Erik Erikson 's Development Theory

Erik Erikson named the stage of adolescents “identity versus role confusion” (Sigelman, C. & Rider, E. pg. 343). This is a pivotal time in an individual’s life where many future endeavors; personal, academic, and professional, depend on the outcome of this stage. During this time, adolescents are trying to refine the many facets of their personality such as, political, sexual, religiousness, just to name a few. This is an arduous

In the early 20th-century, interest in the field of child development emerged. Researchers and theorists studied the ways in which children grew, learned, and, in some instances, were shaped by societal influences (Weiland, 1993). The study of child development enables us to appreciate and understand the social, emotional, physical, educational, and cognitive growth that children go through from birth to early adulthood. Grand theories attempt to organize and arrange concepts and aspects of development using a step approach. Such as that of Erik Erikson’s theory, the Psychosocial Identity Development theory, in which he addresses the development of personal, emotional, and social progression in an individual through stages (Pretorius et al., 2015). Erikson’s model for the approach of development involves the focus of overcoming conflicts that individuals encounter over the span of their childhood that influence their ego identity, or the conscious sense of self that develops and constantly changes due to new experiences and information that is acquired through daily interactions with others and events. In Erikson’s theory, he believed that each person experienced a conflict that served as a defining moment in their development that essentially shaped who they would become later on in life; he believed that unresolved problems of adult life echoed unresolved conflicts of one’s childhood (Berger, 2011).

The theory is considered revolutionary due to it’s life-span model of human development that included eight psychosocial stages. He purposed that in each stage there is a conflict or crisis that the individual must successfully settle to continue with their development. Erikson also believed that external and internal forces had significant contributions to how successful an individual’s development would be (Sokol, 2009). The theory is broad and assists in the understanding of development across the lifespan. Additionally, it takes in to consideration both social and biological factors.

Unlike previous theoretical framework for human development, Erickson went a step further to include the lifespan following adolescence. These three additional stages include the ages of early adulthood through old age (Robbins, Chatterjee, Canada, 2012).These additional stages follow his ideaology that focuses on the Ego rather than the Id and libidinal drives that Freud emphasized. Each stage continues to require a conflict resolution in order to successfully complete it. The final stage in Erikson 's theory culminates with the acceptance of end life limitations and eventual end of life (Sougstad, 2017).

Erik Erikson (1902-1994) provided a new perspective of psychosocial behavior and development while expanding on the works of other theorists. Erikson believed there to be eight stages of psychosocial development which a person transitions through. These stages start at birth and end with old age/death. Erikson’s work is used throughout many outlets of social work. Social workers use this information to help them figure out what is going on with clients and how best to help them. Erikson provides a clear and accurate perception of the various transitions in a person 's psychosocial development.

In Erik Erikson’s theory he explains that in every stage, a positive or a negative attitude is developed within an individual. During our developing stages we are either successful or we fail. Each stage will come to us whether or not we’re ready for them or not. You can think of the stages as learning stages where crisis occur .Only if we have learned from the previous crisis we are successful. You cannot avoid 1 stage and move to a next stage because of the developing process. The outcome of our lives depends on the way we chose to progress throughout each stage in life. Erikson had his own way in describing each stage in life that we all must go through.

This paper will discuss one of the most popular and influential theories in developmental psychology, which is Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. It is a very interesting theory, and although it was influenced by Sigmund Freud, it centers more on the social component rather than the psychosexual stand of Freud.

Erickson’s concept of Identity v. Role confusion lines up stage-wise to Freud’s concept of the genital phase. The child has trouble finding an identity, as he no longer identifies with his new adult-like body. The individual is forced to look at a future career. As related by Diessner (2008) the child faces a risk of role confusion which can result in antisocial behavior, or even manifest itself in some forms of mental illness. In healthier adolescents, love emerges for the first time.

Erik Erikson has been classified as one of the greatest and most influential psychoanalysts of all time. His theory is one of the best known theories of psychological development. Erikson’s theory talks about how personalities develop over different stages of life, compared to Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages of life (Sharkey, 1997). One of the greatest reasons why Erikson was interested in psychology was because of things that happened in his early life. Erikson learned a lot from just looking back on his life and I think that if everyone was to look back on their life, they would be able to see all of the 8 stages that Erikson developed in their lives as well.

Adolescence refers to the transition period experienced by children that occur between childhood and adulthood (Shefer, 2011). Identity is first confronted in adolescence between the ages 12 – 19 years old, because of physical and hormonal changes in the body. It is also due to the introduction of formal operations in cognitive development and societal expectation that this contributes to an individual’s identity to be explored and established (McAdams, 2009). The forces within and outside (family, community) the individual that promote identity development usually create a sense of tension. The basic task is, in Erikson’s terms, “fidelity or truthfulness and consistency to one’s core self or faith in one’s ideology” (Fleming, 2004: 9), in a nutshell: "Who am I and where am I

According to Erikson’s human development theory, there were eight distinct stages in human growth, each stage was unique and special (Rosenthal, Gurney & Moore, 1981). The first critical period was infancy, which could be influenced by the attachment they received from their caregivers. Attachment was a continuing emotional bond that formed between infants and their caregivers (Weems, Berman, Silverman & Rodriguez, 2002). Caretaker built up the connection with infant by using different attachment styles. In order to measure attachment style, a laboratory measure called strange situation would be used to evaluated

In the next stage of Freud’s Phallic stage (3-6 years), the libido’s energy focuses on the genitals, and they begin to identify with their same-sex parent. To Erikson, however, it is a period of Initiative vs. Guilt where a child begins to take more control over their

No matter who you are I believe that everyone will go through stages in their life that will get them to where they are on today. I am a person who has a very interesting story; this is the first time it will be told in full. We were asked to use Erik Erikson’s theory of development as a guideline to telling the story of our lives. At first I was very nervous; however, I soon realized that this would be a fun task. Erik Erikson has eight stages of Development (Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman). I will be walking you though my life using each one of his stages drawing out the map of my life. Within my life I have had some very interesting encounters. I have been through foster care, abuse, rape, molestation, starvation, adoption, depression, and

The psychodynamic approach is predicated on a struggle between conscious and unconscious forces. As with anything in life forces are always at battle affecting our psyche, development, and mental health. Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Development theory outlines how environmental forces can either foster a healthy development or cause maladaptive behaviors and development. Everyone has either seen or heard the awful stories of children being mistreated to the point it hinders proper development, and his theory helps to explain how to properly ensure a child, adolescent, or even adult has a healthy chance at life.

From leaning objective 8.9, explains the development of the personality along with social interpersonal skills, and the concept of the self from infancy to adulthood, I wanted to compare the first five stages of Erikson’s theory on development to Ken Wilber’s first five stages of his nine stages, that he calls spaces. The first five stages of Erikson 's theory, which he notes as crisis, are trust versus mistrust, autonomy versus shame and doubt, initiative versus guilt, industry versus inferiority, and identity versus role confusion. The first four “personal spaces,” of Wilber 's theory are the archaic, the magical, or egocentric, the mythical, and the rational. Erikson 's theory states that an emotional crisis must be successfully met for normal development. Wilber 's theory is similar in that he uses an example of a multiple story building. If one stage isn 't completely understood, but not mastered, then that floor will end up leaning, and a building like that cannot be sustained for long before its structural integrity is compromised.