Erikson’s Theory of psych Social Development & Its Educational Implications.

 Erikson’s Theory of psych Social Development & Its Educational Implications.

GLOSSARY

psychosexual development: process proposed by Freud in which pleasure-seeking urges focus on different erogenous zones of the body as humans move through five stages of life

psychosocial development: process proposed by Erikson in which social tasks are mastered as humans move through eight stages of life from infancy to adulthood

Erikson’s (1959) theory of psycho social development has eight distinct stages, taking in five stages up to the age of 18 years and three further stages beyond, well into adulthood.

Like Freud and many others, Erik Erikson maintained that personality develops in a predetermined order, and builds upon each previous stage. This is called the epigenetic principle.

During each stage, the person experiences a psycho social crisis which could have a positive or negative outcome for personality development. For Erikson (1963), these crises are of a psycho social nature because they involve psychological needs of the individual (i.e. psycho) conflicting with the needs of society (i.e. social).

According to the theory, successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and the acquisition of basic virtues. Basic virtues are characteristic strengths which the ego can use to resolve subsequent crises

Failure to successfully complete a stage can result in a reduced ability to complete further stages and therefore a more unhealthy personality and sense of self.  These stages, however,

Stage	Psychosocial Crisis	Basic Virtue	Age
1.	Trust vs. Mistrust	Hope	0 - 1½
2.	Autonomy vs. Shame	Will	1½ - 3
3.	Initiative vs. Guilt	Purpose	3 - 5
4.	Industry vs. Inferiority	Competency	5 - 12
5.	Identity vs. Role Confusion	Fidelity	12 - 18
6.	Intimacy vs. Isolation	Love	18 - 40
7.	Generativity vs. Stagnation	Care	40 - 65
8.	Ego Integrity vs. Despair	Wisdom	65+

1. Trust vs. Mistrust  (Oral-sensory, Birth-1 years)

• ·         Infants must rely on others for care
• ·         Consistent and dependable care giving and meeting infant needs leads to a sense of trust
• ·          Infants who are not well cared for will develop mistrust
• ·         Basic strength is HOPE

2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (Muscular-Anal, 2-3 years)

• ·         Children are discovering their own independence
• ·          Testing more independence by assuming more self-responsibilities

– Toilet, Feeding, Dressing

·   Those given the opportunity to experience independence will gain a sense of autonomy

·   Children that are overly restrained or punished harshly will develop shame and doubt.

·   Basic strength is WILL

3. Initiative vs. Guilt (Locomotor-Genital, Preschool, 3-6 years)

• ·         Preschoolers learn to plan out and carry out their goals
• ·         Sense of accomplishment leads to initiative
• ·         Feelings of guilt can emerge if the child is made to feel too anxious or irresponsible
• ·         Capacity of moral judgement has arrived
• ·         Basic strength is PURPOSE

4. Industry vs. Inferiority (Latency, 6-12 years)

·         Stage of life surrounding mastery of knowledge and intellectual skills

·         Sense of competence and achievement leads to industry

• ·         Feeling incompetent and unproductive leads to inferiority
• ·         Basic strength is COMPETENCE

5. Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence, 12-18 years) 

·     

•               Developing a sense of who one is and where one is going in life

– The adolescent’s path to successful identity achievement begins with identity diffusion.

– This is followed by a moratorium period.

– Gradually, the adolescent arrives at an integrated identity

• ·         Successful resolution leads to positive identity
• ·         Unsuccessful resolution leads to identity confusion or a negative identity
• ·         Basic strength is FIDELITY

6. Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young adulthood, 20-40 years)

• ·         Time for sharing oneself with another person
• ·          Capacity to hold commitments with others leads to intimacy
• ·         Failure to establish commitments leads to feelings of isolation
• ·         Basic strength is LOVE

7. Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle adulthood, 40-60 years)

• ·         Caring for others in family, friends, and work leads to sense of contribution to later
• Generations
• ·         Stagnation comes from a sense of boredom and meaninglessness
• ·         Basic strength is CARE

8. Ego Integrity vs. Despair (Late adulthood, 60-death)

• ·         Successful resolutions of all previous crises leads to integrity and the ability to see broad truths and advise those in earlier stages
• ·         Despair arises from feelings of helplessness and the bitter sense that life has been incomplete
• ·         Basic strength is WISDOM
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• Educational Implications of Erikson's Theory

• The strengths of Erikson’s theory are:

o   Stage theory - development took place in stages

o   Ego identify - formation of ego identity right from birth

o   Crisis – every individual has to go through crisis in his/her life

• The weaknesses of Erikson’s theory are:

o   Focus on the competing forces rather than emotional development of individuals

o   Difficult to be tested scientifically as it is not possible to measure some of the concepts upon which the theory is based

o   Fails to specify the effect of failure in one stage impacts which other stages

• Various educational implications of Erikson’s theory are possible depending upon the age group of the learner and the tasks they are expected to perform. For example,

o   Allowing the child to play with various natural, simple materials, and role-playing for the expression of fantasy and imagination.

o   Games, stories and songs can be used. Real-life activities like serving food, chopping vegetables or making chapattis, prepare children for participation in the community around them.

o   Child-directed activities where the child chooses his or her activity and repeats it as often as they want must be encouraged.

• Erikson’s psychosocial theory is a very powerful way for building self-awareness and for improving oneself, as it helps to understand a person’s learning according to his or her personal differences