Erik Erikson: "Psychosocial Development"

Lisa Grace P.

Samonte BSN 1-C

Erik Erikson
“Psychosocial Development”
History and Background
 Born :15 June 1902 Frankfurt, Hesse, German
Empire
 Died:12 May 1994 (aged 91) Harwich,
Massachusetts, U.S
 Citizenship: American-German
 Spouse: Joan Serson
 was a German-American developmental
psychologist and psychoanalyst known for
his theory on psychological development of
human beings.
 Erik Erikson is best known for his famous
theory of psychosocial development and the
concept of the identity crisis.
 Despite lacking a university degree, Erikson served as a professor at prominent
institutions, including Harvard, University of California, Berkeley, and Yale.
 After meeting Anna Freud while working in Vienna, Erikson decided to pursue the
field of psychoanalysis.
 His young Jewish mother, Karla Abrahamsen, raised Erik by herself for a time
before marrying a physician, Dr. Theodore Homberger. The fact that Homberger
was not his biological father was concealed from Erikson for many years. When he
finally did learn the truth, Erikson was left with a feeling of confusion about who
he really was.
 "The common story was that his mother and father had separated before his
birth, but the closely guarded fact was that he was his mother's child from an
extramarital union. He never saw his birth father or his mother's first husband." —
Erikson's obituary, The New York Times, May 13, 1994
 This early experience helped spark his interest in the formation of identity. He
would later explain that as a child he often felt confused about who he was and
how he fit into his community.
 When the Erikson’s relocated to California in 1939, he worked with the Institute of
Child Welfare in California and served on the faculty of the University of California
at Berkeley and San Francisco.
 He continued studying Native American children, and he worked closely with the
Yurok tribe. Erikson remained on faculty at the University of California until 1951,
when he was required to sign a loyalty oath claiming he was not a Communist.
Contents of the Theory
Psychosocial Development
Erik Erikson believed in a series of stages, unlike Sigmund Freud’s theory of
psychosexual stages, Erikson’s theory described the impact of social experience
across the whole lifespan, he was interested in how social interaction and relationships
played a role in the development and growth of human beings.

Each stage in Erikson’s theory builds on the preceding stages and paves the
way for the following periods of development, he believed that people experience
conflicts that serves as a turning point in development. Erik Erikson’s Theory of
Psychosocial Development emphasizes the sociocultural determinants of development
and presents them as eight stages of psychosocial conflicts (often known as Erikson’s
stages of psychosocial development) that all individuals must overcome or resolve
successfully in order to adjust well to the environment.
According to Erik Erikson’s theory, we all encounter a certain crisis that

contributes to our psychosocial growth at each level of development. Erikson’s
stages of psychosocial development posits whenever we experience such crisis, we
are left with no choice but to face it and think of ways to resolve it. Failure to
overcome such crisis may lead to significant impact on our psychosocial
development.
Major Concepts and Definitions

The Developmental task in Erikson’s eight stages of life are as
follows:
Stage 1: Trust vs. Mistrust
 Infant to 18 months
 Important events: Feeding
 Outcome: During the first stage of psychosocial development, children
develop a sense of trust when caregivers provide reliability, care, and
affection, a lack of this will lead to mistrust
 Virtue: HOPE
 Starting with oral satisfaction, the infant learns to trust the caregiver as well as
self.
 Trust is achieved when the infant let the caregiver out of sight without undue
distress.
Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

 Early Childhood (2-3 years old)
 Important events: Toilet training
 Outcome: Children need to develop a sense of personal control over physical
skills and a sense of independence, success during this stage of psychosocial
development leads to feeling of autonomy, failure results in feeling of shame
and doubt.
 Virtue: WILL
 The child is now becoming accomplished in some basic self-care activities,
including walking, feeding and toileting.
 Develops his/her autonomy by making choices. Choices for the toddler include
activities related to playthings.
Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt

 Preschool (3-5 years old)
 Important events: Exploration
 Outcome: Children need to begin asserting control and power over the
environment, success in this stage leads to a sense of purpose.
 Virtue: PURPOSE
 This stage, children developing their superego or conscience
 Children like to pretend and try out new roles
 Fantasy and imagination allow children to further explore their environment
 Guilt may also occur if the caregiver’s responses are too punitive.
Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority

 School Age (6-11 years old)
 Important events: School
 Outcome: Children need to cope with new social and academic demands,
success leads toa sense of competence, while failure results in feelings of
inferiority.
 Virtue: COMPETENCE
 School age children are eager to apply themselves to learning socially
productive skills and tools.
 Learn to work and play with their peers.
Stage 5: Identity vs. Role Confusion

 Puberty/Adolescence (13-21 years old)
 Important events: Social Relationships
 Outcome: Teens to develop a sense of self and personal identity. Success
leads to an ability to stay true to yourself, while failure leads to role confusion
and a weak sense of self
 Virtue: FIDELITY
 Dramatic physiological changes associated with sexual maturation highlight
this stage.
 Marked preoccupation with appearance and body image.
 Acquiring sense of identity is essential for making adult decisions such as
choice of vocation or marriage partner
Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation

 Young Adulthood (21-39 years old)
 Important events: Relationships
 Outcome: Young adults need to form intimate, loving relationships with other
people. Success leads to strong relationships, while failure results in loneliness
and isolation.
 Virtue: LOVE
 Young Adults, after developing sense of identity, deepen their capacity to love
others and care for them.
 This is the time to become fully participative in the community, enjoying adult
freedom and responsibility
 Experience feelings of isolation from others and the inability to form
meaningful attachments.
Stage 7: Generativity vs. Self-Absorption and Stagnation

 Middle Adulthood (40-65 years old)
 Important events: Work and Parenthood.
 Outcome: Adult need to create or nurture things that will outlast theme, often
by having children or creating a positive change that benefit other people,
success leads to feeling of usefulness and accomplishment.
 Virtue: CARE
 Following the successful development of an intimate relationship, the adult
can focus on supporting future generations.
 Pursues expansion of personal and social involvement.
 Dissatisfaction with one’s place and achievement often lead to self-absorption
stagnation
Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair

 Maturity (65- Death)
 Important events: Reflection on life
 Outcome: older adults need to look back on life and feel a sense of fulfillment,
success at this stage leads to a feeling of wisdom, while failure results in
regret, bitterness, and despair.
 Virtue: WISDOM
 As the aging process creates physical and social losses, the adult may also
suffer loss of status and function, such as through retirement or illness
 Meeting these challenges creates the potential for growth and wisdom.
 Despair is experienced when the elderly views himself/herself a failure;
believes that he/she made poor choices during life; and senses that life has
been worthless.
Application of Maslow’s Hierarchy

Application of Erikson's stages of psychosocial development helps in analyzing patient's
symptomatic behavior in the context of traumatic past experiences and struggles with
current developmental tasks. Erickson's theory helps nurses care for their patients by
recognizing each individual uniqueness, and focusing on the individual patient's needs. It is
also a self-care method of nursing, which means it is based on the patient's perceptions of
the environment, and adapts based on individual stressors for that patient.

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Lisa Grace P.

Samonte BSN 1-C

According to Erik Erikson’s theory, we all encounter a certain crisis that

Major Concepts and Definitions

Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt

Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority

Stage 5: Identity vs. Role Confusion

Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation

Stage 7: Generativity vs. Self-Absorption and Stagnation

Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair

Application of Maslow’s Hierarchy

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