relate to my development.

James Marcia, an Eriksonian researcher believed that in to maintain the status “identity achievement” an individual must undergo crisis and make a commitment. Crisis is defined as “the period of identity development during which the individual is exploring alternatives.”(Santrock 386) The commitment is made when different approaches, ideologies, and vocations are explored on their own in response to the crisis. Key Changes in identity primarily occur in emerging adulthood. “Once formed, an identity furnishes individuals with a historical sense of who they have been, a meaningful sense of who they are now, and a sense of who they might become in the future.”(James Marcia)

In entering adolescence, people heavily contemplate their ego identity. In the early 1900s, theorist Erik Erikson believed in eight stages of ego development from birth to death. For the purpose of this paper I have