Two Experiences Of Erikson's Theory Of Personality Development

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

Everyone has an attachment style from which they developed in the first two years of their life. This attachment style tends to stay consistent with each person throughout their lifetime and affects their social-emotional development, and thus relationships with other people. Attachment styles greatly affect the choice one makes in life partners, and how they parent their own children. It is important for everyone to gain insight on their own attachment style if they are to know their emotional limits and how to strengthen their flaws in order to develop a better-self and stronger relationships with other people (Norcross, 2011). It is even more so important for caregivers to be aware of their attachment style and how sensitively available they are to the children in their lives. How the primary caregiver responds to the child’s needs, determines the attachment style the child will acquire. To develop a secure attachment the child needs to establish confidence in a reliable caregiver. In this paper I will be talking about the behaviors and interactions that I observed while watching the film “Babies”, and what attachment styles may be formed as a result of those interactions.

The middle adulthood stage of development is from about forty years of age until about sixty five years of age. At this stage, the typical person has found their desired career path, a relationship worth settling down with, and their piece of the bigger picture. Being successful and giving back to the community is important during this time frame. According to Erikson’s psychosocial stages of human development, this is the point in life where the question is generativity or stagnation. Generativity is reached if a person feels that they are successful and doing a good service for the rest of the world, but if the feeling of failure in these areas arises stagnation, inactivity, is reached. Both generativity and stagnation are developed mainly

Infant attachment is the first relationship a child experiences and is crucial to the child’s survival (BOOK). A mother’s response to her child will yield either a secure bond or insecurity with the infant. Parents who respond “more sensitively and responsively to the child’s distress” establish a secure bond faster than “parents of insecure children”. (Attachment and Emotion, page 475) The quality of the attachment has “profound implications for the child’s feelings of security and capacity to form trusting relationships” (Book). Simply stated, a positive early attachment will likely yield positive physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development for the child. (BOOK)

John Bowlby’s work in attachment has been one of the foundational works when determining the level of attachments and bonds that a child and parent may experience (Webb, 2011). According to Bowlby, “attachment” is referring to a lasting, mutual bond of affection that is dependent on an individual or more than one person (Webb, 2011). Establishing a secure attachment during infancy and early childhood is an important task of a parent or a caregiver. Not all parents or caregivers can provide their child or children with a secure attachment at this important in life due to various reasons. Since parents are the main providers in their child’s development of attachment, their lives and history have a great influence on their children’s lives.

Erik H. Erikson was a significant psychologist that greatly changed the field of child development. In the 1950’s, Erikson advanced a Freudian approach in development. He viewed that social development as a series of eight challenges that people have to overcome. Each challenge has an outcome that’s either favorable or unfavorable. The outcome drastically affects a person’s personality. For example, in a favorable outcome, the result can leave a positive feeling. With a positive outlook, it’s easier for a person to cope with challenges in life. An unfavorable outcome can leave a person at a disadvantaged for the future. During the first couple challenges, Erikson believed that the caregiver has a great impact on a child’s development

How an individual reacts and interprets everyday situations can be influenced by many different causes. Whereas these causes can range from individual to environmental in nature, the earliest of our preferences and relationships can go on to dictate our actions and beliefs. None of these are as important as the bond shared between a mother and child. As Mary Ainsworth once said “… [A] mothers ' behaviour appears to be the most important factor in establishing a secure or insecure attachment.” (Ainsworth et al., 1978; Isabella & Belsky, 1991, as cited in Martin, Carlson & Buskist, 2013). This essay will aim to discuss the consequences of secure and insecure attachments on intellectual, emotional and social child developmental. It will look briefly at children without their mother as their initial attachments, then it shall cover disorganised attachment. It shall then explain how attachment types suggest how children will react in social situations, their emotional well-being and how successful they are academically.

A secure attachment style is a parent–infant relationship in which the baby is secure and content when the parent is present. The child feels free to explore their surroundings knowing that their parent is right there if they need them. This child becomes upset by separation, however, the child is quickly comforted and excited when the parent returns. A securely attached parent is sensitive to the child 's needs, they are quick to respond to the needs of the child and rarely miss cues given off by the child. They are also appropriate in caring for he child (Chapter 6). A securely attached child will have confidence in the

2. The secure attachment will provide a railing guidance on how the child will act in the future and how will be the relationship between the child and the parent. Sometimes parents don’t realize how significant their attachment to the child is. Children who didn’t have a secure attachment with their parents tend to feel “anxious and have tantrums when present with problem”(Brooks, p.86) because they are missing the sense of security and protection that secure attachment bring to the infant.

An infant with a secure attachment style has a natural bond with their parent, where they are able to trust them, at the same time leaving their side to discover and explore their surroundings. In an insecure/resistant attachment the relationship the child has with their mother or caregiver is very clingy, thus making them very upset once the caregiver is away. When the mother or caregiver is back they are not easily comforted and resist their effort in comforting them. In an insecure/avoidant attachment the infant is, “indifferent and seems to avoid the mother, they are as easily comforted by a stranger, as by their parent” (Siegler 2011, p.429). Lastly, the disorganized/disoriented attachment is another insecure attachment style in which the infant has no way of coping with stress making their behavior confusing or contradictory. Through these brief descriptions of the attachment theory, many researchers have defined the turning point in which each attachment definition can have an influence on one’s self esteem, well-being and their marital relationship.

Mary S. Ainsworth was fascinated in the association between infants and their mothers that she later coined the theory of infant-mother attachment. According to Ainsworth, there are three evident attachment patterns that will develop, secure, anxious and avoidant infants. Ainsworth felt it was substantially necessary for a child to transition out from a mother’s attachment and vulnerability to autonomy and independence as a factor in normal development in personality. One of the key points of Ainsworth security theory is that infants need to “develop a sense of direction and secure dependence on parents” before leaving the nest into a strange and unfamiliar situation (Bretherton, 1992). According to Ainsworth, “Familial security in the

How is Laura’s behavior indicative of role confusion as discussed by Erik Erikson’s model of psychosocial development?

This paper explores the developmental theory created by Erik Erikson, which focuses on the major psychosocial dilemmas that a person struggles with over the course of their entire life. Following a brief biography of Erikson’s life, the paper will touch upon the 8 stages between birth and death wherein the most psychologically significant of these dilemmas take place. It will discuss the psychological impact of trust versus mistrust, autonomy versus shame and doubt, initiative versus guilt, and industry versus inferiority on early development from infancy through childhood. It will then cover the significance of identity versus role confusion, intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation, and integrity versus despair on the mind from adolescence to late adulthood. The importance of the specific positive concept in each struggle, including the accepted ways in which to help those concepts to flourish and grow, will be explored. Conversely, the likely causes of each of the negative concepts and their psychological impact on stunting the emotional growth of the individual will also be discussed, along with the influences that many of these concepts impact each other both directly in the next stage of development and indirectly many stages later.

Attachment theory is the idea that a child needs to form a close relationship with at least one primary caregiver. The theory proved that attachment is necessary to ensure successful social and emotional development in an infant. It is critical for this to occur in the child’s early infant years. However, failed to prove that this nurturing can only be given by a mother (Birns, 1999, p. 13). Many aspects of this theory grew out of psychoanalyst, John Bowlby’s research. There are several other factors that needed to be taken into account before the social worker reached a conclusion; such as issues surrounding poverty, social class and temperament. These factors, as well as an explanation of insecure attachment will be further explored in

Adolescence is the fifth stage in Erikson's psychosocial development theory. It is posited to last from ages 12 to 18, and the basic conflict inherent in the adolescent stage, which the person must resolve, is between identity and role confusion. This conflict between identity and role confusion especially plays itself out in peer relationships, but the teenager also navigates through identity and role confusion with relationships in the family unit. Identity and role confusion issues can arise with sexuality, as well as worldviews.