Erik Erikson and Psychosocial Theory

Introduction: Erik Erikson - Biography Erik Erikson is a developmental psychologist who is well-known for his two theories about Stages of Psychosocial development and Identity Crisis. He was born on June 15, 1902, in Frankfurt, Germany. His Jewish mother raised him by herself for a while before getting married to his step father, Dr. Theodor Homberger.

In fact, he never knew about the identity of his real father until he grew up and found out by himself. This early confusing experience created his first notion about identity.The concept of identity in human development became more important to him when he was discriminated against at school for his Jewish background and Nordic tall, blonde, blue-eyed appearance. After finishing high school, Erikson earned a certificate from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in psychoanalysis. He then taught at a school which was established by Dorothy Burlingham.

She was a friend of Anna Freud, a reputed psychologist and also the youngest daughter of Sigmund Freud who created the Psychosexual Theory.Thanks to this relationship, Erikson later had chances to learn and work with the Freuds on some projects and even became Anna Freud’s patient in her work on child psychoanalysis. The opportunities also helped him to shape and develop his career as a psychologist. Erikson met Joan Serson, a dance instructor when they were both teaching at the same school.

They got married in 1930 and had three children. They moved to the United States in 1933 when Erikson started working at Havard Medical School.It was at this time, he also replaced his original name, which was Erik Homberger, with the name Erik H. Erikson, probably to hide his origin. During his teaching career, he was an instructor of psychology at several schools around the US.

He also published some books on his theories and researches. His book, Gandhi's Truth won the Pulitzer Prize and a national Book Award. In comparison with Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual theory, Erikson’s psychology research focused more on the impact of environment, society and culture on the formation of human characteristics.He also emphasized the development of personality throughout an individual’s lifespan.

Beginning in 1938, he did more research on children by studying specific groups of people around the country: “He found a marked difference between Sioux children, who were reared on tales of game hunting, and the more restrictive childhood of the Yurok, who were prepared for an arduous way of life. ” (New York Times, 1994, p. 3). He enjoyed working with people in lower classes of the society.Indeed, he spent most of his life time to traveling, researching and publishing his work in the books Childhood and Society (1950), Ego Development and Historical Chance (1975), Young Man Luther (1958), Gandhi's Truth (1969), Insight and Responsibility (1964) and Identity: Youth and Crisis (1968). During his retirement, he still kept working with the support of his wife to publish two more important study: The Life Cycle Completed (1982) and Vital Involvement in Old Age (1986).

Erik H. Erikson died on May 12, 1994, after a brief illness. His son, Kai T.Erikson, is now also a remarkable sociologist.

Psychosocial Theory – Stages of Development “Life is a series of lessons and challenges which help us to grow. Erikson's wonderful theory helps to tell us why. ” (Chapman, 2006, p. 1) Erikson’s Psychosocial theory describes the changes in human mentality and personality in eight stages of life, from the first year to late adulthood. In this theory, Erikson shows his strong belief in the impact of environment, particularly society, on each stage of personal development.

Each stage is built on a conflict between two sides, such as Trust vs.Mistrust. People may fall on one of the two sides or struggle in the middle. In 1950, Erikson introduced his eight stages theory of human development in his book Childhood and Society, under the title The Eight Ages of Man.

As he used to be a student of Sigmund Frued, his theory was greatly affected by Freud’s theory about five psychosexual stages of human development. Indeed, Erikson expanded Freud’s ideas about the structure and topography of personality, and the view that “the individual develops on three levels simultaneously: Biological, social and psychological” (McLeod, 2008, p. ). These are the id, the superego and the ego in Freud’s. Nevertheless, Erikson also exalted the influence of exterior elements, such as family, culture and society.

His early childhood experience probably inspired him to believe that the ego plays an important role in regulating the conflict between id and superego. He also added three more stages to his theory. While Freud’s five stages theory just stops at the genital stage, which is adolescence to adulthood, Erik made his theory more acceptable by expanding and dividing the last stage into four stages that end up the very old age Eight Stages of Human Development There are eight stages in the Psychosocial Theory. The conflict formation inside a person which is shown in each stage gives a clearer view of internal changes under the impact external effects.

“Resolving each crisis or dilemma results in healthy development. The resolution of each stage allows the individual to be best prepared for the challenges of the next stage” (Lombardi, class note, February 15, 2012). Stage One: Trust vs. Mistrust This first stage explains what happens in the first year of life of an individual.In this period, parents play the most important role in their children’s lives by building awareness about the world.

Loving parents who know how to take good care of their children will help their babies and the trust in them. Indeed, at this stage, a child can somehow sense the complex of behaviour: wanting, loving, trusting, etc. When children are well-cared and healthy, they will not only believe in their parents but also feel alright with the nearby environment, regardless of the presence of parents by their side. However, if the parents are careless or cruel, their children will feel scared and mistrust them. Once bitten twice shy” is the typical phenomenon of children in this situation. On the other hand, instead of caring, watching and guiding, some parents overprotect their children by isolating them from everything around.

In fact, this is the way that many parents use to avoid trouble. Consequently, the children fear everything, and this leads to a false sense of trust as well as sensory distortion. At the end of this stage, if babies develop normally, they will start walking and exploring the world around them. Stage Two: Autonomy vs. Shame and DoubtThis stage explains the behaviour of children in the period of 1to 3 years old.

As mentioned earlier, the human awareness of their surrounding environment gets stronger at the end of the first year of life. Children learn to walk and start to discover things. Autonomy means learning self-control and increasing independence (Lombardi, class note, February 15, 2012) . Obviously, the children who were in the Trust side before would easily become autonomous. At this stage, parents who are encouraging and supportive will motivate their children’s autonomy.

An autonomous child is confident and independent in exploring activities. On the other side, since the children begin learning the world in this stage, some negative parents always worry that their babies will get into many troubles. Therefore, they try to overprotect their offspring and discourage the desire for learning. One of the most common sayings of these parents is “Don’t [sic] touch that! ”. As a result, the children feel shame and doubt. They have less knowledge of the world, and feel uncertain about everything.

Also, they become scared of doing anything by themselves. Stage Three: Initiative vs. Guilt At this stage, the trend continues. From3 to 6 years old, the children have more ability to practice their skills. As they experienced autonomy or shame and doubt in stage two, they would experience initiative or guilt in this period.

Initiative is the ability to regulate actions or projects, and confidence to do so, even with a risk of failure or making mistakes. Parents can foster initiative in their children by encouraging the kids to play, imagine and make decisions by themselves.The parents may have to follow and help children to solve problems whenever they fail to do something, but in the end the children will get more experience and be more skillful at the end. Parents can also foster the feeling of guilt in their children if they criticize every activity or thinking of the kids. At first, the children would have the feeling of being blocked and controlled.

Later, they would lose the confidence to practice their skills. Finally, they would feel guilty and just act with permission from parents because of the fear of being condemned and punished.Stage Four: Industry vs. Inferiority This stage begins when children start going to school at 6 years old, and finishes at 12, at their early puberty.

A child who has initiative in the previous stage will probably be an industrious child in this stage. He is well equipped to learn and discover; therefore, he can more effectively apply the skills and experience he attained at the earlier age. Furthermore, this industrious child also starts to pay more attention on environment outside his family, such as school and community. He tends to build more relationships and have more friends.Also, the excitement of studying and freedom in making choices will motivate him to do more academic activities and achieve higher targets. On the other side, children who feel inferior “cannot develop the specific skill they feel society is demanding” (McLeod, 2008, p.

3). They have less confidence to work on any tasks due to the fear of failing. This may be the result of being criticized and compared negatively by their parents in the earlier stage. The parents should change their way of treating them unless they want to make them feel useless in society.

Stage Five: Identity vs. Role ConfusionThis stage happens in the adolescence period of a person, from 12 to 18 years old. People at this stage will begin thinking more about future and identifying who they are, or still be confused in making choices and uncertain of their future direction. When a person in industrious side succeeds in his school goals, as well as has good relationships with people, he starts thinking about his role in the society. He knows what he wants, what he should be and how to get there. Truly, in the beginning of this stage, adolescence in identity side may have ideas about his future career, based on his own ability.

In the end of the stage, he will be able to decide what career he wants to follow. He may choose a specific area at university to study and improve his skill, or go out to work in his favourite field. On the other side, some people may also have role confusion in this stage. This may be the result of feeling inferior in the previous stage. People in this side have no certainty about who they want to be in society because they do not have enough skill and confidence to make decision.

Even though they keep going to school or work, they find no interest or motivation to move on higher state. Stage Six: Intimacy vs.Insolation This is the stage of young adulthood, from 18 to 30 years old. At this stage, people will have much more interaction with the environment, in comparison to the other stages. If they are in the intimacy side, they will be able to create long term relationships and build up an independent life.

“Intimacy means …the giving and receiving of physical and emotional connection, support, love, comfort, trust, and all the other elements that we would typically associate with healthy adult relationships conducive to mating and child-rearing” (Chapman, 2006, p. 15). Depend on each culture, young people t this stage may move out of their parents’ house to start a new life, or remain living in the same house and raise up the next generation. Anyway, they both have the ability to finance and take care of themselves as well as their spouses and children.

People who fail to create intimate relationships, however, will have a sense of social isolation. Due to lacking of life experience and feeling of inferiority, they tend to avoid or be irresponsible to any social relationship. They may have wrong emotional attitude and misbehave. If they are in marital status, the possibility of divorce will be very high.

Stage Seven: Generativity vs. Stagnation After the stage of young adulthood, people come to the stage of middle adulthood, from 30 to 65 years old. In this stage, the human behaviour can fall on one of these two sides: generativity or stagnation. Generativity is the state that people develop their concern to a higher range.

They want to improve not only themselves but also the society, especially the next generations. They give back to society through raising and guiding own and other children, being productive at work, and becoming involved in community activities and organizations.In contrast, people who failing to achieve those goals will become stagnant and less productive. Selfishness, greed and indulgence are the common characteristics of them. They think more about their own needs than their responsibility. Also, they try to avoid guiding tasks in order to hide their weaknesses of knowledge and experience.

Stage Eight: Integrity vs. Despair The last stage occurs from late adulthood until old age. In this stage, people retire and start to look back what they already achieved in the past. Integrity is a result of satisfaction for having a responsible life.

People who have a sense of integrity now can enjoy the rest of their lives in peace and happiness. On the other hand, despair is the state that people regret about their past, and wish to turn back the clock to have a second chance. Psychosocial Theory – Complete View of Human Development Even though Erik Erikson never achieved any bachelor’s degree in his field, except for his certificate in psychoanalysis, he is a successful developmental psychologist who reshaped and created a complete view of human growth. His life experiences helped him to improve his theory about personal behaviour in each stage of life.This theory allows people to have a great References The New York Times.

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