PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY

ERIK ERIKSON (reviewer,, trisha m)

BIOGRAPHY to the leveling forces of society. It has three

•Born on June 15,1902, in southern Germany. aspects:
He was raised by his mother and step-father •Body Ego - experiences with our body; a
•During his late adolescence he left home to way of seeing our physical self as different
become a wandering artist and poet. After 7 from other people.
years of fruitless soul-searching he returned •Ego Ideal - the image we have of ourselves
home in comparison with an established ideal;
•He undergone psychoanalysis by Anna Freud, responsible for our being satisfied or
stressing that his problem is searching for the dissatisfied
identity of his biological brother •Ego Identity - the image we have of
•Erikson married Canadian teacher, Joan ourselves in the variety of social roles we play
Serson of whom he had 4 children
•He experienced identity crisis during his adult EGO DEVELOPMENT
life affecting his role as a father. He kept secret •The ego is largely shaped by society. Our
to his children the identity of their youngest development is based on the child rearing
brother who was born with down syndrome and practices of our culture.
who was placed in an institution. •Pseudospecies - an illusion held by a
•He also faced difficulty finding jobs for his lack particular society that they are somewhat
of academic credentials special from other societies
•In 1933, the family immigrated to the United
States. There he changed his Jewish name EPIGENETIC PRINCIPLE
“Homburger” to “Erikson”
•The ego develops throughout the various
•In 1950, Erikson published Childhood and stages of life
Society where he recognized that the influence
•Borrowed from Embryology
of psychological, cultural, and historical factors
on identity was the underlying element of his •The embryo does not begin as a completely
theory formed little person, waiting to merely expand
its structure and form. Rather, it develops, or
•He spent the rest of his life teaching, lecturing
should develop, according to a predetermined
and giving therapies.
rate and in a fixed sequence
•He died May 12, 1994, at the age of 91.

OVERVIEW OF PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY

•It is considered “Post-Freudian” as it extends
Freud’s theory on development
•It postulated eight stages of psychosocial
development through which people progress in
their whole life
•Erikson suggested that each stage a specific
psychosocial struggle contributes to the
formation of personality. From adolescence on,
that struggle takes the form of an identity
crisis—
•a turning point in one’s life that may either
LEVELS OF PSYCHOSOCIAL
strengthen or weaken personality.
DEVELOPMENT
•He placed more emphasis on both social and
historical influences
THINGS TO REMEMBER:
1. Growth takes place according to the
EGO ASPECTS
epigenetic principle
•The ego is a positive force that creates a self 2. Every stage has an interaction of
identity, a sense of “I; center of personality. It opposites; conflict between a syntonic
helps adapt to the various conflicts and crises (harmonious) element and a
of life; keeping us from losing our individuality dystonic (disruptive) element
 PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY
ERIK ERIKSON (reviewer,, trisha m)
3. The conflict between the dystonic and •Psychosocial Crisis: Autonomy vs Shame
syntonic elements produces an ego & Doubt
quality or ego strength, referred to as a •Toddlers learn Autonomy when parents
basic strength allows them to explore their surroundings and
4. Too little basic strength at any one Shame and Doubt when they assert control or
stage results in a core pathology react negatively to their behavior;
5. Biological aspect of development still •Grows out of trust; Too little autonomy leads
has influence to excessive conscience and self shame
6. Earlier stages do not cause later
•Basic Strength: Will
personality development
7. Personality development is •Self control, ability to make choices
characterized by an identity crisis, •Core Pathology: Compulsion;
which Erikson (1968) called “a turning
point, a crucial period of increased
vulnerability and heightened potential” Play Age (3-5)
•Psychosexual Mode: Genital-Locomotor
•The interest that play-age children have in
genital activity is accompanied by their
increasing facility at locomotion.
•Oedipal situation as a prototype “of the
lifelong power of human playfulness”
•Psychosocial Crisis: Initiative vs Guilt
•Children learn Initiative when they engage in
productive activities and Guilt when certain
desires and goals are repressed (Oedipus);
•Too much Initiative leads to lack of moral
principles; Too little initiative leads to inhibition
Infancy (0-1) •Basic Strength: Purpose
•Psychosexual Mode: Oral Sensory •Pleasure in accomplishments; set and
pursure goals
•characterized by two modes of incorporation
—receiving and accepting what is given. •Core Pathology: Inhibition; depreciation
•Psychosocial Crisis: Basic Trust vs Basic
Mistrust School Age (6-12)
•Infants learn trust when primary caregiver •Psychosexual Mode: Latency
regularly provides them and mistrust when •diversion of energies to learning and social
needs are not met; interactions
•Too much trust leads to gullibleness while too •Psychosocial Crisis: Industry vs Inferiority
little trust leads to hostility and depression •Children learn Industry when they acquire
•Basic Strength: Hope necessary skills to perform well and be
•By having both painful and pleasurable appreciated for it and Inferiority when work is
experiences, infants learn to expect that future deemed insufficient but also motivate to do
distresses will meet with satisfactory better
outcomes. •Too much inferiority blocks productivity and
•Core Pathology: Withdrawal; retreat from stunt feelings of competence
outside world •Basic Strength: Competence
•Confidence to use one’s physical and
Early Childhood (2-3) cognitive abilities to solve the problems
•Psychosexual Mode: Anal-Urethral- •Core Pathology: Inertia; regression to an
Muscular earlier stage
•children learn to control their body, especially
in relation to cleanliness and mobility. Adolescence (12-19)
•Psychosexual Mode: Puberty
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ERIK ERIKSON (reviewer,, trisha m)
•triggers expectations of adult roles yet ahead •Stagnation - too absorbed in themselves, too
—roles that are essentially social and can be self-indulgent.
filled only through a struggle to attain ego • Sufficient stagnation is healthy in order to
identity. eventually generate new growth
•Psychosocial Crisis: Identity vs Identity •Basic Strength: Care
Confusion •A widening commitment to take care of the
•Identity emerges from two sources: (1) persons, the products, and the ideas one has
adolescents’ affirmation or repudiation of learned to care for”
childhood identifications, and (2) their •Core Pathology: Rejectivity; manifested as
historical and social contexts, which self-centeredness or psedospeciation
encourage conformity to certain standards.
•Identity confusion includes a divided self
Old Age (60-death)
image, an inability to establish intimacy, a
sense of time urgency, a lack of concentration •Psychosexual Mode: Generalized
on required tasks, and a rejection of family or Sensuality
community standards. •to take pleasure in a variety of different
•Basic Strength: Fidelity physical sensations
• Confidence in one’s own religious, political, •Psychosocial Crisis: Integrity vs Despair
and social ideologies •Integrity means a feeling of wholeness and
•Core Pathology: Role Repudiation; weak coherence, an ability to hold together one’s
sense of self; no set of standards sense of “I-ness”
• Despair means lack of hope and meaning
Young Adulthood (20-30) •Basic Strength: Wisdom
•Psychosexual Mode: Genitality •“informed and detached concern with life
itself in the face of death itself”; harmony of
•distinguished by mutual trust and a stable
Integrity and Despair
sharing of sexual satisfactions only with an
intimate relationship •Core Pathology: Disdain; bitterness in life
•Psychosocial Crisis: Intimacy vs Isolation
•Intimacy ability to fuse one’s identity with that ERIKSONIAN TECHNIQUES
of another person without fear of losing it. •GOAL : “ Search for one’s identity. ”
•Isolation is defined as inability to accept the •Questioned couch therapy, better if client and
adult responsibilities of productive work, therapist talk face to face
procreation, and mature love. • He believed that assessment techniques
• Too much togetherness can diminish a should be selected and modified to fit the
person’s sense of ego identity, unique requirements of the individual patient.
•Basic Strength: Love •Psychohistorical Analysis - Erikson used
•Although love includes intimacy, it also the framework of his lifespan theory of
contains some degree of isolation, because personality to describe the crises and the
each partner is permitted to retain a separate ways of coping of significant political, religious,
identity. and literary figures
•Core Pathology: Exclusivity; it blocks one’s
ability to cooperate, compete, or compromise Usefulness of the theory
1) Generates research - moderately high
Adulthood (31-60) 2) Falsifiable - average
•Psychosexual Mode: Procreativity 3) Organizes data - low
•assuming responsibility for the care of 4) Guides action - moderately low
offspring that result from that sexual contact 5) Internally consistent - high
•Psychosocial Crisis: Generativity vs 6) Parsimonious - average
Stagnation
•Generativity concerned with establishing and
guiding the next generation; family and work