Golden Pond Psychology

Mark Rydell’s “On Golden Pond” is a drama that emphasizes the stages people of various ages endures. Utilizing Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages as learned in Dr. Malone’s class, each of the main characters can be placed within a stage and their age-related crises analyzed. As this film is a drama, it was relatable to the audience, prompting personal reactions as well as implementing life examples of some of the theories studied in Malone’s class.

Eric Erikson developed a theory that divides an individual’s life into eight stages that extend from birth to death (unlike many developmental theories that only cover childhood). Erikson (1902-94)

One of the main ideas in the movie centers around Erik Erikson’s first stage of psychosocial development

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,

Lawrence portrays Mrs Morel's turning to her children particularly to Paul as an exceptionally unpredictable and uncommon procedure. Lawrence alongside portraying the unpredictable and abnormal connection also finds numerous unusual factors behind this bizarre connection. Among all the factors, the most well-known one is Mrs. Morel's moving her fascination or desire from spouse to child which was the result of the bizarre relation or mismatch between her spouse in regards to character, family status, training, keenness and so on. While she is an exceedingly religious lady, her spouse is hard lush, her refined way additionally negates with his profanity. The marriage life of Mrs. Morel is actually loaded with clashes and disappointments. "Their marriage life has been one carnal bloody fight."(Lawrence, D.H. 1985) Along with the mental tormenting Mr. Morel also frequently beats her seriously and puts her out of home. "The mother is unsatisfied and angry with the coal miner, because he not only fails to live up to her bourgeois idea, but also hurts her in body and mind" (Lawrence, D.H. 1985). All these stinging and anguishing certainties ultimately make her substitute or to move enthusiastically towards her child to discover a bit fulfillment into the world

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

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.

The stories central issue revolves around how Mr. Peters decisions impact his wife Leita happiness as a human. His selfish actions cause Leita’s unhappiness as a human. “She was crying and tears rolled down her eyes.” (2). This is significant because it makes Mr. Peters realize Leita is not happy. Leita cannot bear being away from her sister, so Mr. Peters unselfishly turns

While the ability to resist her husband was always within her, just the knowledge that her family is alive changes Celie’s self-perception and character from a scared and jaded girl to a strong woman. Therefore, the role of love and family in our emotional is essential to Celie’s transformation in the

Erikson viewed the lifespan through the presentation of a series of conflicts that must be resolved. His theory introduces eight different stages throughout an individual’s lifespan. As individual’s progress through these stages, categorized by age, they are presented with conflict at each stage of development. The crises can be resolved in a positive or negative manner, which determines future function of the individual. Erikson’s theory is psychosocial in nature because these crises involve psychological needs of the individual conflicting with the needs of society (Cronin & Mandich, 2016).

The movie On Golden Pond represents three stages of development: adolescence, middle-adulthood, and late-adulthood. In the movie, Billy, Chelsea and Norman, three of the main characters symbolize the three stages of development by specific behaviors related to biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial developments. It was necessary for the three characters to break down during hard situations in their lives to start appreciating the different seasons of their lives, the transition from adolescence to adulthood to aging and the people around them. In this paper I will discuss how these characters develop as individuals through the lenses of biosocial, cognitive and psychosocial development, and I will also end my discussion by explaining how

In life there are a number of challenges that everyone will go through. This is a part of discovering who they are and what they want to do with themselves. To help explain these differences, Erikson introduced his development theory. This helps to address some of the challenges and needs that person will go through at particular stages in their lives. To fully understand these phases there will be a focus on two characters from the film The Breakfast Club and contrasting them with Erikson's theory. Together, these different elements will provide specific insights that will highlight the transformations and challenges that everyone will go through during the course of their lives.

Erikson’s main contribution to psychology was his developmental theory. He developed eight psychosocial stages of development and believed that each stage presents

The three theories I have chosen to discuss are all extremely relevant ideas; although I prefer Erik Erikson’s stage of psychosocial development. Erik Erikson’s theory covers a person’s entire lifespan showing the many different stages throughout one’s life. A person is always

Thus, the opening scene where Edward sees Elinor is an example of how Elinor’s relationship with Edward Ferrars represents the need of sense in relationships. Although Elinor and Edward’s love and reason can be seen in the first scene, their relationship remains rocky from the start and only continues to be threatened in the play from other conflicts, especially when Lucy Steele admits to Elinor that she is secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars at the end of Act II. Lucy telling Elinor that she is engaged to Edward is the climax in Elinor’s plot line because it introduces the main conflict in Elinor’s love life. Elinor’s minimalistic reaction to hearing the news that Lucy Steele is engaged to Edward Ferrars helps characterize the calm and sensible demeanor that Elinor has towards love. Instead of reacting with rage due to her love interest showing affection towards another woman, Elinor responds by saying, “I beg your pardon, but there must be some mistake. We cannot mean the same Mr. Edward Ferrars.” Elinor’s sensible response to hearing the news of Lucy and Edward’s engagement and calm dialogue shows that Elinor has the reason to not completely lose control over her emotions over a potential lost love interest. Nonetheless, in the end, Elinor ends up marrying Edward