In: Psychology
Identify the main ideas behind Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development.
Erik Erikson (1950, 1963) proposed a theory of psychosocial development that has eight stages spanning from infancy to adulthood. During each stage of the lifecycle, the person experiences a psychosocial crisis that can result in a positive or negative outcome for personality development.
The Erikson's theory presents a wide and integrated set of life skills and abilities that function together to make an individual. Erikson was interested in how children socialize and how this affects their sense of self. According to Erikson, the ego develops successfully by overcoming the critical choices in the life stage development that are distinctly social in nature. These involve establishing a sense of trust in others, developing a sense of identity in society, and helping the next generation prepare for the future.
Erikson's theory is an extension of Freudian thoughts. Erikson's theory focuses on the adaptive and creative character of the ego and furthermore looks at the stages of personality development to include the entire lifespan. Erik Erikson also like other psychologist believed that personality develops in a predetermined order, and builds upon each previous stage.