Erikson Psychosocial theory

Erikson Psychosocial theory

1. Introduction: Erickson postulated that the development of an individual is the result of his interaction with his social environment.  At different stages of development, the child faces a new crisis, ie., an issue that needs to be resolved at that particular stage of development.  The crisis of issues not resolved during one stage is supposed to carry over into the stages that follow in some way or the other.

2. Stages of psychosocial development: Each stage of development evolves into another through the whole life cycle and the complexity of the demands from society goes on increasing as the growth and development advances.

2.1. Stage1: The period of trust vs mistrust (birth to 1.5 years):

The baby is completely dependent upon its mother for its needs.  The way it is handled, nourished, protected and kept safe and comfortable may provide a sense of security or insecurity, a feeling of trust or mistrust in the mother and its surroundings

2.2. Stage2: The period of autonomy vs shame and doubt (1.5 to 3 years):

The child now explores his environment, experiments his strength and limitations for achieving a sense of autonomy and independence.  Children who are deprived the opportunity begin to feel embarrassed or ashamed.

2.3. Stage3: The period of initiative vs guilt ( 3 to 6 years): The child now begins to take initiative of interacting with his environment.  The extent to which the initiative is encouraged or discouraged by the parents or his/her social environment, develops the ability in the child to initiating plan and carrying out the activities in later life.  If the child is punished for minor failures, then a sense of guilt develops leading to indecision and lack of initiatives in future.

2.4. Stage4: The period of industry vs interiority (6 to 12 years):  Children begin to attend school.  They have to compete with their peers in terms of competence and productivity.  If the child performs well, he will be filled with a sense of achievement and develop a sense of industry.  If his performance remains lower, then he may look down upon himself and develop a sense of inferiority.

2.5. Stage5: The period of identity or role confusion (12 to 19 years): Sense of identity depends on the success in resolving the crisis related to all the previous stages.  Failing which, it may result in role confusion or in over identification.

2.6. Stage6 The period of intimacy vs isolation (20 to 45 years): The individual forms close personal attachments by merging his identity with that of another person.  He even tends to risk the loss of his ego or image.  For example, relationship between husband and wife, teacher and pupil.  When one fails to develop a close relationship, a sense of isolation develops.

2.7. Stage7 The period of creativity vs stagnation (45 to 65 years): An individual develops a sense of generativity by nurturing his own children, guiding and directing young people and engaging in creative, productive or fruitful activity that may be beneficial to society.

As opposed, there is a tendency to become egoistic and selfish.  This leads to stagnation and personal impoverishment.

2.8. Stage8 The period of ego-integrity vs despair (65 years onwards): Ego-integrity is the satisfaction of one’s ego stage on the successful resolution of crises in the previous stage of his life.  On the other hand, failure to solve the crisis, makes them look back at their lives with despair and dissatisfaction.

3. Strengths and Weaknesses of Erickson’s theory:

Strengths:

- Stage theory: Development took place in stages

- Ego identity: Formation of ego identity right from birth

-Crisis: every individual has to go through crisis in his/her life.

Weakness:

-Focus on the competing forces rather than emotional development of individuals

- Difficult to be tested scientifically as it is not possible to measure some of the concepts upon which the theory is based

- Fails to specify the effect of failure in one stage on the other which stages impacted.

4. Educational implications:

- Allow the child to understand and set his own limits rather than restrictions and punishments

-The child should be allowed and encouraged to make many number of attempts to complete a task.  Rebuke for minor failures to be avoided.

-Allow the child to grow in his field of interest to make him industrious, rather than force him to perform in pursuits he is not interested.

- Guidance at the right time about his education or career will help him build role identity and self confidence

5. Conclusion: Erickson’s psychosocial theory is a very powerful way for building self awareness and for improving oneself, as it helps to understand a person’s learning according to his or her personal differences.