Erik H. Erikson

Presented by :

Manish Mohan

Mitesh Jain

Monika Jain

Neha Behl

Erik H. Erikson

8 Stages of Development

Childhood And Society

Brief Biography

• Born in Frankfurt, Germany on June 15th , 1902• Tormented Childhood : Mystery about his heritage• From Erik Homberger to Erik Erikson -

a journey within self• Immigrated to the USA in 1933• Joined Harvard Medical School as child Psychoanalyst• Taught at University of Yale, Berkley and California. • Influenced by Sigmund and Anna Freud• Propounded his theory of Psychoanalysis

Major Contributions

• Eight Stages of Development• Identity Crisis • Psycho-social Development of Ego• Psycho-biography

Eight Stages of Development

• Development functions by the epigenetic principle. This principle says that we develop through a predetermined unfolding of our personalities in eight stages.

• One man in his time plays many psychosocial parts

• Positive Outcome: Develops Trust for the social world around.

• Negative Outcome: Develops apprehension and suspicion

• A proper balance if achieved results in : Hope Strong Belief

Age : 0 – 1 yearPsychological Crisis : Trust VS MistrustImportant Event : Parental Care

Stage 1: Infancy

Stage 2: Toddler

• Positive: Sense of achievement

• Negative: Feel ashamed to manipulate his or her environment Starts doubting his/her abilities

• If conflict resolved, develops virtues of : Will-Power Determination

Age : 1 - 2 yearPsychological Crisis : Independence (Autonomy) vs.

Shame (Doubt)Important Event : Freedom

• Positive: Capacity for Action. Desire to accomplished

• Negative: Develops a sense of guilt and aversion to independence Always looks for permission and support

• If conflict resolved, develops virtues of : Purpose Courage

Stage 3: Early Childhood

Age : 2 - 6 yearPsychological Crisis : Initiative VS GuiltImportant Event : Encouragement of Fantasies,

imagination and Curiosity

Stage 4 : Latency

• Positive: Discover pleasure in intellectual stimulationDevelop a sense of industry

• Negative:Develop a sense of inferiority

• If conflict resolved, develops virtues of :Competency

Age : 6 – 12 yearPsychological Crisis : Industry vs. Inferiority Important Event : School

Stage 5: Adolescence

• Positive: Strong identity Ready to plan for the future

• Negative: Will sink into confusionWithdrawal from responsibilities

• If conflict resolved, develops virtues of : Fidelity

Age : 12 - 18 yearPsychological Crisis : Identity vs. Role ConfusionImportant Event : Develop a strong devotion to friends

and causes

Stage 6: Young AdulthoodAge : 18 to 35 yearPsychological Crisis : Intimacy Vs IsolationImportant Event : Significant relationships are with marital

partners and friends

• Positive: Achieve a sense of identityForm a close relationship

• Negative: Will retreat to isolation Will fear commitment

• If conflict resolved, develops virtues of : Love

Stage 7: Middle adulthoodAge : 35 to 55 yearPsychological Crisis : Generativity Vs StagnationImportant Event : Parenting

• Positive: Helping the next generation

• Negative: Self centered and stagnating

• If conflict resolved, develops virtues of:

Caring

Stage 8: Late Adulthood

• Positive: Accept death with sense of integrityAchieve a sense of fulfillment

• Negative: Despair and fear death

• If conflict resolved, develops virtues of : Wisdom

Age : 55 to 65 years or deathPsychological Crisis : Integrity vs. DespairImportant Event : Acceptance of one's life

Identity Crisis

•A person with a strong sense of identity has a sense of uniqueness while also having a sense of belonging and wholeness.

•According to Erikson, an identity crisis is a time in a person's life when they lack direction, feel unproductive, and do not feel a strong sense of identity.

•It may be first observed during the adolescent age

•He believed that we all have identity crises at one time or another in our lives

•These crises do not necessarily represent a negative but can be a driving force toward positive resolution. 

Driving Forces

• His own Identity Crisis : There is a little mystery about his heritage. His biological father was an unnamed Danish man who abandoned Erik’s mother before he was born.

Raised Jewish, Erikson appeared very Scandinavian, and he felt like an outsider to both the groups.

• Mentally Challenged Son :

His fourth child suffered from severe Down Syndrome and was institutionalized right from birth with little (or no) parental care or contact.

His presence (or rather absence) contributed significantly to Erik’s work on Eight Stage model of human life-cycle.

Erikson & Freud

• Freud: Psychological growth is shaped during the formative early

years, 5 stages.Psychosexual stages of ego development.

• Erikson: Ego and the sense of identity are shaped over the entire life

span, 8 stages.Side by side with psychosexual stages of ego development,

were psychosocial stages of ego development, in which the individual had to establish new basic orientations to himself and social world.

Literary Works• Childhood and Society(1950 )

– Deals with individual identity, its development, its crises and its relation to the cultural order.' Eight stages of life‘

• Identity: Youth and Crisis(1968 )– Covers theoretical intersections of psychoanalysis, history and social sciences.

• Insight and Responsibility(1964) – History, Psychoanalysis and the gap between them.– Psychoanalytic insight into religion and ethics

• Life History and Historical Moment(1975 ) – Deals with the culture and political upheavals of the sixties.

Psychobiography:• Young Man Luther(1958 )

• Gandhi’s Truth(1969): On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National book Award.

•Difficult to create objectives to evaluate Erikson's identity theory.

•Favorite method: biographical case study - time consuming, expensive and difficult.

•Many social scientists considered Mr. Erikson ill grounded in their fields.

•Controversial aspect of Erikson's work is his agreement with Freud that personality differences between sexes are biologically based.

•More attention is paid to infancy and childhood than to adult life, despite the claim to be a life-span theory.

CRITIQUES

Children love and want to be loved and they very much prefer the joy of accomplishment to the triumph of

hateful failure. Do not mistake a child for his symptom. -Erik Erikson

Open Space…………..Thank You!!!

Sources:

1. Alan C. Elms, Erikson's History (Review of Identity's Architect By Lawrence J. Friedman), “http://ulmus.net/library/articlespagee5c0.html?ID=89”

2. Elkind D., 5-04-1970, Erik Erikson’s Eight Ages of Man, The New York Times Magazine, “http://www.ceed.pdx.edu/ectc_sscbt/pdfs/EriksonsEightAgesofMan.pdf”

3. ROBERT NISBET, The New York Times, February 28, 1965,A Gulf in Need of a Bridge, “http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/22/specials/erikson-insight.html”

4. By ROBERT A. NISBET,A Sense of Personal Sameness, March 31, 1968,The New York Times, "http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/22/specials/erikson-identity.html"

5. Ronald Wintrob, WCPRR July/October 2006, 1(3/4): 114-121, “http://www.wcprr.org/pdf/JULOCT06/JULOCT06114121.pdf”

6. By Marshall Berman, March 30, 1975, Erik Erikson, the Man Who Invented Himself, “http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/22/specials/erikson-history.html”

7. Erik Erikson's 8 Stages of Psychosocial Development, “http://web.cortland.edu/andersmd/ERIK/welcome.HTML”

8. Erik Erikson, NNDB, “http://www.nndb.com/people/151/000097857/”