Life Trials and a Police Officer’s Generative Accomplishments

Generativity versus stagnation, Erikson's seventh developmental stage, occurs during middle adulthood. By generativity Erikson means primarily “a concern for helping the younger generation to develop and lead useful lives. The feeling of having done nothing to help the next generation is stagnation” (Santrock, 2013, p. 23). Both

Erikson believed that people develop in psychosocial stages. He emphasized developmental change throughout the human life span. In Erikson's theory, eight stages of development result as we go through the life span. Each stage consists of a crisis that must be faced. According to Erikson, this crisis is not a catastrophe but a turning point. The more an individual resolves the crises successfully, the healthier development will be.

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.

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, developed in 1963, supports the idea that early life experiences impact an individual across their lifespan. This theory considers that growth of an individual is a result of interaction with the environment, biological maturation and societal influences, therefore, allowing for experiences from early life, to influence an individual throughout their lifespan. Erikson’s theory focuses on eight different developmental stages within a lifespan and in order to progress from one stage to another, an individual must overcome a potential crisis of two opposing forces at each

According to Erik Erickson, people go through eight stages of psychosocial development from the time they are infants to their adulthood (Sokol, 2009). During each of these stages, the person may experience different psychosocial crises that affect their personality development positively or negatively (Sokol, 2009). Mr. Herbs is currently at the generativity vs. stagnation stage of

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

An individual who enters the more fulfilling generativity stage will work towards overcoming selfish tendencies and spend their time focussing/investing/guiding and caring for others (especially the younger generation) (Harms, 2010). “Middle-aged adults can achieve generativity with their own children or the children of close friends or through guidance in social interactions with the next generation” (Crisp & Taylor, 2009, pp. 214-215). Studies have also shown that generative parents can often be linked to “conscientious and agreeable” young adult children (Santrock,

Middle adulthood is categorized from the ages of 35 to 65 years of age and begins a very new physical and mental chapter of one’s life. Recall when Erickson, referred to “middle age as a period when attention turns to creation of a legacy” (414). This is done by an adult influencing the lives of the younger generation. Erickson’s theory of generativity states that one is making a valuable contribution to society by bringing up children or mentoring younger people in some way. After four decades of research psychiatrist George Vaillant, felt it necessary to modify Erickson’s theory on generativity.

Many of our temperament traits are evident at birth. However, other characteristics such as trust, guilt and competency are learned based upon our life experiences and the support we receive as we grow and develop. Based upon his research, Erikson became aware of the influence maturation and social demands have on behavior and ultimately on our development. He believed these two forces "push[ed] humans everywhere through…[a set of] eight psychosocial crises" (Sigelman, C. & Rider, E., 2009, pg.332). He organized life into eight stages that extend from birth to death.

Erik Erikson (1902-1994) used Freud’s findings as a foundation to develop a theory about human stage development. During Erikson’s work from 1950-1963 he added modifications to Freud’s findings resulting in a proposition of a psychoanalytic theory of psychosocial development that occurs over a human’s lifespan and encompasses all life stages of human development; infancy (birth to 18 months), early childhood (2 to 3 years), preschool (3 to 5 years), school age (6 to 11 years), adolescence (12 to 18 years), young adulthood (19 to 40 years), middle adulthood (40 to 65 years) and maturity 65 to death) (simplypsychology.org). Each stage has a positive or negative outcome based off when the human experiences a psychosocial crisis in which results one’s personality development. Erikson based his findings off the term, ‘crisis’. He used the term for different implications of each human development stage. Once

Erikson’s theory of generativity is reminiscent of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, which, defined by Berk (2014), is “how culture—the values, beliefs, customs, and skills of a social group—is transmitted to the next generation” (p. 23). Generativity is pertinent to the middle-aged individual, whose evolutionary imperative predisposes them to extend their commitments and/or contributions beyond themselves for the betterment of future generations and society as a whole. Berk (2014) explains that, at a cultural level, middle-aged adults don the responsibility of passing down their values, beliefs, skills, expertise, knowledge, and experience to help protect and advance the next generation. One can witness this in the older generation

Erik Erikson is known for his psychoanalytic theory of psychosocial development comprising eight stages from infancy to adulthood. Psychologist Erik Erikson, is a major contributor to developmental psychology, who proposed a comprehensive theory of the ways that individuals develop their identity, a sense of who they are, and society's influence on that development. Erikson stated that people go through crisis at each stage of their lives. The stages each had a developmental task to be mastered. As an individual resolved these various crises an individual would have a better harmony with their social environment that they live in. If an individual could not successfully resolve a crisis, they would be” out of step”, and the individual would have a greater difficulty in their dealing with a crisis in the future. Erikson did however recognize that an individual can develop through a stage negatively and still go on with their life. Erikson stated that each of the psychological stages have a basic conflict and important event leading to growth. The theory was developed from his hundreds of clinical observations in children.

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.