Stage 3: Initiative Vs. Guilt

In this stage the toddler gains ability to use own initiative in planning and carrying out plans; or if cannot live within parents limits develops a sense of guilt over misbehavior. Wuornos grandparent’s limits were distorted and so from a young age she was confused and never developed a sense of guilt.

At preschool age, guilt is a common aspect expressed by children when they do something they know they shouldn’t. Erikson’s theory is initiative versus guilt. By now the child has become convinced that they are a person all their own, discovering who they are as a person. Their emotional development is also a growing awareness of self, which is linked to the ability to feel a wide range of emotions. This allows them to make sense of other people’s reactions and to control their own. After a negative behavior, a child will feel guilt or shame after being told what they did was bad.

If this stage is successful the child have the virtue of purpose. The fourth stage is industry vs. inferiority which happens in elementary school from the age 6 until puberty. During this stage, the child’s teacher and peers become the source of self-esteem. Children in this stage feel like they need to fit in and gain approval of those around them. They feel confident and gain a sense of pride when they are praised for their accomplishments. If this stage is successful they will gain the virtue of competence. If they feel they can’t do what is asked of them, are rejected by their peers, or their parents/teachers treat them insensitively, they will learn inferiority. Stage five is ego-identity vs. role-confusions which occurs during adolescence. Teenagers being to wonder who they are. This leads to them going through phases and rebelling to search for where they fit in and belong. They explore themselves, others, and roles. If they are unable to establish who they are, they’ll experience role-confusion and suffer an identity crisis. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of fidelity, but failure means they feel they have no place in society. Stage six is intimacy vs. isolation, this

     Initiative vs. guilt is Erikson's third stage of development, which occurs between three to six years of age. This is an expansion on the autonomy developed in the second stage. During this stage children begin pretend play with peers and accept responsibilities such as chores. If this stage develops conflict between family members and this child is unable to balance their initiative with the demands of others guilt may begin to form. I was placed in my adopted family at the beginning of this stage. I believe that I developed a little slower in this stage than children who were biological or who were adopted at a young age. I also believe that I developed slower than children who lived in a consistent foster home during this stage and were adopted later did. The reason that I believe this is because I felt very guilty during this stage. I felt that I had abandoned my foster family and the people that I lived with. My biological parents had visitation up until this stage and I thought that I did something wrong that made them not want to see me anymore. I turned this sense of guilt in to a feeling of needing to please everyone. My parents said that I would do anything to help and would get very upset and ask them if they were going to give me away if I spilt something or forgot to put something away and had to be asked to do

As stages in psychological development have been defined by Freud, stages in moral development have been outlined by early educators Jean Piaget and Kohlberg, who put forth differing views on the moral development of children. Piaget theorized that children process morals in stages, first one then the next, with a transition in between. The first stage (from ages 4 to about 7) is referred to as “heteronymous morality”, where children think of rules as constants, that is to say, rules are part of the world’s makeup with no input or possibility of change by people. As children progress from seven to ten years of age, they move from one stage to the next, maintaining some of the traits of the

Erickson theory of initiative vs. guilt, "Preschoolers learn to initiate tasks and carry out plans, or they feel guilty about efforts to be independent." (Myers, D.G. 2000). When talking to my family

Initiative Versus Guilt (Purpose) Erikson believes that this third psychosocial crisis occurs during what he calls the “play age,” or the later preschool years .During it, the healthily developing child learns: (1) to imagine, to broaden his skills through active play of all sorts, including fantasy (2) to cooperate with others (3) to lead as well as to follow. Immobilized by guilt, he is: (1) fearful (2) hangs on the fringes of groups (3) continues to depend unduly on adults and (4) is restricted both in the development of play skills and in imagination.

Child S who was observed showed signs of the Initiative vs. Guilt stage of Erikson's Psychosocial Theory. There was a time when the teacher called S over to work on the lesson they were doing for the day. The lesson involved rolling a die and whatever number they would roll they would take small pieces of paper, which represent garbage, and put them in garbage trucks on their worksheets. When it was S's turn to roll her die she was extremely focused on the task. She took her turn, and the teacher asked her to count the number of dots on the die that she rolled. S would then count for the teacher and would take her pieces of garbage. It was on the next roll where S rolled before the teacher could even ask, already started counting the dots and then told the teacher she needed that number of pieces of paper. It was at this moment where S seemed very confident and showed that

Initiative versus guilt is the third stage of Erickson’s theory and applies to children between three and five years of life. In this stage the child begins emulate the actions of adults and take initiative in creating play situations. They like to make up stories with their toys (i.e. Ninja turtles, matchbox cars, Barbie and Ken) they are like to play out roles as what adults do. Basically learning what it means to be an adult. They also begin to ask question like why so they can find a way to explore the world. Erikson has said that at this stage they become involved in oedipal struggles a resolve these struggles through social role identification.

Erickson’s stage of development states that ages 3-5 is the stage of initiative versus guilt stage (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015). Explain

Once a sense of autonomy has been developed, the next stage in the psychosocial theory is initiative versus guilt. This stage is from about age three to age six and

I chose the Ego Integrity vs Despair stage. The client at this stage is focusing on the meaning of life and the place of death, and that client in that stage would face issues like psychosocial development. The Ego integrity versus despair stage begins as the aging adult begins to challenge the problem of his or her mortality. The beginning of this stage is often generated by life events such as retirement, the loss of a spouse, the loss of friends and acquaintances, facing a terminal illness and other changes to major roles in life. They would be discussing how successful they were younger in life because during this period, people reflect back on the life they have lived and come away with either a sense of fulfillment from a life well lived

Initiative versus guilt is the third stage of psychosocial development. It’s around three to six years of age when this role must be established. The goal is to establish purpose and its achieved through exploration and play (Cherry, 2011). Children begin to affirm their power over the world through interaction between people and play (Cherry, 2011). They assert control over their environment and they try to take control of their lives by planning activities, doing different assignments and taking on different challenges (Cherry, 2011). Imagination plays an important role because it encourages the freedom to do what they want and take the initiative of their lives (Cherry, 2011). When the child is not given the chance to play or explore, or is stopped

Children who complete these stages successfully, grow to be calm and well centered adults (Ku,

In this stage the child not only gets his/her moral basis from the adults or the older guardians but in this stage they learn that there is not only one point of view and each individual has his or her own point of views