Erikson's Psychosocial Stages of Development

12 Key excerpts on "Erikson's Psychosocial Stages of Development"

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  Development Psychology

  • (Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • The English Press

    (Publisher)

  ________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ Chapter-6 Developmental Stage Theories a) Erikson's stages of psychosocial development Erikson's stages of psychosocial development as articulated by Erik Erikson explain eight stages through which a healthily developing human should pass from infancy to late adulthood. In each stage the person confronts, and hopefully masters, new challenges. Each stage builds on the successful completion of earlier stages. The challenges of stages not successfully completed may be expected to reappear as problems in the future. The stages Hope: Trust vs. Mistrust (Infants, 0 to 1 year) • Psychosocial Crisis: Trust vs. Mistrust • Virtue: Hope The first stage of Erik Erikson's theory centers around the infant's basic needs being met by the parents. The infant depends on the parents, especially the mother, for food, sustenance, and comfort. The child's relative understanding of world and society come from the parents and their interaction with the child. If the parents expose the child to warmth, regularity, and dependable affection, the infant's view of the world will be one of trust. Should the parents fail to provide a secure environment and to meet the child's basic need a sense of mistrust will result. According to Erik Erikson, the major developmental task in infancy is to learn whether or not other people, especially primary caregivers, regularly satisfy basic needs. If caregivers are consistent sources of food, comfort, and affection, an infant learns trust- that others are dependable and reliable. If they are neglectful, or perhaps even abusive, the infant instead learns mistrust- that the world is in an undependable, unpredictable, and possibly dangerous place. Will: Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt (Toddlers, 2 to 3 years) • Psychosocial Crisis: Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt • Main Question: Can I do things myself or must I always rely on others?

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  Human Behavior Theory

  A Diversity Framework

  • Nancy Kropf, Roberta R. Greene, Nancy Kropf(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  hierarchical reorganization. This is the concept that development over time is linear and refers to changing structures and organization that permit new functions and adaptations over time (Shapiro & Hertzig, 1988). Erikson (1959) believed that, through a series of psychosocial crises and an ever-widening circle of significant relations, the individual develops “a new drive-and-need constellation” and “an expanded radius of potential social interaction” (p. 21).

  Although Erikson proposed that individuals have a readiness to interact with a widening circle of other people throughout their lives, he emphasized that psychological individuation is paramount. Feminist scholars and others have taken exception to this view of ideal adult development (Berzoff, 1989; Gilligan, 1982). For example, feminist scholars have contended that women’s experience of connectedness (including mothering, nurturing, and caretaking) should be valued as the catalyst for self-development (Bricker-Jenkins, Hooyman, & Gottlieb, 1991; Van Den Bergh & Cooper, 1987; see Chapter 11 ).

  In addition, Ho (1992) suggested a cross-cultural framework for examining development. He cautioned that practitioners can misconstrue closeness between family members, particularly mother and child, among many Latinos or Asian American families. Similarly, among many minority adolescents, autonomy is not determined solely by moving out of the home. Rather, it is expected that family members will continue to live in extended households.

  Critique of Life-Stage Models of Development

  Erikson’s (1959) most important and best known contribution to personality theory is his model of eight stages of ego development. In this life cycle approach, he proposed that development is determined by shifts in instinctual or biological energy, occurs in stages, and centers around a series of eight psychosocial crises. As each stage emerges, a psychosocial crisis fosters change within the person and in his or her expanding interconnections between self and environment. Crises offer the opportunity for new experiences and demand a “radical change in perspective” or a new orientation toward oneself and the world (Erikson, 1963, p. 212). The result is an “ever-new configuration that is the growing personality” (Erikson, 1959, p. 57).

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  Human Behavior Theory

  A Diversity Framework

  • Roberta Greene(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  He cautioned that practitioners can misconstrue closeness between family members, particularly mother and child, among many Latinos or Asian-American families. Similarly, among many minority adolescents, autonomy is not determined solely by moving out of the home. Rather, it is expected that family members will continue to live in extended households. Critique of Life Stage Models of Development Erikson’s (1959) most important and best known contribution to personality theory is his model of eight stages of ego development. In this life cycle approach, he proposed that development is determined by shifts in instinctual or biological energy, occurs in stages, and centers around a series of eight psychosocial crises. As each stage emerges, a psychosocial crisis fosters change within the person and in his or her expanding interconnections between self and environment. Crises offer the opportunity for new experiences and demand a “radical change in perspective,” or a new orientation toward oneself and the world (Erikson, 1963, p. 212). The result is an “ever-new configuration that is the growing personality” (Erikson, 1959, p. 57). Erikson emphasized that one stage of development builds on the successes of previous stages. Difficulties in resolving earlier psychosocial issues may foreshadow further difficulties in later stages. Each stage of development is distinguished by particular characteristics that differentiate it from preceding and succeeding stages (Newman and Newman, 1987). The notion that development occurs in unique stages, each building on the previous one and having its own emphasis or underlying structural organization, is called stage theory (Figure 5.1). Erikson argued that personality is a function of the outcome of each life stage. The psychological outcome of a crisis is a blend of ego qualities resting between two contradictory extremes or polarities

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  Adult Personality Development

  Volume 1: Theories and Concepts

  • Lawrence S. Wrightsman(Author)
  • 1994(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  4

  Erikson’s Theoryof Psychosocial Development

                 Anything that grows has a ground plan, and out of this ground plan the parts arise, each part having its time of special ascendancy, until all parts have risen to form a functioning whole.

  Erik H. Erikson

  That type of approach that sees personality developing through a series of stages dominates this and the next three chapters. After evaluating Erik Erikson’s conception in this chapter, we examine in Chapter 5 the utility of psychobiography as an explanation of personality, and in Chapters 6 and 7 other major explanations that rely on psychosocial stages. Although different stage theorists highlight different qualities, they possess a similarity in basic perspective. In general these conceptions view each stage or period as qualitatively different, with relatively abrupt shifts from stage to stage. Each of these stages is assumed to build on the earlier ones, and a successful reaction to the crisis or major task of each stage, in effect, gives the person the capabilities necessary to attack the conflicts of the next stages. Thus each new stage provides a wholly new level of structural integration. But an unsuccessful or inadequate resolution of one “crisis” hinders the growth preferred at each subsequent stage unless some special intervention occurs (Dacey, 1982).

  Erikson’s Backgroundand Intellectual Development

  Erik Erikson’s life is so illustrative of Chapter 3 ’s conclusion that theorists’ concepts derive from their own experiences, it is worth detailed review.

  Erikson’s Life

  The man who is now named Erik Homburger Erikson was born in 1902 in Frankfurt, Germany. He grew up in Karlsruhe, in southern Germany, as the son of a pediatrician, Dr. Theodor Homburger, and his wife, Karla, formerly named Abrahamsen. Erikson’s mother was a native of Copenhagen, Denmark. The circumstances of Erikson’s birth are not clear; Wright (1982) states that Erikson’s Danish father abandoned his mother. Elkind (1982) notes that “not long after his birth his [real] father died” (p. 14). But this may be a rather sanitized version; Erikson has been reluctant to reveal the facts of his early life. Only when he was in his seventies did he state the following: “All through my earlier childhood, they kept secret the fact that my mother had been married previously, and that I was the son of a Dane who had abandoned her before my birth” (Erikson, 1975, p. 27).

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  Addiction in the Family

  What Every Counselor Needs to Know

  • Virginia A. Kelly(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • American Counseling Association

    (Publisher)

  Erikson asserted that Freud emphasized particular aspects of development while avoiding others (Erikson, 1950), and Erikson developed a theory that he felt provided a more balanced view of the psychosocial development of individuals. In addition, Erikson expanded the no- tion of development, continuing it into later stages and proposing Developmental Theory • 49 • a life span perspective. As professional counselors, we endorse a life span perspective; thus, Erikson’s theory has played a large role in our professional understanding of human development. Erikson proposed eight stages of development. He characterized each of these stages with a specific crisis. However, he did not see the developmental crisis as a catastrophe or negative experience. In- stead, he proposed a continuum of two opposing outcomes for each developmental stage. The identified crisis represents what Erikson saw as the central theme or life task typical of individuals within that developmental stage. Furthermore, he suggested that optimal devel- opment within a particular stage would result in a resolution of the identified crisis that was positive (i.e., at one end of the continuum). Poor resolution of the crisis would result in a negative outcome (i.e., the other end of the continuum). In reality, individuals will resolve each developmental crisis with a greater or lesser degree of success in terms of overall psychosocial development. As counselors, we can benefit greatly by assessing the developmental histories of our clients. To be specific, we can put present-day issues into context when we understand what may have transpired for a client during critical de- velopmental periods. In looking at Erikson’s eight stages of development, we are pri- marily concerned with what we might anticipate in the case of a cli- ent who was affected by familial substance abuse during particular developmental stages. Children develop, at least partly, in response to their environment.

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  Addiction in the Family

  What Every Counselor Needs to Know

  • Virginia A. Kelly(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • American Counseling Association

    (Publisher)

  In fact, the most well-researched population of individuals who live with a substance-abusing family member are children of substance abusers. In particular, substantial attention has been given to the population of children of alcoholics (COAs). Of course, COAs constitute a diverse population of individuals with varying circumstances that affect their response to parental substance abuse. However, despite the unique circumstances for individuals raised by a parent with an SUD, the consensus in the field of substance abuse and addictions is that this population of individuals struggles with a number of identified issues at a significantly higher rate than individuals who are not raised by substance-abusing parents. In fact, this conclusion has been empirically tested over a number of years, and the literature supports this assumption (Klostermann et al., 2011; Menees & Segrin, 2000; Sher, Walitzer, Wood, & Brent, 1991). These issues span all facets of an individual's life and include psychiatric diagnoses that occur at higher rates for COAs as well as feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that affect development throughout the life span. It is therefore critical to synthesize our foundational understanding of how human development is affected when the family environment is organized around an SUD.

  Many theories of development have been proposed and studied, and all of them provide important perspectives. However, it is not feasible to present all of these perspectives in this book. Therefore, in this book I limit the exploration and application of developmental perspectives to psychosocial development, as this is perhaps the area of development that counselors are most likely to explore with clients. In this chapter I provide a brief overview of Eric Erikson's theory of psychosocial development (1950), as it is a widely accepted psychosocial model for conceptualizing client cases. In addition, Erikson's theory links seamlessly to the kinds of issues that might present in working with clients dealing with the issue of familial substance abuse.

  Erik Erikson is credited with the development of a psychosocial theory built on the work of Sigmund Freud (1930/2010). Erikson asserted that Freud emphasized particular aspects of development while avoiding others (Erikson, 1950), and Erikson developed a theory that he felt provided a more balanced view of the psychosocial development of individuals. In addition, Erikson expanded the notion of development, continuing it into later stages and proposing a life span perspective. As professional counselors, we endorse a life span perspective; thus, Erikson's theory has played a large role in our professional understanding of human development.

  Erikson proposed eight stages of development. He characterized each of these stages with a specific crisis. However, he did not see the developmental crisis as a catastrophe or negative experience. Instead, he proposed a continuum of two opposing outcomes for each developmental stage. The identified crisis represents what Erikson saw as the central theme or life task typical of individuals within that developmental stage. Furthermore, he suggested that optimal development within a particular stage would result in a resolution of the identified crisis that was positive (i.e., at one end of the continuum). Poor resolution of the crisis would result in a negative outcome (i.e., the other end of the continuum). In reality, individuals will resolve each developmental crisis with a greater or lesser degree of success in terms of overall psychosocial development. As counselors, we can benefit greatly by assessing the developmental histories of our clients. To be specific, we can put present-day issues into context when we understand what may have transpired for a client during critical developmental periods.

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  Psychology for Actors

  Theories and Practices for the Acting Process

  • Kevin Page(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  While many have grouped him with the neo-Freudians, Erikson himself preferred the more neutral title of post-Freudian (Frager & Fadiman, 2005, p. 175). As with many of the early psychoanalysts who followed Freud, Erikson both accepted and criticized Freud’s theories, and ultimately expanded them into areas far beyond Freud’s original limited vision. Erikson’s three major innovations to Freud’s theories included the idea that along with stages of psychosexual development, individuals also go through simultaneous psychosocial and ego-development stages; personality development continues throughout a person’s life span, and is not wholly fixed after early childhood; and that each stage of development can have either a positive (healthy) or negative (neurotic) outcome that affects all following stages. In Erikson’s model, each stage of development culminates in a crisis between two potential extremes that must be successfully solved in order to move on to the next stage. In solving this developmental crisis, the individual gains a particular competence or virtue that is useful (in its healthy versions) during all later stages of growth. In addition to his life span developmental model, Erikson introduced the notions of identity and identity crisis into psychology and other social sciences. Identity, for Erikson, was a broad and inclusive term that included the ego as a central agency or organizing principle for the personality, the sense of individuality and continuity of experience, as well as the process of identifying and internalizing the rules and ideals of social groups with which the individual might be affiliated. An identity crisis is a mental state where the individual, even if only on a temporary basis, has lost or is in between a solid sense of identity and appropriate social affiliation. Erikson first identified these concepts when working with World War II veterans in a rehabilitation clinic in San Francisco

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  Theories of Personality

  • Duane P. Schultz; Sydney Ellen Schultz, Duane Schultz, Sydney Schultz(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Ten years later he returned to Harvard to teach a graduate seminar and a popular undergraduate course on the human life cycle, retiring in 1970. At the age of 84, Erikson published a book about old age. Even after a lifetime of accomplishments, honors, and accolades, however, his daughter wrote that he still felt disappointed with what he had achieved. “ It was still a source of shame to this celebrated man that he had been an illegitimate child ” (Bloland, 2005, p. 51). LOG ON Erik Erikson Various sites provide biographical information, discussions of his theory, research on rel-evant concepts, and links to other resources. Psychosocial Stages of Personality Development Erikson divided the growth of the personality into eight psychosocial stages . The first four are similar to Freud ’ s oral, anal, phallic, and latency stages. The major difference between their theories is that Erikson emphasized psychosocial correlates, whereas Freud focused on biological factors. psychosocial stages of development To Erikson, eight succes-sive stages encom-passing the life span. At each stage, we must cope with a crisis in either an adaptive or a maladaptive way. 162 The Life-Span Approach Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. The Role of Genetics and the Environment Erikson suggested that the developmental process was governed by what he called the epigenetic principle of maturation . By this he meant that inherited forces are the deter-mining characteristics of the developmental stages.

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  Development Through Life

  A Psychosocial Approach

  • Barbara Newman, Philip Newman(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  © Cengage Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-300 Basic Concepts of Psychosocial Theory 65 Mastery of the developmental tasks and resolution of the psychosocial crises interact to produce individual life stories. The skills learned during a particular stage as a result of work on its developmental tasks provide the tools for the resolution of the psychosocial crisis of that stage. This resolution orients the per-son toward new experiences, a new aptitude for relationships, and new feelings of personal worth as the challenges of the next stage’s developmental tasks begin. Psychosocial Crises of the Life Stages Table 3.3 lists the psychosocial crisis of each stage of develop-ment from infancy through elderhood. This scheme, derived from Erikson’s model shown in Figure 3.2, depicts the crises as polarities—for example, trust versus mistrust, and autonomy ver-sus shame and doubt. These contrasting conditions suggest the underlying dimensions along which each psychosocial crisis is resolved. According to psychosocial theory, most people experi-ence both positive and negative elements of the continuum. For example, even within a loving, caring family environment that promotes trust, an infant will experience some moments of frus-tration or disappointment that result in mistrust. The outcome of the crisis at each stage is an integration of the two opposing forces. For each person, the relative frequency and significance of positive and negative experiences will contribute to a resolution of the crisis. The likelihood of a completely posi-tive or a completely negative resolution is small. Most individuals resolve the crises in a generally positive direction, supported by a combination of positive experiences and natural maturational tendencies.

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  Theories of Development

  Concepts and Applications

  • William Crain(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 12

  Erikson and the Eight Stages of Life

   

  BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION

  Among the advances in the psychoanalytic theory of development, none has been more substantial than that made by Erik H. Erikson (1902–1994). Erikson has given us a new, enlarged picture of the child’s tasks at each of Freud’s stages. Beyond this, he has added three new stages—those of the adult years—so the theory now encompasses the entire life cycle.

  Erikson was born to Danish parents in Frankfurt, Germany, the child of an extramarital union he and his mother kept secret (“Erik Erikson,” 1994). Erikson was raised by his mother alone until he was 3 years old, when she married again, this time to a local pediatrician, Dr. Homburger. His mother and Dr. Homburger were Jewish, but Erikson looked different—more like a tall, blond, blue-eyed Dane. He was even nicknamed “the goy” (non-Jew) by the Jewish boys (Coles, 1970, p. 180).

  Young Erikson was not a particularly good student. Although he excelled in certain subjects—especially ancient history and art—he disliked the formal school atmosphere. When he graduated from high school, he felt lost and uncertain about his future place in life. Instead of going to college, he wandered throughout Europe for a year, returned home to study art for a while, and then set out on his travels once again. He was going through what he would later call a moratorium , a period during which young people take time out to try to find themselves. Such behavior was acceptable for many German youth at the time. As Erikson’s biographer, Robert Coles (1970), says, Erikson “was not seen by his family or friends as odd or ‘sick,’ but as a wandering artist who was trying to come to grips with himself” (p. 15).

  Erikson finally began to find his calling when, at the age of 25, he accepted an invitation to teach children in a new Viennese school founded by Anna Freud and Dorothy Burlingham. When Erikson wasn’t teaching, he studied child psychoanalysis with Anna Freud and others, and he was himself analyzed by her.

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  Identity in Adolescence 4e

  The Balance between Self and Other

  • Laura Ferrer-Wreder, Jane Kroger(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  At times, identity referred to a structure or a configuration; at other times, it referred to a process. Still on other occasions, identity was viewed as both a conscious subjective experience as well as an unconscious entity. Roazen (2000, p. 438) noted that despite Erikson’s capacity for insight, his writing could also be “subtle, elusive, and sometimes hard to follow.” In a rather candid comment given during a radio interview, Erikson himself stated, “I think one could be more precise than I am, or than I am able to be. I very much feel that scientific training and logic would have helped a lot” 32 Adolescence as identity synthesis (Erikson, cited in Stevens, 1983, p. 112). Yet it is this very breadth of phenomena captured through Erikson’s formulations of identity that many social scientists have suggested makes the construct more amenable to research than much of psy- chodynamic theory. Wallerstein (2014) also argued that Erikson’s life-cycle stage scheme should regard optimal stage resolutions as aspirational endpoints, rather than essential steps toward optimal functioning; varying degrees of success in this process, he suggested, give rise to our uniquely individual characters. Empirical validation of the psychosocial issues addressed at different stages that were described by Erikson has been questioned by some critics. Ciaccio (1971) was one of the first investigators to test whether or not conflicts purported by Erikson to be inherent in some of the early developmental stages were actually at issue for groups of boys aged 5, 8, and 11 years old. Although psychosocial strengths or attitudes did seem to progress with age in the sequence described by Erikson, the negative aspects (or crises) of the stages did not find such confirma- tion.

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  The Handy Psychology Answer Book

  • Lisa J. Cohen(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Visible Ink Press

    (Publisher)

  The personality traits that have been associated with genital sexuality include the capacity for mature, reciprocal, and intimate relationships—the capacity for give and take. How are Freud’s psychosexual stages understood today? Much has changed in psychoanalytic circles since Freud’s day. In general, Freud essentially equated particular personality traits with specific body parts. Even though Freud’s erogenous zones do play important roles in childhood (the mouth in infancy, toilet training during the toddler years, and genitals in adolescence), the psychological tasks of child development cannot be reduced to parts of the body. Moreover, although sensual and sexual pleasure does play some role in childhood, there are few psychologists today who would put sexual pleasure at the heart of childhood development as Freud did. What were Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages? Erik Erikson (1902–1994) was a psychoanalyst who translated Freud’s psychosexual stages into his own set of psychosocial stages. He also extended his stages into adulthood. In effect, he interpreted Freud’s emphasis on sexual body parts as a metaphor for emotional and interpersonal processes. His seven psychosocial stages include: Trust vs. Mistrust, Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, Initiative vs. Guilt, Industry vs. Inferiority, Identity Development vs. Role Confusion, Intimacy vs. Isolation, Generativity vs. Stagnation, and Integrity vs. Despair. The first four stages take place in childhood, the fifth stage during adolescence, and the last three stages occur across adulthood. What is the Trust vs. Mistrust stage? Erikson’s first four stages cover childhood and parallel Freud’s psychosexual stages. Trust vs. Mistrust parallels Freud’s oral stage and takes place during the first year and a half of life. This is when the child’s fundamental sense of the safety and benevolence of the world is formed.

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