Signature Assignment
Developmental Theory
Throughout this semester discussions occurred on many developmental theories including those by Sigmund Freud, Erik Erickson, Jean Piaget and many others. During class discussion and personal studies the works and ideas of Erickson were most intriguing to me. I discovered myself relating more to his explanations of development, which has guided me to research his theory in more depth.
Erik Erickson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development
When discussing Erickson it is imperative to understand that his first experiences in psychology were under the mentorship of Sigmund Freud. This is apparent in many areas of Erickson’s developmental stages, particularly in the first five stages (Berger, 2014). One of the main differences between Freud and Erickson were their specialties. Freud was an Id psychologist and had a large focus between the id and the superego whereas Erickson was an ego psychologist who focused on social and cultural characteristics and the conflicts within the ego (McLeod, 2008). This varying approach led Erickson to view development from a psychosocial view and believed that growth will continue throughout the lifespan. Erickson developed a model that has different conflicts for each stage of development. These conflicts are generally polar opposites and are separated by a versus symbol. This separation is indication that in every stage there is flexibility where each individual person will be. For example, one of the stages is industry vs. inferiority. Some of us may be slightly industrious at this stage while others can be less or more industrious. Erickson also believes that success in the early stages will help individuals to complete the later stages more successfully. One last difference between Erickson and Freud is Erickson believes people can complete any stage at any point in their life and that we can also fall back and forth between stages (McLeod, 2008). These developmental stages begin to develop at birth with trust vs. mistrust and continue until death with ego integrity vs. despair.
Trust vs. Mistrust
According to Erickson trust vs. mistrust is the first crisis or life for an infant and usually takes place during the first year of life (Berger, 2014). This stage is where babies decide whether the world can be trusted to take care of their basic needs. The development of this phase relies mainly on the primary care provider for the baby. Babies need consistent, reliable, and predictable care to develop a strong sense of security and safety.
While working on the infant unit at Primary Children’s Hospital I often wonder about the effects of long-term hospitalization and the development of the infants psyche. The hospital is an extremely hostile place for an infant to be for an extended period of time. Although consistency is desired, often times we are not able to provide this and I believe it can cause lasting damage later on in the child’s life.
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
The second stage in Erickson’s developmental theory is autonomy vs. Shame and doubt. This stage usually takes place in children when they begin to become self-aware which usually around the age of 18 months (Berger, 2014). This stage is extremely important for children to develop. They need to begin to feel autonomous and feel like they have control of their own actions. This development will help the child build confidence in his or her abilities to act independently. If a child does not develop autonomy he/she will begin to have feelings shame or doubt when doing things independently. Similar to Freud, Erickson believes that problems such as this during infancy can last a lifetime. So a child who has shame and doubt will most likely lead to an adult who is easily shamed and suspicious of their surroundings (Berger, 2014).
I have also seen this take place in the hospital setting with children in this stage. When kids are sick parents tend to take extra time to do everything for the child. They don’t allow the child to do things on their own for fear of getting hurt, or just the mentality that they are sick so they can’t do anything by themselves. When the time comes where the children need to do something by themselves they have a hard time feeling confident and usually need their parent’s help to accomplish the task.
Initiative vs. Guilt
Erickson’s third stage of development usually begins to occur between three and five years old. During this age the child has already developed of sense of autonomy and now is starting to interact with other children. This interaction is super important and allows them to develop personal skills. During this phase of life children are eager to learn, acquire new skills, or begin a new project. They will believe that anything is possible and that any goal can be achieved (McLeod, 2008) . There is a fine line that is walked for parents during this stage. Parents need to be supportive of their children and allow them to take initiative, while also teaching them to control their emotions. If parents squander some of these actions the child could begin to develop feelings of guilt and self-doubt. These feelings will limit the child’s ability to interact with others and inhibit creativity.
I have seen both sides of this occur with my nieces and nephews. I have one nephew that takes initiative to try to new things and is always willing to stand up and take the lead. When observing his parents it is not surprising to see their willingness to support their child and help him grow and develop some of these abilities. Whereas another niece is very passive and is always worried about trying new things. If she does try something new, she easily gives up on it if she does not find success right away. I can tell that she feels embarrassed a lot of the time and this limits her interactions with her cousins. My niece is also an example of a child who I believe did not do well in the first two stages. She has always had trust issues and does not like to be around other people. These trust issues then led her to have issues with feeling autonomous because she always wanted mom’s help with everything. Not doing well in these first two stages has limited her ability to grow in this third stage of development.
Industry vs. Inferiority
Industry vs. inferiority occurs in children between six and eleven years of age. During this stage there is a battle between productivity and incompetence (Berger, 2014). This time of life is extremely important for learning. Teachers become a huge part of the child’s life and can greatly influence their abilities. Children will begin to understand their strengths and weaknesses. They will take pride in their accomplishments and often times will feel inferior in certain areas (McLeod, 2008). This balance will drive them later on in life when deciding which skills to pursue and which to leave behind.
Identity vs. Role Confusion
Identity vs. role confusion usually occurs in adolescence and ultimately can continue to evolve throughout life. This is the time in life when children start to determine who they are and what they want to become. Erickson says this crisis becomes resolved with Identity achievement. At this point a person understands who he or she is through past experiences and future plans (Berger, 2014). Identity is the development of Erickson’s first four stages. Someone who has trust of the world, found autonomy, took initiative, and was industrious will most likely have developed a wonderful identity. For many this topic will bring up memories of high school. when everyone had to decide who their friends would be or what extracurricular activities they would participate in. The opposite side of identity is role confusion. Role confusion is basically a lack or care for an identity (Berger, 2014). This can be portrayed as a lack of commitment to goals or to any direction in life.
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Now that an identity has been achieved one can now experience Erickson’s sixth stage, intimacy vs. isolation. After individuals know who they are they can now start to find another person that shares many of the same values. This drive or desire to share one’s life with someone else is known as intimacy. For most people this urge can be powerful and will lead to friends, lovers, companions or partners. These bonds are important and require both parties involved to sacrifice ego loss (Berger, 2014). If these connections are not developed then more than likely the individual will go into a state of isolation. This can be a scary time for those that are in this phase and can lead to hopelessness and depression.
Generativity vs. Stagnation
Generativity vs. stagnation is the next stage in Erickson’s theory. When adults reach this stage they begin to seek to be examples to the younger generation. This fulfillment can be accomplished in multiple ways. The first way is through parenting. Being a parent allows them to pass along their morals and values through daily experiences. Other areas to fulfill this need can come from volunteer work, employment or artistic expression. Erickson wrote, the mature adult “needs to be needed” (Berger, 2014). Generativity can be challenging to achieve and may never be fulfilled.
Ego Integrity vs. Despair
Integrity vs. Despair is the last stage of Erickson’s development. This is the stage when a person can look back on their life and see the good they were involved in. It is also the feeling of being whole, not scattered, and comfortable with oneself. On the flipside, there are those that feel they did not reach their potential in life and go into a state of despair and depression. Another way despair can occur is through death and loss of intimate relationships.
Final Thoughts
The examples above are people or situations in my life that I have been able to relate to the material. The personal stories have yet to have positive outcomes and sometimes these positive outcomes will never come. This pessimistic view about some situations has come to fruition from my experiences in psychiatry. I realized that life can be unfair for some people and sometimes people who do not progress through these stages of development have negative life outcomes. Working in the hospital I see kids that are born into really bad situations. I realize some of these kids will progress normally and reach these stages of development, but my fear is that these little babies are going to end up on the behavioral unit later on in life.
References
Berger, K. S. (2014). Invitation to The Life Span. New York: Worth Publishers.
McLeod, S. (2008, january 1). Erik Erickson. Retrieved December 8, 2105, from Simply Psychology: http://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html
Throughout this semester discussions occurred on many developmental theories including those by Sigmund Freud, Erik Erickson, Jean Piaget and many others. During class discussion and personal studies the works and ideas of Erickson were most intriguing to me. I discovered myself relating more to his explanations of development, which has guided me to research his theory in more depth.
Erik Erickson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development
When discussing Erickson it is imperative to understand that his first experiences in psychology were under the mentorship of Sigmund Freud. This is apparent in many areas of Erickson’s developmental stages, particularly in the first five stages (Berger, 2014). One of the main differences between Freud and Erickson were their specialties. Freud was an Id psychologist and had a large focus between the id and the superego whereas Erickson was an ego psychologist who focused on social and cultural characteristics and the conflicts within the ego (McLeod, 2008). This varying approach led Erickson to view development from a psychosocial view and believed that growth will continue throughout the lifespan. Erickson developed a model that has different conflicts for each stage of development. These conflicts are generally polar opposites and are separated by a versus symbol. This separation is indication that in every stage there is flexibility where each individual person will be. For example, one of the stages is industry vs. inferiority. Some of us may be slightly industrious at this stage while others can be less or more industrious. Erickson also believes that success in the early stages will help individuals to complete the later stages more successfully. One last difference between Erickson and Freud is Erickson believes people can complete any stage at any point in their life and that we can also fall back and forth between stages (McLeod, 2008). These developmental stages begin to develop at birth with trust vs. mistrust and continue until death with ego integrity vs. despair.
Trust vs. Mistrust
According to Erickson trust vs. mistrust is the first crisis or life for an infant and usually takes place during the first year of life (Berger, 2014). This stage is where babies decide whether the world can be trusted to take care of their basic needs. The development of this phase relies mainly on the primary care provider for the baby. Babies need consistent, reliable, and predictable care to develop a strong sense of security and safety.
While working on the infant unit at Primary Children’s Hospital I often wonder about the effects of long-term hospitalization and the development of the infants psyche. The hospital is an extremely hostile place for an infant to be for an extended period of time. Although consistency is desired, often times we are not able to provide this and I believe it can cause lasting damage later on in the child’s life.
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
The second stage in Erickson’s developmental theory is autonomy vs. Shame and doubt. This stage usually takes place in children when they begin to become self-aware which usually around the age of 18 months (Berger, 2014). This stage is extremely important for children to develop. They need to begin to feel autonomous and feel like they have control of their own actions. This development will help the child build confidence in his or her abilities to act independently. If a child does not develop autonomy he/she will begin to have feelings shame or doubt when doing things independently. Similar to Freud, Erickson believes that problems such as this during infancy can last a lifetime. So a child who has shame and doubt will most likely lead to an adult who is easily shamed and suspicious of their surroundings (Berger, 2014).
I have also seen this take place in the hospital setting with children in this stage. When kids are sick parents tend to take extra time to do everything for the child. They don’t allow the child to do things on their own for fear of getting hurt, or just the mentality that they are sick so they can’t do anything by themselves. When the time comes where the children need to do something by themselves they have a hard time feeling confident and usually need their parent’s help to accomplish the task.
Initiative vs. Guilt
Erickson’s third stage of development usually begins to occur between three and five years old. During this age the child has already developed of sense of autonomy and now is starting to interact with other children. This interaction is super important and allows them to develop personal skills. During this phase of life children are eager to learn, acquire new skills, or begin a new project. They will believe that anything is possible and that any goal can be achieved (McLeod, 2008) . There is a fine line that is walked for parents during this stage. Parents need to be supportive of their children and allow them to take initiative, while also teaching them to control their emotions. If parents squander some of these actions the child could begin to develop feelings of guilt and self-doubt. These feelings will limit the child’s ability to interact with others and inhibit creativity.
I have seen both sides of this occur with my nieces and nephews. I have one nephew that takes initiative to try to new things and is always willing to stand up and take the lead. When observing his parents it is not surprising to see their willingness to support their child and help him grow and develop some of these abilities. Whereas another niece is very passive and is always worried about trying new things. If she does try something new, she easily gives up on it if she does not find success right away. I can tell that she feels embarrassed a lot of the time and this limits her interactions with her cousins. My niece is also an example of a child who I believe did not do well in the first two stages. She has always had trust issues and does not like to be around other people. These trust issues then led her to have issues with feeling autonomous because she always wanted mom’s help with everything. Not doing well in these first two stages has limited her ability to grow in this third stage of development.
Industry vs. Inferiority
Industry vs. inferiority occurs in children between six and eleven years of age. During this stage there is a battle between productivity and incompetence (Berger, 2014). This time of life is extremely important for learning. Teachers become a huge part of the child’s life and can greatly influence their abilities. Children will begin to understand their strengths and weaknesses. They will take pride in their accomplishments and often times will feel inferior in certain areas (McLeod, 2008). This balance will drive them later on in life when deciding which skills to pursue and which to leave behind.
Identity vs. Role Confusion
Identity vs. role confusion usually occurs in adolescence and ultimately can continue to evolve throughout life. This is the time in life when children start to determine who they are and what they want to become. Erickson says this crisis becomes resolved with Identity achievement. At this point a person understands who he or she is through past experiences and future plans (Berger, 2014). Identity is the development of Erickson’s first four stages. Someone who has trust of the world, found autonomy, took initiative, and was industrious will most likely have developed a wonderful identity. For many this topic will bring up memories of high school. when everyone had to decide who their friends would be or what extracurricular activities they would participate in. The opposite side of identity is role confusion. Role confusion is basically a lack or care for an identity (Berger, 2014). This can be portrayed as a lack of commitment to goals or to any direction in life.
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Now that an identity has been achieved one can now experience Erickson’s sixth stage, intimacy vs. isolation. After individuals know who they are they can now start to find another person that shares many of the same values. This drive or desire to share one’s life with someone else is known as intimacy. For most people this urge can be powerful and will lead to friends, lovers, companions or partners. These bonds are important and require both parties involved to sacrifice ego loss (Berger, 2014). If these connections are not developed then more than likely the individual will go into a state of isolation. This can be a scary time for those that are in this phase and can lead to hopelessness and depression.
Generativity vs. Stagnation
Generativity vs. stagnation is the next stage in Erickson’s theory. When adults reach this stage they begin to seek to be examples to the younger generation. This fulfillment can be accomplished in multiple ways. The first way is through parenting. Being a parent allows them to pass along their morals and values through daily experiences. Other areas to fulfill this need can come from volunteer work, employment or artistic expression. Erickson wrote, the mature adult “needs to be needed” (Berger, 2014). Generativity can be challenging to achieve and may never be fulfilled.
Ego Integrity vs. Despair
Integrity vs. Despair is the last stage of Erickson’s development. This is the stage when a person can look back on their life and see the good they were involved in. It is also the feeling of being whole, not scattered, and comfortable with oneself. On the flipside, there are those that feel they did not reach their potential in life and go into a state of despair and depression. Another way despair can occur is through death and loss of intimate relationships.
Final Thoughts
The examples above are people or situations in my life that I have been able to relate to the material. The personal stories have yet to have positive outcomes and sometimes these positive outcomes will never come. This pessimistic view about some situations has come to fruition from my experiences in psychiatry. I realized that life can be unfair for some people and sometimes people who do not progress through these stages of development have negative life outcomes. Working in the hospital I see kids that are born into really bad situations. I realize some of these kids will progress normally and reach these stages of development, but my fear is that these little babies are going to end up on the behavioral unit later on in life.
References
Berger, K. S. (2014). Invitation to The Life Span. New York: Worth Publishers.
McLeod, S. (2008, january 1). Erik Erickson. Retrieved December 8, 2105, from Simply Psychology: http://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html