Stages Of Erikson's Psychosocial Theory Of Development

Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development reshaped the way we see human development. It is used to make sense of what happens at certain points in life. The theory contains eight ordered stages that are present from birth to death. Each stage experiences a certain psychosocial crisis and depending on how the individual responds, the outcome can be either positive or negative. A negative outcome hinders development but can still be solved during a later period. These stages have a predetermined order and build upon the previous stages.

Stages at the beginning of life generally are shorter and start to slow down as adulthood arises. In the coming paragraphs, each stage will be analyzed, followed by personal examples of the theory, and new contemporary lenses for using the theory in modern times. Erikson’s first stage is trust vs. mistrust and is present from birth to eighteen months. Infants during this time are not able to meet their own needs and are insecure about the world. To feel safe, infants look to their caregivers to help. Caregivers who are consistent and dependable help an infant develop trust. Infants whose caregivers fail to meet their needs develop mistrust.

The second stage is Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt. It is present in children eighteen months to three years. Children during this time start learning simple tasks they can do by themselves. If caregivers allow and encourage simple tasks, this builds autonomy in the child. If a child is in an environment that lacks opportunities for independence, shame and doubt will be present. It is important to be mindful of setting up an environment where children feel comfortable being independent enough that allows acceptance of mistakes.

The third stage is Initiative vs. Guilt. In this stage, children are interacting with their environment. They become confident enough to initiate when to learn and play with peers. Rodgers (2016) says that if children who are motivated to initiate exploring and playing with peers will develop skills useful for perusing future goals and interests. Children without initiative will develop a sense of guilt while hindering children from reaching for new goals. Parents shouldn’t do everything for children in this stage because letting them have some control will compel a child to learn and grow.

The fourth stage is industry vs inferiority. In this stage “The child now feels the need to win approval by demonstrating specific competencies that are valued by society”. Children also strive to do the same things that their peers are doing. Mastering these skills leads to self-confidence and they gain industry. Children who are unable to do this feel inferior and lack confidence in their abilities.

The fifth stage is Identity vs. Identity Confusion and is present for adolescents. In this stage adolescents are trying to search who they want to be. Roles for the future are explored to figure out which best fits their sense of self. Confusion happens when an adolescent is lost in who they want to be. They may not even be comfortable trying out certain roles they believe would fit themselves or not even know who they want to be.

The sixth stage is Intimacy vs. Isolation and happens during young adulthood. During this stage adults have the need to be close an intimate with others. Rogers (2016) states adults in this stage learn to give and take with people they are close with while staying true to their identities. If intimacy is lacking, they are at risk at being isolated.

The seventh stage is Generativity vs. Stagnation and represents adults forty to sixty-five years old. Adults in this stage start looking out for the well-being of others. Those who do not invest in others become stagnated. Adults in this stage generally feel “they should be able to contribute something meaningful to the society and leave a legacy”. Contributing to more than just oneself.

The last stage is ego integrity vs despair. Older adults in this stage start losing the ability of tasks that could previously be completed. For example, an older adult might lose the ability to drive a car. As abilities are being lost, older adults reflect on their lives in either a positive or negative way. Those that are content with their accomplishments have a “sense of well-being a peace”. Those who are not content experience despair and regret not doing more in their earlier life. Researchers have created new contemporary ways to look at Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development.

I attended an in-person lecture by Dr. Kivnick (2018) and gained new knowledge about the topic. She said when looking at Erikson’s psychosocial theory, it says that individuals are in one stage at a time. New research shows that we are always working themes even before we experience them. Also, even when a stage has been mastered, you end up working previous stages again in the back of your mind “in terms that are relevant to our life and where you are at”. This made a lot of sense to me because as humans we are always changing. I would consider myself to be in the Intimacy vs. Isolation stage but also realize my identity is slightly changing from the previous stage due a new environment while starting graduate school. How we master one skill, like trust, is different when I was a baby compared to my life now. I also learned from the lecture about the dynamic balance of opposites. In each stage the positive is considered syntonic and the negative is dystonic.

Erikson’s theory says a person experiences one or the other. Dr. Kivnick stated in life we experience a balance of both the positive and negative. She compared the idea to a balance beam weighing scale. Even when one side of the scale is heavier, there is still an influence from the other side and is present in our lives. An example is a baby who is experiencing trust vs mistrust. It isn’t realistic to assume that a baby should only trust. If a baby lacked mistrust it would trust any human it sees which could be dangerous. We need a balance of both the negative and the positive in each stage for healthy development. In the past I had a job that involved helping kids who experienced trauma and had severe emotional and behavioral disorders. I realized from this job that a lot of these children didn’t fit into Erikson’s psychosocial theory.

One example was a four-year-old girl I worked with for about a year. Due to her past, she never mastered trust vs mistrust stage. She lacked the ability to trust others and would want to do everything by herself without the help of adults. It was to the point where I viewed her as being in the Industry vs. Inferiority stage. Erikson’s theory says that stage represents kids who are six to twelve years old and not four. She was constantly trying to find ways to succeed and master tasks but lacked the ability to trust anyone. I believe that Erikson’s theory can be applied to most typically developing children but not necessarily for children who have experienced significant traumas. Erikson’s theory can be used to analyze a personal situation in my life. My grandpa owned a car repair business for most of his life. Recently his physical abilities have been decreasing significantly. Because of this, he realized it was time to retire and gave the business to my uncle. A couple months ago I have a conversation with my grandpa and he accepted that it was time to retire. He seemed very positive about the transition to retirement and it can be applied to the idea of having integrity in the eight stage. He was satisfied with his life and came to terms by realizing that he did a lot of good in the world.

In conclusion, Erikson’s theory looks at eight stages a person encounters throughout their life. Erikson states that individuals in each stage strive to overcome a psychosocial crisis. Successfully overcoming a crisis leads to an easier adjustment to the environment. It is important to understand that Erikson’s theory has some limitations and it is important to understand that not everyone will progress through the stages as intended. Modern ideas state humans rework previous stages to fit changing environments and prework themes before we experience them. Erikson’s theory is a valuable resource to make sense to better understand human development.