Erikson 's Theory Of Lifespan

Erikson theorizes that in such a period, adolescents have certain tasks, one of which is identifying who they are. An individual successfully completes the task by staying true to his or her self, whereas when a person fails that stage, it leads to role confusion; consequently creating a weak sense of self. (Block 2011). The stage also entails a variety of personal challenges and limitations faced as well as a series of needs to be met, including: attention, guidance, independence, stability, and acceptance, among other needs. Meeting an adolescent’s needs is fundamental to their healthy development and personal growth. Nevertheless, adolescence remains as puzzling of a period in time for both the teens experiencing it, as well as for the individuals surrounding them, watching them as they navigate through the trials that adolescence brings them.

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

Erikson's fifth stage of development is identity vs. role confusion, which occurs during adolescence, from about 12-18 years old. It’s during this stage that children tend to gain self-esteem and a sense of identity. Also, dramatic physical changes and develop interests and abilities that can last a lifetime (McCoy, 2015). Some children, at this stage, tend to struggle with social interactions and to fit in with their peers. A sense of morality and right from wrong is realized, and a more mature line of thinking starts to take

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.

Erikson’s (1968, 1980, 1982) psychosocial stages of development provide a framework for the different stages of development throughout the human lifespan. These stages of development begin at birth and continue until death, and separate the lifespan into eight stages based on chronological age. Within these eight different aging stages are corresponding psychosocial stages. Each of these psychosocial stages represent a conflict between two characteristics of development for that particular time period in a person’s life.

The majority of lifespan development theories analyze growth and development from two major possibilities, that is, development as a continuous process and development as a discontinuous process (Berk, 2007). Continuous development is defined as the process where an individual builds on the same skills exhibiting at an early age while the discontinuous development is the process that allows individuals to exhibit new and different ways of understanding and responding to different situations and occurrences (Berk, 2007; Koren, 2011). The lifespan development theories that explain growth and development as a process of stages follow a discontinuous development perspective (Berk, 2007).

During our lives, everyone goes through a change and evolves in different ways. However, in the field of psychology as far as development, the process of growing and maturing has been previously linked only with childhood. One of the first theorists Erik Erickson felt that development continues throughout life. Erickson believes that each stage in life resembles to specific opportunities that the society might have. Erickson’s theory defines the impact of social involvement across the entire lifespan. Each stage of Erikson’s stages is unique in their own way. Erikson decided to present eight different stages of the psychosocial crisis for almost each age group.

Erikson’s stage of Identity vs. Role Confusion (13-19 years old), was a crucial time for my brother and I, as my parents decided to put us back in public school. I was thirteen-years old at the time, just entering the eighth grade as a “new kid” in a very small rural community. This was beyond some of my toughest

German psychoanalyst Erik Erikson developed eight stages of psychosocial theory of development where the main key to developmental task was “development of identity”. (SITATION HERE). The book “The life Cycle Completed” by Erik H. Erikson emphasizes on how each individuals need to go through trust and mistrust or also known as crisis to get to the right solution, to find their identities. During the early adolescence is when we develop bonding with parent, friend, and romantic partners. In

Erikson considers this phase of development to be primarily focused on figuring out who one is in the world. This stage is said to take place between the ages of twelve and eighteen with the focus on figuring out

Consider the life stage theories of Erik Erikson and then write a paragraph about your current life stage and whether you agree or disagree with his theory. Write a paragraph explaining your answer.

In addition, women experience menopause usually around age 50. Social roles experience changes in early, and middle adulthood including work, marriage or partnership, and parenting. Erikson's (1950) theory of adult development mentioned these changes in various role areas. Adult's career is linked to the task of uniting an identity while marriage or partnership liked to the role of intimacy. Finally, parenting children linked to the role of generativity (Srivastava, John, Gosling, & Potter, 2003, p.

The final stage of Erikson's theory is later adulthood (age 60 years and older). The crisis represented by this last life stage is integrity versus despair. Erikson proposes that this stage begins

Erikson goes into depth about development with eight stages; therefore, when one continues to develop, they can understand and identify themselves more precisely. Erikson created eight stages to describe development; the amount of stages is important because one of his stages are dedicated to identity. In phase five of Erikson’s social theory, “a sense of identity is formed at the end of adolescence, and it is based on all pre-adult experiences” (Barnes). Establishing ‘Who am I?’ is crucial for making adult decisions. This stage cannot be found in Piaget because he did not incorporate adulthood into his theory. However, Erikson knew the importance of identity involvement because this fifth stage maps out the rest of one’s development and how they view themselves. In order to fulfill the next three stages, identity must be formed since one cannot struggle with identity and face the difficulties of the following stages. With more stages, each stage is specific to a key aspect in one’s lifetime. In phase six, “Graduation from adolescence requires a sense of identity; graduation from the first phase of adulthood requires finding a sense of shared identity” (Maier 70). Having a partner means incorporating one’s identity into themselves; therefore, it is important to discover oneself in phase five. One cannot be in a committed relationship when they themselves do not have a solidified identity.

As a process, gender creates the social differences that define “women” and “men”. In social interaction throughout their lives, individuals learn what is expected, see what is expected, act and react in expected ways, and thus simultaneously construct and maintain the gender order: “The very injunction to be given gender takes place through discursive routes: to be a good mother, to be a heterosexually desirable object, to be a fit worker, in sum, to signify a multiplicity of guarantees in response to a variety of different demands all at once” (Butler, 1990: 45).