Erik Erikson

1. Erik Erikson

2. Biography • Born in 1902 in Frankfurt, Germany. • Scandinavian father left his mother before Erik was born. He thought his Jewish stepfather, Theodor Homburger, was his father. • Became a wandering artist but felt his life lacked meaning. • Obsessed with finding identity of his true father. • Underwent psychoanalysis with Anna Freud. • Married Joan Serson and had four children. • Youngest son Neil had Down Syndrome and was institutionalized. Other children were told he had died.

3. Biography cont. • When Nazis rose to power in 1933, the family moved to Boston. • Changed his last name from Homburger to Erikson. • Erikson had no formal training or even a college degree but accepted several influential research positions. • Lived for awhile with the Sioux Indians in South Dakota and the Yurok people of northern California. • Ended up at Harvard as professor human development. • Died in 1994. • Never found out who his true father was.

4. Agreement with Freud • People are born with a number of basic instincts. • Development occurs in stages. • Child must successfully resolve some conflict or crisis at each stage in order to be prepared ofr the crises that emerge later in life.

5. Disagreement with Freud • Thought children were active adapters to environment instead of passive creatures. • Assumed humans are basically rational, not irrational. • Ego doesn’t just mediate between id and superego; it’s a positive force for development and acquires skills at each stage that help one become a productive member of society. • Basic psychological conflict, not psychosexual, determines healthy or maladaptive outcomes at each stage. • Normal development must be viewed in context with one’s culture.

6. Theory of Psychosocial Development • Each stage consists of a unique developmental task or crisis that must be faced. • Crisis is not a catastrophe but merely a turning point—person can either learn and grow from it or become weakened by it. • Each crisis is primarily social in nature. • The more the individual resolves each conflict, the healthier the development will be. • Adjustment requires balancing both positive and negative traits (though positive should dominate). • Conflicts are between biological maturation and social demands.

7. Basic Trust vs. Mistrust • Birth to 1 year; corresponds to Freud’s oral stage • Babies must learn to trust caregivers • “Who is going to feed me and take care of me?” • Trust develops when needs are met. • Mistrust results from neglectful or inconsistent parenting. Child never receives the care he needs

8. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt • Ages 1-3 (anal stage) • Children learn they have control over own body • Discovering newfound motor and cognitive skills • Want to be independent • Parents should guide child and teach him to control impulses, but not in a harsh manner. • Give child choices; let him explore environment • Autonomy develops when parent allows child freedom to make own decisions. • Child determines difference between right and wrong and chooses “right” most of the time. • Shame and doubt occur when parent is overly controlling or makes fun of him. Child learns to doubt self.

9. Initiative vs. Guilt • 3-6 (phallic stage) • Child tries to act grown-up and do things beyond capabilities • Learns how to make plans, carry out actions, get along with peers • Child knows he’s autonomous and independent. • Parents must support child’s sense of independence for child to establish initiative. • Guilt occurs if parents demand too much self-control from child. • Failure at this stage results in a child who can’t make decisions and whose self-confidence is low. Research confirms problems with self-esteem resulting from dysfunctional families.

10. Industry vs. Inferiority • 6-11 (latency period) • Children master social and academic skills • Compare themselves to peers—do they measure up? • Gets pleasure from completion of tasks, particularly academic tasks. • Successful navigation results in a child who can solve problems and take pride in accomplishments. • Unsuccessful  child who feels inferior, incapable of reaching positive solutions and unable to achieve what peers are achieving

11. Identity vs. Identity Confusion • Most famous and influential of Erikson’s stages • Adolescence—Who am I? • Teen tries on different roles, trying to integrate identities from previous stages. • Society is allowing them more freedom in the areas of friendships and careers. • Success  person has a clear and multifaceted sense of self—has integrated many roles into a single identity that is his own • Failure perpetual identity crisis (uncertainty about one’s abilities, associations, and future goals)

12. Intimacy vs. Isolation • Young adulthood • Task is to form strong, close relationships with others and ultimately a love relationship • Allowing others to get to know the newfound sense of self in an intimate way • If there’s a problem with stage 1, there will be a problem here, too. • Success  person has ability to create strong social ties without losing oneself in process • Lack of success  loneliness and isolation; series of superficial relationships

13. Generativity vs. Stagnation • Middle adulthood • Generativity—giving to others through childrearing, career, community service, or otherwise caring for others; doing something to ensure next generation’s success • Stagnation—feeling empty and feeling that life is meaningless Generativity Stagnation

14. Ego integrity vs. despair • Late adulthood • Older person looks back on life and assesses it • They either feel satisfied and have no regrets, or they feel despair of a life wasted—filled with regrets. • If dissatisfied, they fear death more. • Scrooge is an example of someone who was in despair but found integrity in the end.

15. Summary • Erikson believes that successful resolution of these conflicts prepares a person for the next stage in life. • If you fail to resolve these conflicts, you’re almost certain to encounter problems in the future. • There’s always hope—you can go back and fix things from earlier stages. • More optimistic than Freud’s theory. • Biggest problem is that it’s hard to test empirically.