Outline Of Eriksons Theory

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02 Nov 2017

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‘Psychosocial theory offers a life-span view in which development is a product of the interactions between individuals and their social environments’ (Newman & Newman 2012, p82). This essay will discuss about Erikson’s theory:

The Basic Concepts of Erikson’s theory...................................................................... 2

Introduction...................................................................................................... 2

The eight stages of Erikson’s theory............................................................. 2,3

Conclusion........................................................................................................ 3

Application of Erikson’s theory to child development................................................ 4

First stage: Trust versus Mistrust..................................................................... 5

Second stage: Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt...................................... 5,6

Third stage: Initiative versus Guilt................................................................... 6

Fourth stage: Industry versus Inferiority.......................................................... 7

Application of Erikson’s theory to children in early primary level.............................. 8

Fourth stage: Industry versus Inferiority.......................................................... 8

Summary of Erikson’s theory...................................................................................... 9

References.................................................................................................................. 10

a. The Basic Concepts of Erikson’s theory.

Nowadays, the development of children has start being taken seriously by many people. They need to grow in a right way to prevent any negative effects happen in their lives. As human beings, we should care about this issue. There are many theories that will assist us to explore the human development and one of the theories is Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. The term psychosocial is actually the combination between two words which are psychological (mind) and social (relationships). It consists of eight stages of human development which was invented by a German psychoanalyst, Erik Homburger Erikson. Santrock (2011, p21) found that ‘according to Erikson, developmental change occurs throughout the life span’. This theory involved children and adults. Each stage of this theory has its own significance and role.

The first stage of Erikson’s theory is trust versus mistrust. Everyone will experience this phase in the first year of life. Trust or mistrust is build during this stage and usually mother or caregiver is the one who is responsible to develop this stage.

Next stage is autonomy versus shame and doubt. It occurs during late infancy and toddlerhood which is about one to three years old. At this phase, infants or toddlers begin to be autonomous or if they are not encourage being like that, the sense of shame and doubt will emerge. The nuclear family are the one who involve in developing this level.

Initiative versus guilt is the third stage of Erikson’s theory. This phase involved three to five years old children. Basically, it is related to preschool years. When children face new environment like preschool, the sense of initiative or guilt will appear. Besides family, teachers also play the role to enhance the children development.

The fourth stage in this theory is industry versus inferiority. It happens during the middle and late childhood which is during the elementary school years. At this stage, children age six years old to puberty are involved. Children at this phase will face either the sense of industry or the sense of inferiority. Now, the relationship among children and the society are increasing which are not just family and teachers involved but school, friends and neighbourhood will affect their lives psychologically.

Identity versus identity confusion is Erikson’s fifth developmental stage. During this phase, adolescent that is ten to twenty years old find out who they really are. If they fail to get their identity, they will face the identity confusion. Peers, groups and influences from the environment will determine them.

The sixth stage of Erikson’s theory is intimacy versus isolation. This stage involved people who age of twenty to thirty years old. According to Santrock (2011, p22), he claimed that ‘at this time, individuals face the developmental task of forming intimate relationships’. If they succeed, they will achieve the intimacy or if not the isolation will occur. This includes the relationships between lovers, friends and working connections.

Generativity versus stagnation is Erikson’s seventh developmental stage. Adults will face this during their middle adulthood. Generativity means a concern towards the younger generation to direct them to a better life and if the adults fail to do so they will achieve nothing which is stagnation. Usually this crisis will involve children and community.

The final stage of Erikson’s theory is integrity versus despair. Individuals will experience this during the last period of development which is late adulthood. This is the last stage where an individual reflects his or her past whether it is well spent or not. If it is well spent, the person will achieve integrity and if it is not, the person will experience the sense of despair. This covers the society, life and the world of that person.

Overall, these eight stages of Erikson’s theory are interdependent where only the way each of the stages to be handled are different. In the next section, only four stages will be discussed further which are related to the children development.

(658 words)

b. Application of Erikson’s theory to child development

Erikson's psychosocial crisis stages

(syntonic v dystonic)

life stage / relationships / issues

basic virtue and second named strength (potential positive outcomes from each crisis)

maladaptation / malignancy (potential negative outcome - one or the other - from unhelpful experience during each crisis)

1. Trust v Mistrust

infant / mother / feeding and being comforted, teething, sleeping

Hope and Drive

Sensory Distortion / Withdrawal

2. Autonomy v Shame & Doubt

toddler / parents / bodily functions, toilet training, muscular control, walking

Willpower and Self-Control

Impulsivity / Compulsion

3. Initiative v Guilt

preschool / family / exploration and discovery, adventure and play

Purpose and Direction

Ruthlessness / Inhibition

4. Industry v Inferiority

schoolchild / school, teachers, friends, neighbourhood / achievement and accomplishment

Competence and Method

Narrow Virtuosity / Inertia

5. Identity v Role Confusion

adolescent / peers, groups, influences / resolving identity and direction, becoming a grown-up

Fidelity and Devotion

Fanaticism / Repudiation

6. Intimacy v Isolation

young adult / lovers, friends, work connections / intimate relationships, work and social life

Love and Affiliation

Promiscuity / Exclusivity

7. Generativity v Stagnation

mid-adult / children, community / 'giving back', helping, contributing

Care and Production

Overextension / Rejectivity

8. Integrity v Despair

late adult / society, the world, life / meaning and purpose, life achievements 

Wisdom and Renunciation

Presumption / Disdain

As stated in the diagram above, every level of this theory will involve different life stages, relationships and issues. We need to understand every stage first and then we will obtain a positive outcome for the children development. In this theory, there are eight stages of human development but for this section we will emphasize on the first four stages. The first four stages engage with the child development. In this theory, the positive and negative terms are used for every level which is against with each other.

Trust versus mistrust is Erikson’s first developmental stage that involved infants. As we know, infants are fully depending on their mother or caregiver. Therefore, to develop trust in the infants, mother or caregiver need to pay full attention to them. They play such a big role here in this stage. They are the one who are being responsible to develop trust. The way the mother or caregiver takes care of the babies is important where if they take care of the babies well, the babies will feel secure and automatically trust will develop. Based from my experiences, usually babies do not want to be with stranger except their mother or caregiver. They will easily cry to avoid any stranger. I believe that their trust is just for the one who closes to them. Actually, there are a few things that the nuclear family needs to know and improve for developing trust in babies. Firstly, they need to increase the amount of time of being together with their infants. By spending more time with their infants, it will create a strong bond between them and this will lead to a strong trust in the infants self. Even though parents nowadays are busy with their job, they should create a space for spending time with their babies. Once the babies feel loved and cared, they will form the sense of trust to them. Another thing that will help us to implement trust in infants is by increasing the quality of the care. The mother or caregiver need to provide an excellent care for the infants. For instance, if the caregiver treats the infants badly like not paying attention to them or not available when the infants need them this will develop mistrust. It is quite impossible for the parents who are working but if they try to provide it, it may benefit their infants’ future and themselves too. During this stage, things like abuse or cruelty towards babies are strongly prohibited because those things will destroy their trust upon people and the world. Their surrounding may influence their mind and it will set trust or mistrust.

The second stage of Erikson’s theory is autonomy versus shame and doubt. In this phase, toddlers are involved where they start to be autonomous. Parents and family are the one who should guide them. Let them be independent but still parents or family need to watch them. The toddlers start to think and act independently and they know what they want. During this level, the one who closes to them should be tolerant and lots of patience needed. Do not act or speak roughly upon what they are doing even though it is wrong or else they will feel shame and doubt in doing things in the future. It is better to give them advice rather than the other way. When their mindset is negative, it controls their behaviour like not to expose themselves. It is probably will turn them to a passive toddler. Other than that, parents should not over-protect their toddlers. One way to enhance the toddlers’ confidence of being autonomy is by letting them to have their meal by themselves. Normally, toddlers will eat their meal scattered and if they do so parents should not get angry with them whereas they should be proud. At this early stage, toddlers are not really conscious with what they are doing. Their behaviour just started to develop. The encouragement from parents is totally needed. After the toddlers succeed to be autonomous, on their next stage we will produce toddlers who are fully autonomous.

Next stage that involves the children development is initiative versus guilt. It is the third stage which is identified as the play age. During this level, children have the passion to act like the adults and they love to act that way. They love to explore new things and this is actually enhancing their cognitive abilities. Nowadays in Malaysia, children who are in this period are usually send to the preschool or nursery. It will probably help these children to be more initiative in exploring new things. Among the ways to develop their initiative personality are by playing lots of games, creating event like craft activities and providing them with lots of toys. By serving them with those kinds of games, toys and event, they could stimulate their imagination. These kids are extremely active at this phase which sometimes people might assume that they are naughty or bad. As an adult, we need to understand that these children are so enthusiastic upon facing new environment. Family and teachers need to be patient and treat them well. Occasionally, parents, family or teachers do not realise that they scold them. It does give a huge impact to the children. The sense of guilt will emerge in them and they tend to feel fear to do things that they want to do. The society around them should control their emotion when facing with these kids. Once the children have been scolded because of what they are trying to do is wrong for the adults, they will try to avoid doing the things like exploring which paralysing their initiative personality. Do not block their confidence to explore new things. The negative outcomes for the children development are inhibition and ruthlessness. Let them initiate what they want to do and from that they will gain the purpose and direction of life at the early stage.

The last part that involved children development in this theory is industry versus inferiority. This is the phase where children are ready to learn and handle new things. During this period, most of the children all around the world are entering primary school. School, teachers, friends and also neighbourhood are related with this stage. The sense of industry or inferiority is developing at this extent. According to Santrock (2011, p22), he claimed that ‘children now need to direct their energy toward mastering knowledge and intellectual skills’. Thus, the influence from the society as stated before is needed whether to lead the children to be industrious or contrariwise. New skills are rapidly expanding in this stage and children need to master them as fast as they could. Once they successfully achieving something and produce it well, they will undergo the sense of industry. The children who are successful will move forward with positive values in them and will also keep growing effectively. Chapman (2013) stated that ‘Erikson described this stage as a sort of ‘entrance of life’’ which obviously explain to us that this is the most crucial stage for children to develop before entering the adolescence level. Their social life is also expanding here and this will surely influence them to compete with other students. If they are not able to compete with others and overcome it, there is a high tendency for them to be in the sense of inferiority. As a result, these children will undergo narrow virtuosity and inertia which is definitely affects their performance in school and also in society.

(1259 words)

c. Application of Erikson’s theory to children in early primary level.

Among eight stages of Erikson’s theory, there is one stage that is related with children who are in primary level which is the fourth stage. Industry versus inferiority is the most important stage for children to develop their personality.

After going through the first three stages, children are now entering the school age. There are lots of opportunities are opened for them to be master in this period. Robbins, Chatterjee and Canda (2012, p215) stated that the kids wish recognition gained from creating things as they flourish their capabilities in new skills and tasks. Once they get the compliment from what they succeed to do this helps to enhance their belief and confidence of producing new things. Based from what we know, children spend almost six hours at school which mean that they are spending more time with teachers and schoolmates. Hence, teachers should provide an appropriate environment that will benefit these children to have a strong passion in learning. Let the children explore, play and experiment actively with everything around them and make them enjoy with what they are doing. Do not be too strict to them or criticise them badly. It will scare them and inferiority will appear at this extent which soon affects the next stages. Schools should set up a fun atmosphere to kids, so that it will attract their focus to involve in the process of learning. In my opinion, by always implementing study group in class will generate the spirit of competition among students. It is a healthy competition that surely guides them to be industrious in thinking. In a study group it is easy to identify students who are in inferiority, hence the teachers should play their role in helping students to increase their self-esteem.

Gartrell (2011, p60) explained that ‘a characteristic of children during this time is that they are easily affected by the judgments of others’. Family, teachers and neighbourhood should avoid judging and comparing them with others. Lastly in this stage, positive feedback and evaluation need to be given to them as it will decrease their inferiority.

(347 words)

d. Summary of Erikson’s theory

Overall, Erikson’s theory which consists of eight stages of human development is interdependent to each other. This theory made us clear with the path of life. It gave us a good understanding for every level of human development especially in this task that is involving children development. At the end of the first four stages, children should have the positive personality needed to face the challenges in this world once they had successfully engaged with each stage. This is a useful theory that could help teachers or parents to enhance the children development from the aspect of psychology and social. Hence, we could produce children who are talented and proficient in facing the challenges of life.

(116 words)



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