Each individual had there own unique identity, which is made up of different traits of personality that could be termed as positive or negative. Such traits could also be acquired or innate and they are variant from person to person based on the levels of influence of the environments of such people. The bottom line is that individuals possess different characteristics, which are founded on different aspects that eventually define them. The model of Erik Erikson, the psychosocial development model, emphasizes the determinants of the sociocultural sphere of development, and it describes them in eight developmental stages of psychosocial conflicts (Paul & Domenech, 2000). Erikson indicates that people should always strive to resolve the conflicts if they are to adjust efficiently to their environment.
According to Erikson, all people encounter a specific crisis, which contributes to their psychosocial growth at each of the psychosocial developmental stages. When people are faced with such crises, they have no choice but to deal with them and think in approaches that are useful in resolving them (Saposnek, 2016). The psychosocial stages of development described by the theory are indicated in the table below.
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The eight stages of psychosocial development according to Erik Erikson’s theory of Psychosocial Development adopted from Turchetti (2012)
Within the trust v mistrust stage, the theory explains that parents should always strive to earn the trust of their children. The parents should always do so through meeting the basic needs of the children as well as offering them protection when they feel threatened. An example of character in this stage is my neighbor’s baby who is always worried when the move to new environments, especially when it is out of the house and the compound. The character suits this stage because she is younger than two years and always in need of an assurance of security.
The second stage, the autonomy v shame and doubt stage, requires that the parents teach their children to be responsible with their lives lest they feel ashamed after interacting with others of their age who are capable of doing so. An example of a character in this stage is my brother who did not want to learn riding a horse in public when he saw his friend from school doing so. The character suits this stage since he is ashamed of being laughed at by his peers when they discover his weaknesses. The initiative v guilt stage is third one described by the model indicates that children always tend to explore their environments as they grow up, and that they might experience guilt if they fail to learn on their own and have to do so from others. I remember when I had a problem completing my math assignment in fifth grade, which made me feel that I had wasted my parent’s money to be in school yet I could not learn as easily as others had done. The fourth stage is the industry v inferiority one, and Erikson argues that children who fail to be as competitive as others will always feel inferior. I also felt inferior to my friend when we went out playing soccer on the school playfield since I thought he was too talent to be playing against me.
The fifth stage is the identity v role confusion one, some children fail to identify their identities as they grow up, which is why they do not know if some activities are good for them or not. This stage suits a character I watched in a movie who did not know if they were to enter in parenthood or if they were supposed to continue in college. The character suited the stage since she was unsure of what she wanted in life and if being a young parent would have been good for her. The sixth stage is the intimacy v isolation one, and it suggests that people who fail to find love relationships in their early adulthood end up been lonely, which relates to a character in a comic film that I watched who ended up living alone after realizing trying out many relationships without succeeding. The seventh stage is called the generativity v stagnation one, and it suggests that people in their 40s and 50s will always want to contribute to society, which related to Cory, a character in Fences who wanted to help her mother after the death of his father. The last stage is ego v despair. The theory indicates that people in their 60s should have retired from and enjoying their retirement, which suits the case of my grandfather who is an army veteran. He suits this stage since he likes playing golf on weekends with his grandchildren.
References
Paul, D. E. J. & Domenech, L.(2000). Childhood history of abuse and child abuse potentials in adolescent mothers: A longitudinal study. Child Abuse and Neglect , 24 (5), 701-713.
Saposnek, D. T. (2016). Children’s reactions to the news of divorce: What they need from you.
Turchetti, M. (2012). A relational group intervention for teen pregnancy . Antioch University New England.
