Erik Erikson's Stages of Psychological Development

[lpetrich]

 Erikson's stages of psychosocial development Erik Erikson | Psychosocial Stages | Simply Psychology

Erikson maintained that personality develops in a predetermined order through eight stages of psychosocial development, from infancy to adulthood. During each stage, the person experiences a psychosocial crisis which could have a positive or negative outcome for personality development.

His stages:
[TABLE="class: grid"]
[TR]
[TH]Stage[/TH]
[TH]Psychosocial Crisis[/TH]
[TH]Virtue[/TH]
[TH]Age[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Trust vs. Mistrust[/TD]
[TD]Hope[/TD]
[TD]0 - 1 1/2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]Autonomy vs. Shame[/TD]
[TD]Will[/TD]
[TD]1 1/2 - 3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]Initiative vs. Guilt[/TD]
[TD]Purpose[/TD]
[TD]3 - 5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]Industry vs. Inferiority[/TD]
[TD]Competency[/TD]
[TD]5 - 12[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]Identity vs. Role Confusion[/TD]
[TD]Fidelity[/TD]
[TD]12 - 18[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]Intimacy vs. Isolation[/TD]
[TD]Love[/TD]
[TD]18 - 40[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]Generativity vs. Stagnation[/TD]
[TD]Care[/TD]
[TD]40 - 65[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]Ego Integrity vs. Despair[/TD]
[TD]Wisdom[/TD]
[TD]65+[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
This strikes me as excessively schematic, because one can have most or all of these conflicts at any time over most of one's life.

 

[Politesse]

 Erikson's stages of psychosocial development Erik Erikson | Psychosocial Stages | Simply Psychology

Erikson maintained that personality develops in a predetermined order through eight stages of psychosocial development, from infancy to adulthood. During each stage, the person experiences a psychosocial crisis which could have a positive or negative outcome for personality development.

His stages:
[TABLE="class: grid"]
[TR]
[TH]Stage[/TH]
[TH]Psychosocial Crisis[/TH]
[TH]Virtue[/TH]
[TH]Age[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Trust vs. Mistrust[/TD]
[TD]Hope[/TD]
[TD]0 - 1 1/2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]Autonomy vs. Shame[/TD]
[TD]Will[/TD]
[TD]1 1/2 - 3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]Initiative vs. Guilt[/TD]
[TD]Purpose[/TD]
[TD]3 - 5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]Industry vs. Inferiority[/TD]
[TD]Competency[/TD]
[TD]5 - 12[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]Identity vs. Role Confusion[/TD]
[TD]Fidelity[/TD]
[TD]12 - 18[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]Intimacy vs. Isolation[/TD]
[TD]Love[/TD]
[TD]18 - 40[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]Generativity vs. Stagnation[/TD]
[TD]Care[/TD]
[TD]40 - 65[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]Ego Integrity vs. Despair[/TD]
[TD]Wisdom[/TD]
[TD]65+[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
This strikes me as excessively schematic, because one can have most or all of these conflicts at any time over most of one's life.

Sounds a lot like the original Enneagram system, with the emphasis on psychosocial crises as a means for synthesizing conflicting personal qualities and the backdoor commitment to churchy virtues. And unlike the Enneagram, not accounting at all for individual variations in temperament. I tend to think that such things are helpful to people when they are, but usually aren't.