Psychosocial development

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

Part of a series of articles on
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis

Concepts
Psychosexual development
Psychosocial development
ConsciousPreconsciousUnconscious
Psychic apparatus
Id, ego, and super-ego
LibidoDrive
TransferenceEgo defensesResistance

Important figures
Alfred AdlerNancy ChodorowErik Erikson
Ronald FairbairnAnna FreudSigmund Freud
Karen HorneyErnest Jones
Carl JungMelanie Klein
Heinz KohutJacques Lacan
Margaret MahlerOtto Rank
Harry Stack Sullivan
Susan Sutherland Isaacs
Erich Fromm

Important works
The Interpretation of Dreams
Beyond the Pleasure Principle
Civilization and Its Discontents

Schools of thought
Self psychologyLacanian
Object relations
InterpersonalRelational
Ego psychology

Psychology portal

Erikson's stages of psychosocial development as articulated by Erik Erikson explain eight stages through which a healthily developing human should pass from infancy to late adulthood. In each stage the person confronts, and hopefully masters, new challenges. Each stage builds on the successful completion of earlier stages. The challenges of stages not successfully completed may be expected to reappear as problems in the future.

[edit] The Stages

[edit] Infancy (birth to 18 months)

  • Psychosocial Crisis: Trust vs. Mistrust
  • Related Elements in Society: religion, fellowship, productive work, social action, scientific pursuit, artistic creation

Developing trust is the first task of the ego, and it is never complete. The child will let its mother out of sight without anxiety and rage because she has become an inner certainty as well as an outer predictability. The balance of trust with mistrust depends largely on the quality of the maternal relationship.

Erik Erikson proposed that the concept of trust versus mistrust is present throughout an individual's entire life. Therefore if the concept is not addressed, taught and handled properly during infancy (when it is first introduced), the individual may be negatively affected and never fully immerse themselves in the world. For example, a person may hide themselves from the outside world and be unable to form healthy and long-lasting relationships with others, or even themselves. If an individual does not learn to trust themselves, others and the world around them then they may lose the virtue of hope, which is directly linked to this concept. If a person loses their main belief in hope they will struggle with overcoming hard times and failures in their lives, and may never fully recover from them. This would prevent them from learning and maturing into a fully-developed person if the concept of trust versus mistrust was improperly learned, understood and used in all aspects of their lives.

[edit] Toddler (18 months to 3 years)

  • Psychosocial Crisis: Autonomy vs. Shame & doubt
  • Related Elements in Society: Law (legitimizes and provides boundaries for autonomy)

If denied independence, the child will turn against his/her urges to manipulate and discriminate. Shame develops with the child's self-consciousness. Doubt has to do with having a front and back -- a "behind" subject to its own rules. Left over doubt may become paranoia. The sense of autonomy fostered in the child and modified as life progresses serves the preservation in economic and political life of a sense of justice.

  • Ego quality: Will

When a child reaches ages one through three, Erikson explains, the child is developing a sense of autonomy . During this age, the toddler discovers he/she is no longer attached to the primary caregiver but is a separate individual. Autonomy is the independence a toddler strives for from caregivers. Toddlers' autonomous behavior is a way of forming their own identity away from their caregivers. This stage is a time where a toddler has the "will" to become independent. Shame and doubt are likely to occur when the toddler is not given any choices or boundaries because the toddler is determined to become independent. The strong will of a toddler may cause conflict between child and caregiver. Many parents are unaware of how to properly establish healthy boundaries for the toddler while allowing the child to develop their independence. Parents who are assertive and too demanding may find themselves in a power struggle with their toddler.

[edit] Preschool (3 to 5 years)

  • Psychosocial Crisis: Initiative vs. Guilt
  • Ego quality: Purpose
  • Related Elements in Society: ideal prototypes/roles

Initiative adds to autonomy the quality of undertaking, planning, and attacking a task for the sake of being active and on the move. The child is learning to master the world around him or her, learning basic skills and principles of physics; things fall to the ground, not up; round things roll, how to zip and tie, count and speak with ease. At this stage the child wants to begin and complete his or her own actions for a purpose. Guilt is a new emotion and is confusing to the child; he or she may feel guilty over things which are not logically guilt producing, and he or she will feel guilt when his or her initiative does not produce the desired results.

The development of courage and independence are what set preschoolers, ages three to six years of age, apart from other age groups . Young children in this category face the challenge of initiative versus guilt . As described in Bee and Boyd (2004), the child during this stage faces the complexities of planning and developing a sense of judgment. During this stage, the child learns to take initiative and prepare him or herself towards roles of leadership and goal achievement. Activities sought out by a child in this stage may include risk-taking behaviors, such as crossing a street on his or her own or riding a bike without a helmet; both examples involving self-limits. Within instances requiring initiativeas , the child may also develop negative behaviors. These behaviors are a result of the child developing a sense of frustration for not being able to achieve his or her goal as planned and may engage in behaviors that seem aggressive, ruthless, and overly assertive to parents; aggressive behaviors, such as throwing objects, hitting, or yelling, are examples of observable behaviors during this stage.

[edit] School age (5 years to teens)

  • Psychosocial Crisis: Industry vs. Inferiority
  • Ego quality: Competence
  • Related Elements in Society: division of labor

To bring a productive situation to completion is an aim which gradually supersedes the whims and wishes of play. The fundamentals of technology are developed. To lose the hope of such "industrious" association may pull the child back to the more isolated, less conscious familial rivalry of the oedipal time.

"children at this age are becoming more aware of themselves as individuals." They work hard at "being responsible, being good and doing it right." They are now more reasonable to share and cooperate. Allen and Marotz (2003) also list some perceptual cognitive developmental traits specific for this age group: Children understand the concepts of space and time, in more logical, practical ways, beginning to grasp, gain better understanding of cause and effect and understand calendar time. At this stage, children are eager to learn and accomplish more complex skills: reading, writing, telling time. They also get to form moral values, recognize cultural and individual differences and are able to manage most of their personal need and grooming with minimal assistance (Allen and Marotz, 2003). At this stage, children might express their independence by being disobedient, using back talk and being rebellious.

[edit] Adolescence (teens to 20's)

  • Psychosocial Crisis: Identity vs. Role Confusion
  • Main Question: "Who am I?"
  • Ego quality: Fidelity
  • Related Elements in Society: ideology

The adolescent is newly concerned with how he or she appears to others. Superego identity is the accrued confidence that the outer sameness and continuity prepared in the future are matched by the sameness and continuity of one's meaning for oneself, as evidenced in the promise of a career. The ability to settle on a school or occupational identity is pleasant. In later stages of Adolescence, the child develops a sense of sexual identity.

[edit] Young adulthood (20's to 40 years)

  • Psychosocial Crisis: Intimacy vs. Isolation
  • Main Question: "Am I loved and wanted?"
  • Ego quality: Love
  • Related Elements in Society: patterns of cooperation (often marriage)

Body and ego must be masters of organ modes and of the other nuclear conflicts in order to face the fear of ego loss in situations which call for self-abandon. The avoidance of these experiences leads to openness and self-absorption.

Intimacy vs. Isolation, is emphasized around the ages of 19 to 34. At the start of this stage, identity vs. role confusion is coming to an end and it still lingers at the foundation of the stage (Erikson 1950). Young adults are still eager to blend their identities with friends. They want to fit in. Erikson believes we are sometimes isolated due to intimacy. We are afraid of rejection; being turned down, our partners breaking up with us. We are familiar with pain and to some of us rejection is painful, our egos cannot bear the pain. Erikson also argues that "Intimacy has a counterpart: Distantiation: the readiness to isolate and if necessary, to destroy those forces and people whose essence seems dangerous to our own, and whose territory seems to encroach on the extent of one's intimate relations" (1950)

[edit] Middle adulthood (40 to 60 years)

  • Psychosocial Crisis: Generativity vs. Stagnation
  • Related Elements in Society: parenting, educating, or other productive social involvement

Generativity is the concern of establishing and guiding the next generation. Socially-valued work and disciplines are expressions of generativity. Simply having or wanting children does not in and of itself achieve generativity.

[edit] Central tasks of Middle adulthood

  • Express love through more than sexual contacts.
  • Maintain healthy life patterns.
  • Develop a sense of unity with mate.
  • Help growing and grown children to be responsible adults.
  • Relinquish central role in lives of grown children.
  • Accept children's mates and friends.
  • Create a comfortable home.
  • Be proud of accomplishments of self and mate/spouse.
  • Reverse roles with aging parents.
  • Achieve mature civic and social responsibility.
  • Adjust to physical changes of middle age.
  • Use leisure time creatively.
  • love for others

[edit] Late adulthood (from 60 years)

  • Psychosocial crisis: Ego Integrity vs Despair
  • Related Elements in Society: metaphysical or religious wisdom

Someone who can look back on good times with gladness, on hard times with self-respect, and on mistakes and regrets with forgiveness will find a new sense of integrity and a readiness for perceived wrongs, and dissatisfied with the life they've led, will easily drift into depression and despair.

The fundamental question is, "What kind of life have I lived?"

A positive outcome of this crisis is achieved if the individual gains a sense of fulfillment about life and a sense of unity within himself and with others. That way, he can accept death with a sense of integrity. Just as a healthy child will not fear life, the healthy adult will not fear death.

A negative outcome of this crisis causes the individual to despair and fear death.

[edit] Value of the theory

One value of this theory is that it illuminated why individuals who had been thwarted in the healthy resolution of early phases (such as in learning healthy levels of trust and autonomy in toddlerhood) had such difficulty with the crises that came in adulthood. More importantly, it did so in a way that provided answers for practical application. It raised new potential for therapists and their patients to identify key issues and skills that required addressing. But at the same time, it yielded a guide or yardstick that could be used to assess teaching and child rearing practices in terms of their ability to nurture and facilitate healthy emotional and cognitive development.

"Every adult, whether he is a follower or a leader, a member of a mass or of an elite, was once a child. He was once small. A sense of smallness forms a substratum in his mind, ineradicably. His triumphs will be measured against this smallness, his defeats will substantiate it. The questions as to who is bigger and who can do or not do this or that, and to whom—these questions fill the adult's inner life far beyond the necessities and the desirabilities which he understands and for which he plans." - Erik H. Erikson (1902–1994), U.S. psychoanalyst. Childhood and Society, ch. 11 (1950).

[edit] Critique

Most empirical research into Erikson has stemmed around his views on adolescence and attempts to establish identity. His theoretical approach was studied and supported, particularly regarding adolescence, by James E. Marcia.[1] Marcia's work has distinguished different forms of identity, and there is some empirical evidence that those people who form the most coherent self-concept in adolescence are those who are most able to make intimate attachments in early adulthood. This supports Eriksonian theory, in that it suggests that those best equipped to resolve the crisis of early adulthood are those who have most successfully resolved the crisis of adolescence.

On the other hand, Erikson's theory may be questioned as to whether his stages must be regarded as sequential, and only occurring within the age ranges he suggests. There is debate as to whether people only search for identity during the adolescent years or if one stage needs to happen before other stages can be completed.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

  • Erikson, Erik H. Childhood and Society. New York: Norton, 1950.
  • Erikson, Erik H. Identity and the Life Cycle. New York: International Universities Press, 1959.
  • Erikson, Erik H. Identity, Youth and Crisis. New York: Norton, 1968.
  • Sheehy, Gail. Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1976.
  • Stevens, Richard. Erik Erikson: An Introduction. New York: St. Martin's, 1983.

[edit] External links

Personal tools