Erikson's Eight Psychosocial Stages Of Human Development

Adolescence is popularly known to be a very tumultuous stage in a person’s life. In the adolescent stage (also coined the identity vs. role confusion stage by theorist Erik Erikson) bodies are changing rapidly, emotions are unfamiliar and unexplainable, and refraining from succumbing to peer pressure is more challenging than ever.

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 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

Despite popular belief, when it comes to identity theory, adolescents are not the only factors involved in the formation of their development. A recent article published in Journal of Research on Adolescence shows that parents are active participants in the development of their child’s identity. Jonathan Ventura of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, along with Doctor Elli Schachter, studied parent’s who devoted time and effort to the thought of their child’s identity. Some of these parents even made changes in their own lives to do what is best for their child’s future identity. The parents thought about all aspects that could

Much like Maeve’s trial and error phase, Erikson’s theory of identity versus role confusion explains psychological conflict of adolescence. This theory states that this conflict is resolved positively when adolescents achieve an identity after a period of exploration and inner soul searching. If a young person’s earlier conflicts were resolved negatively or if society limits their choices to ones that do not match their abilities and desires, they may appear shallow, directionless, and unprepared for the challenges of late adulthood. (p. 314). Maeve luckily didn’t make many choices that were resolved negatively. These social and emotional changes weren’t always easy for the rest of the family to deal with, but they were a part of her growth. With us there to provide nurturing support, she was able to develop her own healthy identity after her period of “soul searching.”

The purpose of this paper is to describe three psychosocial theories and how they impacted my own personal development. I will use the theories to trace my development throughout my undergraduate career and show how I processed information and how is some situations I am still developing. In this paper, I will use Marcia’s theory identity development to describe how I moved from moratorium to identity achievement. I will also use Chickering’s vector developing a mature interpersonal relationship to discuss how I am continually developing. I will conclude with discussion two components of Bronfenbrenner’s developmental ecology theory.

Adolescent is a disconcerting time when there are many life changes emotionally, physically, socially and psychologically. There are unrealistic expectations which lead to disappointment and rejection. The maturity level of adolescents makes them feeling life is not fair and things will never change to benefit them. Erikson’s identity vs. role confusion is an example of how developing into owns identity can be challenging, especially when learning how to transition into adulthood. Adolescence is one of the most importance stages in life where the mind and body goes through varies changes. When changes cause impairment or interfere with activities of daily living it results in

The one thing that I learned in this course that caught my attention pertains to Marcia’s “identity formation statuses” beginning with “identity diffusion” the adolescent that simply doesn’t care where they’re headed in life and are not exploring any options displaying low commitment and low exploration. Then secondly “foreclosure” the adolescent has made a choice on who they want to become in time based on the values of others (e.g. becoming a police officer because their grandfather and father were both police officers) this displays high commitment, but low exploring. Thirdly the “moratorium” status exploring the different options one has its the opposite of “foreclosure” where the person displays low commitment, but high exploration. Then

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

James Marcia suggested that there are two characteristics in identity which can either be present or absent. Those two characteristics are crisis or commitment. Crisis is a period when an adolescent chooses between alternatives and making decisions. Commitment is psychological investment in a course of action or an ideology. Marcia put four stages into the development of identity. The first stage is identity achievement. In this stage, adolescents have went through who they are and what they want to do. During this stage, adolescents have went through a period of crisis, choosing between different options of what to do and who they want to be. An example of this would a teenage who thought they wanted to be a CNA but realized they hate it

My future specialization will be working with children and adolescent. My focus will be to find out why the children are behaving in a manner that is unhealthy for them. Then I will use the theory that is more in place helping me in helping them manage what they experienced or are experiencing with a more optimistic attitude. For example, there are many children and youth who are still trying to determine “who they are and their purpose in life”. As Erikson 1950, 1968; and Ferrer-Wreder et al (2008 as cited in Wiley et al, (2011) mentions, identity development has been connected to psychological reformation both hypothetically and empirically.

All throughout our lives, we wrestle with the question of who am I and what do I want in life? However, it is usually during the adolescent years that this issue really comes to a head and we begin a more earnest search into finding ourselves and deciding the direction we want to take with our lives. One of the theorists who studied this idea of identity formation was James Marcia. Marcia proposed that there were four different stages or statuses in the development of identity which he labeled Identity Diffusion, Identity Foreclosure, Identity Moratorium, and Identity Achievement. In this essay, we will briefly summarize his four different stages and then apply his theory to my own identity development during the adolescent years.

For Erikson (1950) adolescence is a period during which individuals seek to avoid dangers of role diffusion and identity confusion by establishing a sense of personal identity. Individuals have to find answers for two major questions “who am I?” and “what is my place in society?” Identity is a “conscious sense of individual uniqueness” and an “unconscious striving for a continuity of experience” (Erikson, 1968, p. 208).

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

Developmentally, college age individuals transition from adolescence to young adulthood (Gardiner & Kosmitzki, 2010). One of developmental theorists, Erik Erikson (in Lerner, 2002) postulated that young adults’ developmental task is negotiating their identity within the intimate relationship. Furthermore, Côté (2006) stressed that reflecting and exploring their lives in adolescence to emerging adulthood helps them obtain what he called identity capital, which refers to “a repertoire of personal resources” (Côté, 2006, p. 91). It includes both tangible and intangible resources and attributes (Côté, 2006). Lack of engagement or passivity of adolescents and emerging adults result in diffusion (“apathetic noncommitment” (Côté, 2006, p. 104). Gleaning from these theorists’ observations, college students face developmental tasks, which carry them forward to adulthood. Therefore, their social needs in addition to their academic needs must be addressed (see Corey, et al., 2014).