Question

Give a real-life example of a person who is having an identity crisis. What kind of confusion of roles would this person have? What would this person need to do to have a positive identity resolution rather than a negative resolution? Why was the quality of the parent-child relationship so important to Erikson? Discuss at least five (5) things that Erikson would have said a parent should do to encourage the basic strengths in children younger than 11 years of age. Define Erikson’s concepts of maldevelopment and malignancy. Why are these bad for your personality? How can these conditions be corrected (be specific)? Think about Erikson’s theory in terms of cultural bias. What aspects of his theory are cultural-specific versus universal to all cultures? What aspects of his theory relate to culture-specific child rearing practices that may not be shared across all cultures? You may need to use web resources for this question. Think about Erikson’s theory in terms of gender bias. Is his theory equally pertinent to both genders? Be specific—are there any of his stages or crises that might have different crises or might be resolved differently for males versus females? You may need to use web resources for this question.

Answer 1

Imagine a teenager of 13years whose peers are focrcing her to have sexual intercourse and are even teasing her for being a virgin. She comes from a religious family and belives in having only one partner for whole her life. In this situation, a child is going through identity crisis where she doens't know wheter she should follow her religion or follow her peers beliefs.

For a positive resolution of the identity, this child can first explore and weight both the situations in their moral principle. She can choose what she feels won't harm herself in future and of which identity she won't feel guilty about in future.

The quality of parent-child was important to Erikson as he belibved the initial atatchment t o parents frames the path for positive development of the child.

5 things- Unconditional love, Give freedom to child to explore environment , Let the child make own decisions, Let him be opinionated, No violence,  

Erikson developed clearer ideas and terminology - notably 'Maladaptations' and 'Malignancies' - to represent the negative outcomes arising from an unhelpful experience through each of the crisis stages.In crude modern terms these negative outcomes might be referred to as 'baggage', which although somewhat unscientific, is actually a very apt metaphor, since people tend to carry with them through life the psychological outcomes of previously unhelpful experiences.  

Malignancies and maladaptations can manifest in various ways. Here are examples, using more modern and common language, to help understand and interpret the meaning and possible attitudes, tendencies, behaviours, etc., within the various malignancies and malapdations. In each case the examples can manifest as more extreme mental difficulties, in which case the terms would be more extreme too. These examples are open to additional interpretation and are intended to be a guide, not scientific certainties. Neither do these examples suggest that anyone experiencing any of these behavioural tendencies is suffering from mental problems. Erikson never established any absolute measurement of emotional difficulty or tendency as to be defined as a malignancy or maladaptation.