Erik Erikson came up with a theory explaining how personality develops from infancy to adulthood through eight different stages. First, there is trust vs. mistrust. This stage is common among individuals between birth and the age of eighteen months. In this stage, the unborn unsure about the universe they are brought in and therefore depends on stability and undeviating care from the caregiver (McLeod, 2018). Such care helps them develop a sense of trust, which will help in building other relationships. The infant will also feel secure despite being threatened by other people. A good example of an important event in this stage is feeding the infants. Failure to maintaining such care results in the build-up of doubt, suspicion, and even anxiety in the unborn, thus lowering their confidence. Also, the success and failure in this stage consecutively lead to hope in the newborn that there are still other people to offer them support and loss of hope that develops fear.
Secondly, there is autonomy vs. shame that occurs in children between eighteen months and three years. Individuals develop a sense of independence and self-control over physical potentials. They develop physically and realize that they have many skills and abilities (Orenstein & Lewis, 2020). The morality of will results from this stage's success, and the encouraged and supported increased independence increases confidence in them, making them feel secure dependently and thus, the ability to survive on their own. Gabriel et al. (2020) named the Freudian stage associated with this stage as the anal stage; thus, an example of important activity in this stage was toilet training. Consequently, when they are over-controlled or not given a chance to assert themselves, the feeling of inability to survive arises; thus, their self-esteem lowers, and they become over-dependent.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Next, there is initiative vs. guilt, which occurs to children aged 3-5 years. It is in this stage where children often assert themselves via directing a play and other group-based interactions such as children at school (McLeod, 2018). This stage's core is play, which offers children the chance to explore the skills relating to relationships or communication between other children via the different activities initiated to them. With this chance, children begin to plan activities hence raising their ability to make decisions and lead others. Consequently, suppressing this tendency through criticism and high control builds a sense of guilt in children. This will frequently make them overstep their forcefulness mark thus, inducing the tendency of punishing them and restricting their capabilities too much. In this stage, children also begin to ask many questions, which may induce guilt feelings that may reduce their interaction ability and creativity when treated to be of less value or a nuisance. The purpose, therefore, becomes the overall successful result of this stage.
The fourth stage is industry vs. inferiority, which refers to school age between 5-12 years. Here, children develop reading and writing skills and learn to do things independently. Also, children are taught specific skills in school. The child's peer group becomes the main source of their self-esteem, and they start feeling the need to win approval by doing valuable things in the society successfully hence developing a sense of pride after their success (McLeod, 2018). Encouraging them in such actions makes them feel industrious and raises their confidence. Consequently, failure to that raises inferior feelings, which makes them doubt their abilities and frequently fail to reach their potential. Competence, therefore, becomes the result of this stage to its success.
The fifth stage is identity vs. role confusion that refers to adolescent individuals between the ages of 12-18 years. The sense of personal identity starts to develop in individuals as they transit from childhood to adulthood (McLeod, 2018). They become more independent and start to focus on their future career wisely, in terms of families, relationships, and other stuff. They begin to identify their roles as adults and re-examine their sexual and occupational identities. Also, some people's bodies may make them feel uncomfortable until they adapt to the body changes. Success to this stage results in the fidelity virtue where individuals will commit themselves to others and accept them despite the different ideological differences in them. Consequently, failure to develop a sense of identity can result in role confusion, making people unsure about themselves or their position in society. In addition to that, peer influence into an identity can lead to rebellion.
The sixth stage is intimacy vs. isolation that refers to young adults of 18-40 years old. The main conflict center is on creating intimate and affairs with others (McLeod, 2018) . People deeply explore relationships and end up creating long-term commitments with other people who are not included in their family. When one happens to complete this stage successfully, he/she may end up having a happy relationship and a perception of commitment and care. Successful development in this stage results helps individuals develop love, while failure can lead to segregation resulting in depression.
The seventh stage is generativity vs. stagnation, common in middle adulthood at 40-65 years. This is where individuals give back to the community by raising their children, being active members of community activities, and being productive in their jobs (Cherry, 2020). One develops a sense of being a part of society. This stage results in the development of useful feelings, which makes individuals more involved in the society.
Finally, the eighth stage is ego integrity vs. despair, common in maturity age 65 years and above. Individuals in this stage view their achievements and might develop uprightness if they see themselves leading successful lives (Cherry, 2020). Those who review their life and have regrets of not accomplishing their goals develop bitterness and despair feelings that lead to depression. Most people also experience low productivity in their working areas and decide to retire. The virtue of wisdom is the result of success in this stage, which when one manages it, he/she looks back to life with a sense of completeness and is ready to pass on fearlessly.
Each of Erikson's eight stages of psychological development helps one understand and experience a psychological crisis that could result in a positive or negative result for personality development. The stages clearly show social experience impact across human beings' entire lifespan. The crisis involved in each stage is psychosocial since they involve an individual's psychological needs conflicting with society's needs. It is clear that each stage sets up on the previous stage and creates a way for the next period of development hence being described as a development ladder where each stage lays a foundation for the stage inline. When each stage is completed successfully, one acquires basic virtues and develops a healthy personality. Consequently, when a stage is not completed, the ability to complete the remaining stages reduces, thus creating an unhealthy personality and a sense of self. Extreme ego identity could become fanaticism that can lead to unhealthy interactions with self and other people.
References
Cherry, K. (2020). Erik Erikson’s stages of psychological development. Very Well Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/erik-eriksons-stages-of-psychosocial-development-2795740
McLeod, S. (2018, May 3). Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development . Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html
Orenstein G. A.& Lewis L. E. (2020) Stages of Psychosocial Development . Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556096/
