Erikson’s psychosocial development stages respond to a comprehensive psychoanalytic theory that identifies a series of steps a healthy individual goes through throughout his life, each stage would be characterized by a psychosocial crisis of two conflicting forces.
Erikson, like Sigmund Freud, believed that personality developed in a series of stages; the fundamental difference is that Freud founded his theory of developing a series of psychosexual steps; Erikson, in turn, focused on psychosocial development; Erikson was interested in how interaction and social relations played a role in the development and growth of humans.
Do a man’s conflicts represent what he really is?Erik Erikson?
Each of the eight steps erikson describes in his theory of psychosocial development is based on previous steps, so it facilitates the path to later evolutionary periods, so we can talk about a model that points, in a way, towards a vital segment.
Erikson proposed that people live, at each stage, a conflict that serves as a turning point in development, a stimulus for evolution, these conflicts focus on the development of a psychological quality or do not develop that quality. personal growth is high, as is the potential for failure.
Thus, if people are able to face conflict, they overcome this stage with psychological forces that will serve them for the rest of their lives, but if, on the contrary, they fail to overcome them effectively, they may not develop the essentials. skills needed to successfully meet the challenges of the next steps.
Erikson also stated that a sense of competence motivates behavior and actions, so every stage of Erikson’s psychosocial development theory refers to becoming an expert in a field of life, so if the scene is handled well, the person will have a sense of control. , but if the scene is misunderstood, the person will end up with a sense of inadequacy in this aspect of development.
In the first stage of Erikson’s psychosocial development, children learn to trust, or not, others. Trust has a lot to do with attachment, relationship management, and the extent to which the child expects others to meet their needs. is totally dependent, the development of trust depends on the reliability and quality of the child’s caregivers, especially the mother.
If parents expose the child to a loving relationship in which trust prevails, the child is likely to also take this position before the world; If parents don’t provide a safe environment and don’t meet the child’s basic needs, they’ll probably learn not to expect anything from others. The development of mistrust can lead to feelings of frustration, suspicion or insensitivity to what is happening in an environment where they expect little or nothing.
In the second stage of Erikson’s psychosocial development, children gain some control over the body, which in turn increases their autonomy; by successfully completing the tasks themselves, they acquire a sense of independence and autonomy. take control, parents and caregivers can help them develop a sense of independence.
Children who pass this stage usually have a healthy and strong self-esteem, while those who generally do not feel that they walk on very unstable terrain: themselves (their own support). Erikson believed that achieving a balance between autonomy, shame and doubt would lead to will, which is the belief that children can act with intent, rightly and within limits.
In the third stage proposed by Erikson, children begin to strengthen their power and control over the world by playing, a benchmark of incalculable value for social interactions, when they achieve an ideal balance between individual initiative and the will to work with others, quality appears the ego known as goal.
Children who succeed at this stage feel able and confident to guide others. Those who do not acquire these skills will probably have a sense of guilt, doubt and lack of initiative.
Guilt is good because it demonstrates children’s ability to recognize when they have done something wrong, however, excessive and undeserved guilt can lead the child to abandon challenges so as not to feel able to face them: guilt is always one of the richest nutrients. scary.
Children start performing more complicated tasks; their brains reach a high degree of maturity, allowing them to begin processing abstractions. They can also recognize their skills as well as the skills of their teammates. In fact, children often insist on more difficult and demanding tasks. , they hope to get the associated recognition.
Success in finding balance at this stage of psychosocial development leads us to talk about competence: children develop confidence in their ability to face the tasks presented to them, another important achievement is that they are beginning to more realistically calibrate the challenges for which they are prepared. face and those who are not.
If some children can’t perform as well as they want, the feeling of inferiority often appears, if this echo of inferiority is not handled properly and the child is not helped with the emotional management of their failures, they can choose to give up any difficult tasks. for fear of reliving that feeling, that’s why it’s so important to consider a child’s effort to evaluate a task, separating it from the target result.
At this stage of Erikson’s stages, children become teenagers. They find their gender identity and begin to project an image of that future person they want to look like, as they grow up, they try to find their goals and roles in society, as well as solidify their unique identity.
At this stage, young people should also try to discern which activities are age-appropriate and which are considered “childish. “They must find a compromise between what they expect from themselves and what their environment expects of them. For Erikson, success in this Step means completing the construction of a solid and healthy foundation for adult life.
At this stage of Erikson’s psychosocial development, adolescents become young adults. At first, the confusion between identity and role comes to an end. For young adults, it is always an important priority to satisfy the desires of the environment and, therefore, “fit However, it is also a stage at which certain red lines begin to emerge autonomously: aspects that the person will not be willing to sacrifice to please someone.
Once people have established their identity, they are willing to engage in the long term with others. They become able to forge intimate and reciprocal relationships and voluntarily consent to the sacrifices and commitments these relationships require. If people fail to form these intimate relationships, a feeling of unwanted isolation can arise, creating feelings of darkness and anguish.
If during this phase people do not find a partner, they may feel isolated or alone, isolation can generate insecurities and a feeling of inferiority, because people may think that something is wrong with them, they may believe that they are not good enough for others. , which can lead to self-destructive trends.
As adults, we continue to build our lives by focusing on our careers and family. Generativity means caring for people beyond their immediate loved ones. As people enter the age of the “Middle Ages,” the scope of their lives extends from their environment, including themselves and their families, to a broader and more complete picture encompassing society and its heritage.
At this point, people recognize that life is not just about themselves; through their actions, they hope to make contributions that will become a legacy; when someone achieves this goal, they have a sense of accomplishment; However, if you don’t think it has contributed to the big picture, you may think that you haven’t done it or that you can’t do anything meaningful.
Generativity is not necessary for adults to live; however, their absence can deprive a person of a greater sense of accomplishment.
In the final stage of Erikson’s proposed steps, people can choose despair or integrity. Consider aging to be largely an accumulation of losses that require compensation. On the other hand, there is a sense that it has stayed longer than expected.
From this look to the past can arise despair and nostalgia in the form of fog or, on the contrary, the feeling that the footprints they left, the shared and what was done were worth it, one or two glances will somehow mark what the person expects of the future and the present.
People who have a global vision of their lives have no problem reconciling with that person from the past with who, at some point, do not know how to live, reaffirm the value of their existence and recognize their importance, not only to themselves, but also to others.
One of the strengths of psychosocial theory is that it provides a broad framework from which you can see development throughout life; it also allows us to emphasize the social nature of human beings and the important influence of social relationships on development.
However, Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development may be questioned whether his steps should be considered sequential and occur only in suggested age groups. There is a debate about whether people are trying to define their identity only during adolescence or whether a stage cannot begin until the previous one. The stage is completely finished.
An important weakness of Erikson’s psychosocial development theory is that the exact mechanisms for conflict resolution and the transition from one stage to the next are not well described or developed, in this sense the theory does not exactly detail the type of experiments required at each stage. to successfully resolve conflicts and move on to the next stage.