Each stage of development is focused on overcoming a conflict. Success or failure impacts overall functioning. I find the names of the stages to be relatively self-explanatory, but this site: http://allpsych.com/psychology101/social_development.html has a decent discussion of each stage. Erikson theorized that successful completion of each stage would result in a healthy, normal individual. Unsuccessful completion of a stage could result in either an unhealthy personality or the inability to complete later stages. Fortunately for those people, Erikson also believed that one could return to a previously unsuccessfully negotiated challenge & have a “re-do” so to speak. Research around Erikson’s theory has lent credence to the theory. For an interesting & more lengthy discussion of the theory, including a little bit of bio about Erikson visit here: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/erikson.html. I found the bio & how he developed the theory pretty interesting stuff, but I’m going to take a shot in the dark and say that the clinical exam probably doesn’t ask where Erikson was born.
Stages are:
| Life Stage | Psychosocial Challenge | Significant Others |
| Infancy (birth – age 1 or 1 ½) | Trust vs mistrust | Maternal caregiver |
| Early Childhood (age 1 ½ to 3) | Autonomy vs shame & doubt | Paternal caregiver |
| Play age (age 3 to 6) | Initiative vs guilt | Family |
| School age (Age 6 to 12) | Industry vs inferiority | Neighborhood |
| Adolescence (Age 12 to 18) | Identity vs identity diffusion | Peers |
| Young adult (Age 19 – 40) | Intimacy vs isolation | Partners |
| Adulthood (Age 40 – 65) | Generativity vs self-absorption | Household |
| Mature age (Age 65 on) | Integrity vs disgust & despair | Humanity |
(credit to Walsh, 2006 for table, ages added from Wikipedia)
- Critiques of the theory:
- As with any linear model, one may question whether the stages must occur in the order in which they are presented. Might there be recycling through stages?
- The adolescent stage in which the psychosocial challenge is identity presents a question to some people. Do we only search for identity in the adolescent years?
- After the extensive criticism I found yesterday about Freud & his Psychosexual stages, the critiques on Erikson seem relatively slim. Reviewing the material, I did find the age ranges to be somewhat restricting. At the age of 29, I still see myself sorting out my identity at times & working in the next stage at other times, asking myself questions like, “What am I contributing to the world?”
- I did not really see anyone else pointing this out, although I’m sure I’m not the first, but the stages seem culture-bound to me. In a culture where people mate earlier or later, or where autonomy is not emphasized as it is in our culture, I would suspect things might be a tad bit different.
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