Psychosocial Development: Exploring Erickson
Despite many psychologists rejecting Freud’s ideas on psychosexual development, Erick Erickson took Freud’s original theory and reworked it into psychosocial development. His idea was that it is social forces that drive us to development. This was in clear contrast to Freud’s theory who viewed breastfeeding as an act of infantile sexuality. Many of the psychosocial forces come from parents. Though parents socialize children, the same also happens for children concerning parents.
In Erickson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development teaches that there are challenges as they grow and develop. Erickson broke these different challenges, or crisis, into eight different stages starting from infancy and ending in death (Coon & Mitterer, 2013). Each stage of development has a conflict that must be overcome. We gain a virtue if we able to overcome these challenges. If not, we end up with emotional baggage that may last for the rest of our lives. Each of the stages of Erickson’s development are broken up into either a this or a that. For instance, in the first stage that lasts from birth to age 1, which is infancy, we have a conflict of trust versus mistrust.
A child is completely helpless when they are first born. They cannot communicate other than crying. They are unable to feed themselves. They cannot even defend themselves. However, when they cry, generally a loving caregiver is there to feed them and attend to their needs. The feeling they get is that the world is safe and that they are loved. They get the feeling that people will be there when they need them. That is trust. On the other hand, the opposite can happen. A child cries and no one comes or they are not fed or not fed right away. They develop a sense of mistrust because of this. They get the feeling that the world is not a safe place and if they need something, they must get it on their own. If a child develops a sense of trust, they develop the virtue of hope.
In Erickson’s second stage, early childhood, lasts from ages 1 to 3. The conflicts in this stage is autonomy versus shame and doubt (Coon & Mitterer, 2013). Children around this time want to explore and do what they want to do. They come to quickly learn that there are boundaries and they are restrained by them. They want to know whether they can do things by themselves or do they have to depend on someone else. During the “terrible twos” children want to explore and do things. If a door is open, they want to close it. They want to pull the contents out of cabinets and drawers. When they do so, they are told no. This is a time where they are told no a lot. This isn’t a bad thing in general. However, if a child has everything down for them, it sends a message of self doubt. They begin to feel that they cannot do everything for their self. The positive resolution from this is autonomy. A child learns that he can control things and can make things happen. As a result, the virtue a child learns is will.
The preschool years happen between ages 3 to 5 and children are faced with a conflict of initiative versus guilt (Coon & Mitterer, 2013). Although as toddlers, children hear the word no a lot, they soon learn that not everything they do earns them the word “no” and that some things make their parents happy. Therefore, they begin to be concerned with doing the right things. Children begin paying attention to their parents and as a result, begin to mimic them. As an example, if the child sees mom and dad typing on the computer, a child may want his own little computer to type and play on. Children at this stage are interested in pleasing their parents. This is also the best time to teach them how to do things and be helpful around the house. Things like setting the dinner table. A child at this stage can easily pick out their own clothes. They may not be great at what they do, but the important thing is to allow the child to do things for him or herself. If not, a child will develop a sense of guilt and feel that they cannot do things for their self. The key point is whether they can be successful at doing new things. Because of successfully completing this stage, they learn the virtue of purpose.
Around the age of six, a child starts to go to school. They learn that there are other kids out there in the world who can do the same things that they can. They begin to compare themselves to other kids to find out who can do these things better and who does worse. For a child to do things well, it is being industrious. This stage runs from 6 to 11, the school age stage (Coon & Mitterer, 2013). The important conflict here is industry versus inferiority. A child’s sense of popularity and how they fit in is a test of how well they got along with people. Understanding who liked you and who did not is very important. If a child is not well-liked, or doesn’t fit in, they may develop a sense of inferiority. Most people remember picking teams to do games or activities in school. Two people were always chosen as captains. There were those who were chosen right away and those who generally no one wanted on their team. This tells a child about who they are. Industry and inferiority comes because of the comparisons we make with other people. Children usually group themselves into an “us versus them” model as they play games. Much like my childhood, we fought over who was the good guys versus the bad guys. Because of successfully completing this stage, a child learns the virtue of skill.
From around the time of 12 to 18 years of age, a child reaches the stage of adolescence. This is the stage where Erickson lists the conflict of identity versus role confusion (Coon & Mitterer, 2013). This is the age where the adolescence is asking questions about who they are. By this time, an adolescent child is aware that there are other people in the world and that they like some of them more than others. In addition, they realize that some people may or may not like them. It may have nothing to do with them or it may be reasons they do not understand. This tends to shape how they view themselves. They are trying to figure out what they can do to be well liked and popular. Adolescents begin to pay attention to what they wear and what others wear because it says something about them as a person. In a quest to fit in, adolescents may join a group in order to figure out who they are. The virtue learned from successfully completing this stage is fidelity to the group that they belong.
As a person moves through college, the groups that they were apart of may or may not exist and the groups become smaller because there are so many people on campus. This is the stage of the young adult and ranges from the age of 19 to 40 (Coon & Mitterer, 2013). The important conflict here is intimacy versus isolation. Around this point in time, the important group tends to be a group of two. That is generally the person that you want to spend your life with. The task is to find something they can be intimate with. If a young adult is able to find that one person to latch on to, they develop a sense of intimacy. The opposite is isolation. This occurs when a young adult is unable to develop that intimate relationship with something. As a result, they find that life can be lonely. The virtue at this stage is love.
From the age of 40 to 65 is considered middle adulthood (Coon & Mitterer, 2013). The crisis we go through at this time is generativity versus stagnation. As a young adult, the focus was on doing things that they wanted to do. As a person grows, they begin to realize that the world is a lot larger than them. They want to know what they can give back and what their legacy will be. Will they be a successful parent or spouse? People who can answer these questions have a sense of generativity. They feel that they are doing something useful with their life. If a person is still living with their parents by this time in life, they probably have a feeling of stagnation, as if they are not going anywhere in life. The virtue learned at this stage is care. This is the time an adult figures out what they’re doing in their life to make it a life of value.
The last stage encompasses integrity versus despair. This stage lasts from 65 until death. This is late adulthood. A person has lived a full life. It is a time for reflection. If a person can look back on their life and say that they have accomplished these things, they have a sense of integrity. On the other hand, if a person looks back on wasted opportunities and time, then that is a sense of despair. The way a person feels about their life is going to largely depend on the choices they made earlier in life. A person gains the virtue of wisdom. Otherwise, having a sense of despair leads to bitterness and resentment.
Within my own life, I believe some of the stages may not have matched how I grew up. During my time in high school, having a girlfriend or boyfriend was more important than being with a group. Although I belong to several different groups, being attached was something important to me and I spent my time pursuing that. This continued up until my college years and around the time I dropped out of school at the age of 21, I also got married. I feel that many of the theories that earlier psychologists have come up with may have changed age wise because of an ever-changing society. The social norms and expectations change as the years go by. Even when it comes to identity, I did not feel I established my identity until my mid-20s and almost to my 30s. A lot of my role confusion came from my conversion from one faith to another during my college years and I was searching for my place and where I belong within its context.