Stages of Life

Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, as articulated by Erik Erikson, in collaboration with Joan Erikson,[1] is a comprehensive psychoanalytic theory that identifies a series of eight stages, in which a healthy developing individual should pass through from infancy to late adulthood. All stages are present at birth but only begin to unfold according to both a natural scheme and one's ecological and cultural upbringing. In each stage, the person confronts, and hopefully masters, new challenges. Each stage builds upon the successful completion of earlier stages. The challenges of stages not successfully completed may be expected to reappear as problems in the future.

When I hear the term life-span development, particularly when utilized in a psychological context, the first thing that comes to mind is that it has to be the investigation of change that occurs throughout the lifespan. This change that is being observed can be in the form of behavior or personality. This field of study is very interesting as it looks at the ways humans develop over the course of their life-span. The purpose of this paper is to explain why I believe an understanding of life-span development is important and why I believe an understanding of human development will be beneficial in my prospective career path.

One of the most common and well-recognized theories of personality in the psychological field is the theory of psychosocial development by Erik Erikson. The theory includes various stages of development that mainly focus on the development of competence in an area in life. The theorist believed that people undergo conflicts that act as the turning point in development in each of the stages. The conflicts in each of the stages either stimulate the individual to personal growth or failure in developing quality. Erikson's stages of development can be used in providing effective therapeutic services to patients with histories of abuse and neglect. This is largely because these stages help in identification of symptoms related to the abuse or neglect and the establishment of methods to treat the symptoms by a therapist.

These people will develop wisdom, even while facing death. Individuals who have not successfully finished this stage will feel much regret over a squandered life and will encounter numerous regrets. A person who feels this way will feel bitter and anguish (Cherry, 2015). According to Erik Erikson, “people who achieved positive outcomes to earlier life crises-for example, generativity rather than stagnation in middle adulthood-would be more likely to obtain ego integrity than despair in later adulthood” (Rathus, 2013). Next, body transcendence and geotranscendence is a stage in later adulthood years in which an individual must overcome the aging process and identify themselves by what his or her body is capable of doing (Peck,1968). Affect optimization in life review occurs when an individual is able to view life in a positive manner. People who successfully complete this stage are able to maintain a cheerful attitude about life, despite experiencing deteriorating health, seeing many loved ones die, and a limited amount

This theory attempts to explain why individuals who have had a rough or neglectful childhood have trouble adjusting in adult life, or why adolescents who had trouble finding and identity have issues later in life (Erikson, 1994). This theory helps therapists to ask more key questions about developmental stages and how the patient adjusted to each one (Mummendey, 1999). For example, If the patient was not able to establish a healthy identity then the therapist can identify what was in the way of the formation (Mummendey, 1999).

Cherry, K. Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development Psychosocial Development in Young Adulthood, Middle Age, and Old Age. (2014). Retrieved on July 6, 2014 from http://psychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/psychosocial_3.htm

This essay will demonstrate my understanding of developments which occur at each stage of an individual's life cycle. I will relate these developments to two relevant psychological theories and discuss how an individual's needs must be met to enable them to develop.

New needs and tensions will arise in each area of life initiating one to seek new ways of adapting to these new found stressors. In return this forces them to form different kinds of intimate relationships. This maturation helps forms one’s personality (Kowalski, & Westen, 2002). “Relationships formed during each stage of life serve as a prototype for interactions in later stages. For this reason, there exists a continuum of relationships formed throughout a lifetime that shape and mold specific personality traits. Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget, and Lawrence Kohlberg, describe development as a series of stages. A stage is a period in development in which people exhibit typical behavior patterns and establish particular capacities” (Kowalski, & Westen, 2002). “The various stage theories share three assumptions: First people pass through stages in a specific order, with each stage building on capacities developed in the previous stage, second stages most related to one’s age, third development is discontinuous, with qualitatively different capacities emerging in each stage” (Kowalski, & Westen, 2002).

Rutter, M. (1989), Pathways from Childhood to Adult Life. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30: 23–51. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1989.tb00768.x

Mid-life transition can be seen as a difficult process because it is the point of our lives where we start to accept the end of our youth and begin the process of aging. For those who do not have a smooth emotional transition can suffer from a mid-life crisis.

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.

Life span developmental psychology takes a scientific approach to human growth and change, focusing on change during the life span. There are three main aspects to life span development: cognitive, social, and physical development. This class is not simply a discussion of nature vs. nurture, it explores the interaction between genetic and environmental factors that orient us towards specific behaviors. Initially, my views on life span development were limited to more sociological factors, and did not take into consideration physical developments of the brain. In relation to my personal and professional identity this course has made me realize that development occurs on a spectrum and that not everyone develops at the same time, in the same ways, making me more understanding and compassionate towards those who developed differently than me. The three most important lessons I have learned from this class are that development occurs throughout the entire life span, infants begin learning at a very young age, and that senescence begins as early as young adulthood.

The stage that follows early adulthood is known as middle adulthood where people are generally caught between being productive and being stagnant. This stage reflects the need to create a living legacy: they would either need to feel they have become an important figure for the next generation to follow or they would develop a sense of purposelessness which is generally known as a “mid-life crisis”. This crisis can be solved by having the adults care and nurture children or help the fore-coming generation in other ways or means, however if the crisis remains the person would persist in random non-age-appropriate behavior as well as a continued feeling in stagnation. During this stage adults lose some of their physical aspects as their muscular strength, ability and agility weakens. Women will go through a menopausal

Middle-aged adults experience change in many different areas of their life at this time, they will find that not only their health is changing, but their appearance, their family, their thinking, and their emotions are changes as well. When discussing people that fall into the middle adulthood age of life, the term “midlife crisis” is often used, but according to an article titled Middle Adulthood Developmental Psychology, “most people during middle adulthood are satisfied and pleased with their lives”, ("Physical Changes," 2008-2013, expression 1). This article also states that the age range for middle adulthood is approximately age thirty-five to sixty-four. Midlife crisis is a when an individual views themselves and are unhappy with

Kierkegaard suggests three stages of life that an individual experiences on his or her way to existence. For Kierkegaard, existence is not simply a condition of being alive; it is an active pursuit toward the type of person one “ought” to be (Stumpf, 2015, p. 374). ‘Existence’ is a qualitative statement that indicates a conscious and active will to make reflective choices (373). According to him, there is a graduated system; ‘three stages of life,’ that one navigates with a series of choices in order to fully exist.