Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, as articulated in the second half of the 20th century by Erik Erikson in collaboration with his wife Joan Erikson, is a comprehensive psychoanalytic theory that identifies a series of eight stages that a healthy developing individual should pass through from infancy to late adulthood.
According to Erikson's theory the results from each stage, whether positive or negative, influence the results of succeeding stages. Erikson published a book called Childhood and Society in 1950 that highlighted his research on the eight stages of psychosocial development. Erikson was originally influenced by Sigmund Freud's psychosexual stages of development. He began by working with Freud's theories specifically, but as he began to dive deeper into biopsychosocial development and how other environmental factors affect human development, he soon progressed past Freud's theories and developed his own ideas. Erikson developed different substantial ways to create a theory about lifespan he theorized about the nature of personality development as it unfolds from birth through old age or death. He argued that the social experience was valuable throughout our life to each stage that can be recognizable by a conflict specifically as we encounter between the psychological needs and the surroundings of the social environment.
Erikson's stage theory characterizes an individual advancing through the eight life stages as a function of negotiating their biological and sociocultural forces. The two conflicting forces each have a psychosocial crisis which characterizes the eight stages. If an individual does indeed successfully reconcile these forces (favoring the first mentioned attribute in the crisis), they emerge from the stage with the corresponding virtue. For example, if an infant enters into the toddler stage (autonomy vs. shame and doubt) with more trust than mistrust, they carry the virtue of hope into the remaining life stages. Erikson wanted these stages to be like toy building blocks, meaning that the stages are meant to be built on top of each other. The stage challenges that are not successfully overcome may be expected to return as problems in the future. However, mastery of a stage is not required to advance to the next stage. In one study, subjects showed significant development as a result of organized activities.
Erikson's research was heavily influenced by his experiences as someone born in Germany to a Jewish mother and with multiple father figures, as he never knew his biological father growing up. He felt as though he didn't belong in German nor Jewish communities. Feeling estranged, he felt conflicted about his identity, which would later become the core of his stage theory. After fleeing from Germany during Hitler's fascist regime, he became a witness to prejudice and nationalism and how people developed under oppression. The development of identity under the influence of oppression and prejudice was also an influence on his research.
Cross-Cultural Research For a researcher in the 1930s, Erikson's work was quite progressive. In addition to being a witness to antisemitic discrimination, Erikson also did research on Native Americans and Black Americans. He conducted fieldwork with two Native American tribes, the Oglala Lakota and the Yurok tribes. Through his research, he studied child-rearing and identity formation. He was able to recognize that Native Americans struggled with identity as a result of discrimination and colonization. His research with Native Americans and how they adapted to colonization heavily influenced his work with identity formation.
When researching Black Americans, he chose to focus on Black experiences during segregation and how their identity would be affected. He wrote about internalized racism and how identity became a struggle for Black Americans, with Erikson believing that segregation played a major role in how Black Americans understood their own identity. Though this work was progressive, it was minimal compared to his work with non-minority groups. Erikson later admitted he lacked knowledge about how Black people lived and that theory wouldn't be able to explain their experiences alone.
Stages Approximate age Virtues Psychosocial crisis Significant relationship Existential question Events Infancy Under 1 year Hope Trust vs. mistrust Mother Can I trust the world? Feeding, abandonment Toddlerhood 1–2 years Will Autonomy vs. shame/doubt Parents Is it okay to be me? Toilet training, clothing themselves Early childhood 3–6 yearsHuman development: a psychological, biological, and sociological approach to the life span: "III 3–6 (Play Age) Initiative vs. Guilt Family Purpose". Purpose Initiative vs. guilt Family Is it okay for me to do, move, and act? Exploring, using tools or making art Late childhood 7–10 yearsHuman development: a psychological, biological, and sociological approach to the life span: "IV 7–10 (School Age) Industry vs. Inferiority Neighborhood, School Competence ". Competence Industry vs. inferiority Neighbors, school Can I make it in the world of people and things? School, sports Adolescence 11–19 yearsHuman development: a psychological, biological, and sociological approach to the life span: "V 11–19 (Adolescence) Identity vs. Identity Confusion Peer Groups Leadership Models Fidelity". Fidelity Identity vs. role confusion Peers, role model Who am I? Who can I be? Social relationships Early adulthood 20–44 yearsIntergenerational Programs: Imperatives, Strategies, Impacts, Trends: "First, he considers young adulthood (age 20–44) which he describes as the struggle of "intamacy vs isolation."". Love Intimacy vs. isolation Friends, partners Can I unite myself with another person? Romantic relationships Middle adulthood 45–64 yearsIntergenerational Programs: Imperatives, Strategies, Impacts, Trends: "In Middle adulthood (age 45–64), the conflict of "generativity vs stagnation" arises". Care Generativity vs. stagnation Household, workmates Can I make my life count? Work, parenthood Late adulthood 65 and aboveIntergenerational Programs: Imperatives, Strategies, Impacts, Trends: "Finally, Erikson takes us to the eighth stage of adulthood known as "later adulthood" (over 65) where development focuses on the integration of life's experiences, on embracing these experiences as inevitable aspects of oneself, and on accepting an orderliness in life and death". Wisdom Ego integrity vs. despair Humankind, my kind Is it okay to have been me? Reflection on life
Psychological periodization of stages of human development
According to Daniel Levinson +PeriodAge rangeSub-periodAge rangechild0-9/11baby0-3early childhood3-7late childhood7-9/11teenager11-25early adolescence9/11-18late adolescence18-25adult25-65early adulthood25-35middle adulthood35-50late adulthood50-65senility65+early old age65-80average old age80-100old age100+
According to WHO +PeriodAge rangechildhood0-10adolescence10-25adult25-65senility65+
Hope: trust vs. mistrust (oral-sensory, infancy, under 1 year)
Existential Question: Can I Trust the World?
The first stage of Erik Erikson's theory centers around the infant's basic needs being met by the parents or caregiver and how this interaction leads to trust or mistrust. Trust as defined by Erikson is "an essential trustfulness of others as well as a fundamental sense of one's own trustworthiness." The infant depends on the parents, especially the mother, for sustenance and comfort. Infants will often use methods such as pointing to indicate their interests or desires to their parents or caregivers. The child's relative understanding of the world and society comes from the parents and their interaction with the child. Children first learn to trust their parents or a caregiver. If the parents expose their child to warmth, security, and dependable affection, the infant's view of the world will be one of trust. As the child learns to trust the world around them, they also acquire the virtue of hope. Should parents fail to provide a secure environment and to meet the child's basic needs; a sense of mistrust will result. Development of mistrust can later lead to feelings of frustration, suspicion, withdrawal, and a lack of confidence.
According to Erik Erikson, the major developmental task in infancy is to learn whether or not other people, especially primary caregivers, regularly satisfy basic needs. If caregivers are consistent sources of food, comfort, and affection, an infant learns trust — that others are dependable and reliable. If they are neglectful, or perhaps even abusive, the infant instead learns mistrust — that the world is an undependable, unpredictable, and possibly a dangerous place. Having some experience with mistrust allows the infant to gain an understanding of what constitutes dangerous situations later in life. However, infants and toddlers should not be subjected to prolonged situations of mistrust. This causes children to be ill adjusted later in life and see life with a cautious and careful outlook, which can be detrimental later in their life. In this stage, the child's most important needs are to feel safe, comforted, and well cared for.
Will: autonomy vs. shame/doubt (muscular, toddlerhood, 1–2 years) Existential Question: Is It Okay to Be Me? As the child gains control over eliminative functions and motor abilities, they begin to explore their surroundings. Parents still provide a strong base of security from which the child can venture out to assert their will. The parents' patience and encouragement help to foster autonomy in the child. During early childhood, the child will start to have learning tasks and skills that instill personal responsibility, which allows the children to make choices that could help them develop a sense of autonomy and confidence. Children at this age like to explore the world around them and they are constantly learning about their environment. Caution must be taken at this age while children may explore things that are dangerous to their health and safety.
If caregivers encourage self-sufficient behavior, toddlers will develop a sense of autonomy—a sense of being able to handle many problems on their own. On the contrary, there is the possibility that the caregiver can demand too much too soon. This will likely lead the child to develop shame and doubt in their ability to handle problems. This shame and doubt could also come as a result of a caregiver ridiculing a child's early performance attempts. There is definitely a delicate balance to be had with autonomy. If the child receives too much autonomy, they have the potential to grow up with little concern for rules or regulations. This could also increase the likelihood of injury. Conversely, if the parents exert too much control over them, the child can grow up to be more rebellious and impulsive. The abilities of the child are limited.
Both approaches to this stage have their strengths and weaknesses to them. The best way to help the child is to use a combination of both of them that allows the child to explore while knowing what is dangerous to him/her.
Purpose: initiative vs. guilt (locomotor-genital, play age, 3–6 years) Existential Question: Is it Okay for Me to Do, Move, and Act? Initiative adds to autonomy the quality of planning, undertaking, and attacking a task for the sake of just being active and on the move. The child is learning to master the world around them, learning basic skills and principles of physics. At this stage, the child wants to begin and complete their own actions for a purpose. Guilt is a confusing new emotion. They may feel guilty over things that logically should not cause guilt. They may feel guilt when this initiative does not produce desired results.