The psychological adaptions, as well as overall perception, mainly determine people's behavior. As a personality theorist, Erik Erikson coined a behavioral theory that describes different psychological tendencies based on the stages of human growth and development. While explaining why most people behave in a socially appropriate manner most of the time, Erik would first break down two main aspects, the element of ‘most people’ and the ‘socially appropriate manner.’ The reason is that Erik’s theory is based on different age groups of people. who have different definitions of ‘socially appropriate behavior.’
According to Erik’s stages of psychological development, individuals’ behavior is placed in an age spectrum ranging from infancy to people above sixty-five years. Therefore, while advancing his arguments on why most individuals behave in a socially appropriate manner, Erik would use different models to explain the concept. For instance, in Erik’s theory, he describes that people between the age of 13 and 21 tend to portray behavior that leans towards identity and role acknowledgment (Carley, 2015). Considering a person who is 20-years old, their social circle would be his or her peers. Therefore, acting in a socially appropriate manner for such an individual implies behaving in a way that is acceptable to his or her peers.
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Still considering the case of the above 20-year-old, if all the members of his/her social circle consider smoking as a cool thing, it would be socially appropriate for him or her to smoke as well. However, the 20-year old would not engage in such behavior when he/she is at home with their parents. This theory also explains why small children would do certain things that seem embarrassing for adults. However, for them and their social cliques, the behavior is just a normal. Thus, by using different age groups, Erik Erikson was able to demonstrate why most people behaved in a socially appropriate manner.
Reference
Carley, S. G. (2015). Erik Erikson : Post-Freudian Theory. Create Space Independent Publishing Platform.
