Felicity Marie Gargar BSN 1-C

Erik Erikson
“Theory of Psychosocial Development”

History and Background

Born :15 June 1902 Frankfurt, Hesse, German Empire
Died:12 May 1994 (aged 91) Harwich, Massachusetts, U.S
Citizenship: American-German
Spouse: Joan Serson
was a German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst
known for his theory on psychological development of human beings.
Erik Erikson is best known for his famous theory of psychosocial
development and the concept of the identity crisis.
Despite lacking a university degree, Erikson served as a professor at
prominent institutions, including Harvard, University of California, Berkeley,
and Yale.
After meeting Anna Freud while working in Vienna, Erikson decided to
pursue the field of psychoanalysis.
His young Jewish mother, Karla Abrahamsen, raised Erik by herself for a
time before marrying a physician, Dr. Theodore Homberger. The fact that
Homberger was not his biological father was concealed from Erikson for many
years. When he finally did learn the truth, Erikson was left with a feeling of
confusion about who he really was.

Contents of the Theory

 Psychosocial Development
Erik Erikson believed in a series of stages, unlike Sigmund Freud’s theory of
psychosexual stages, Erikson’s theory described the impact of social experience
across the whole lifespan, he was interested in how social interaction and relationships
played a role in the development and growth of human beings.

Each stage in Erikson’s theory builds on the preceding stages and paves the
way for the following periods of development, he believed that people experience
conflicts that serves as a turning point in development. Erik Erikson’s Theory of
Psychosocial Development emphasizes the sociocultural determinants of development
and presents them as eight stages of psychosocial conflicts (often known as Erikson’s
stages of psychosocial development) that all individuals must overcome or resolve
successfully in order to adjust well to the environment.

According to Erik Erikson’s theory, we all encounter a certain crisis that

contributes to our psychosocial growth at each level of development. Erikson’s stages
of psychosocial development posits whenever we experience such crisis, we are left
with no choice but to face it and think of ways to resolve it. Failure to overcome such
crisis may lead to significant impact on our psychosocial development.

Major Concepts and Definitions

The Developmental task in Erikson’s eight stages of life are as follows:
Stage 1: Trust vs. Mistrust
Infant to 18 months
Important events: Feeding
Outcome: During the first stage of psychosocial development, children develop
a sense of trust when caregivers provide reliability, care, and affection, a lack
of this will lead to mistrust
Virtue: HOPE
Starting with oral satisfaction, the infant learns to trust the caregiver as well as
self.
Trust is achieved when the infant let the caregiver out of sight without undue
distress.

Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

Early Childhood (2-3 years old)
Important events: Toilet training
Outcome: Children need to develop a sense of personal control over physical
skills and a sense of independence, success during this stage of psychosocial
development leads to feeling of autonomy, failure results in feeling of shame
and doubt.
Virtue: WILL
The child is now becoming accomplished in some basic self-care activities,
including walking, feeding and toileting.
 Develops his/her autonomy by making choices. Choices for the toddler include
activities related to playthings.

Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt

Preschool (3-5 years old)
Important events: Exploration
Outcome: Children need to begin asserting control and power over the
environment, success in this stage leads to a sense of purpose.
Virtue: PURPOSE
This stage, children developing their superego or conscience
Children like to pretend and try out new roles
Fantasy and imagination allow children to further explore their environment
Guilt may also occur if the caregiver’s responses are too punitive.

Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority

School Age (6-11 years old)
Important events: School
Outcome: Children need to cope with new social and academic demands,
success leads toa sense of competence, while failure results in feelings of
inferiority.
Virtue: COMPETENCE
School age children are eager to apply themselves to learning socially
productive skills and tools.
Learn to work and play with their peers.

Stage 5: Identity vs. Role Confusion

Puberty/Adolescence (13-21 years old)
Important events: Social Relationships
Outcome: Teens to develop a sense of self and personal identity. Success leads
to an ability to stay true to yourself, while failure leads to role confusion and a
weak sense of self
Virtue: FIDELITY
Dramatic physiological changes associated with sexual maturation highlight
this stage.
Marked preoccupation with appearance and body image.
Acquiring sense of identity is essential for making adult decisions such as
choice of vocation or marriage partner

Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation

Young Adulthood (21-39 years old)
Important events: Relationships
Outcome: Young adults need to form intimate, loving relationships with other
people. Success leads to strong relationships, while failure results in loneliness
and isolation.
Virtue: LOVE
 Young Adults, after developing sense of identity, deepen their capacity to love
others and care for them.
This is the time to become fully participative in the community, enjoying adult
freedom and responsibility
Experience feelings of isolation from others and the inability to form
meaningful attachments.

Stage 7: Generativity vs. Self-Absorption and Stagnation

Middle Adulthood (40-65 years old)
Important events: Work and Parenthood.
Outcome: Adult need to create or nurture things that will outlast theme, often
by having children or creating a positive change that benefit other people,
success leads to feeling of usefulness and accomplishment.
Virtue: CARE
Following the successful development of an intimate relationship, the adult can
focus on supporting future generations.
Pursues expansion of personal and social involvement.
Dissatisfaction with one’s place and achievement often lead to self-absorption
stagnation

Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair

Maturity (65- Death)
Important events: Reflection on life
Outcome: older adults need to look back on life and feel a sense of fulfillment,
success at this stage leads to a feeling of wisdom, while failure results in regret,
bitterness, and despair.
Virtue: WISDOM
As the aging process creates physical and social losses, the adult may also
suffer loss of status and function, such as through retirement or illness
Meeting these challenges creates the potential for growth and wisdom.
Despair is experienced when the elderly views himself/herself a failure;
believes that he/she made poor choices during life; and senses that life has been
worthless.

Application of Erikson’s Theory

Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development help in analyzing patient’s symptomatic
behavior in the context of traumatic past experiences and struggles with current
developmental tasks. It postulates that people advance through the stages of
development based on how they adjust to social crises throughout their lives.