-Maria Rita D. Lucas,Ph.D.

Lesson 7

Erikson's Psycho-
Social Theory of
Development

Princess Dajac
Louise Cruz
"Healthy children will not fear life if their elders have integrity enough
not to fear death."

-Erik Erikson
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this Module, you should be able to:
• explain the 8 Stages of Life to someone you care about.

• write a short story of your life using Erikson's stages as framework.

• suggest at least 6 ways on how Erikson's theory can be useful for you
as a future teacher.
INTRODUCTION
• Erikson's stages of psychosocial development is a very
relevant, highly regarded and meaningful theory. Life is
a continuous process involving learning and trials
which help us to grow. Erikson's enlightening theory
guides us and helps to tell us why.
ACTIVITY
Erik Erikson's Stage Theory of Development Questionnaire
This contains selected items from Rhona Ochse and Cornelis Plug's
self-report questionnaire assessing the personality dimensions
associated with Erikson's first 5 stages of psychosexual development.
It can serve to make the stages personally relevant to you.
Indicate how often each of these statements applies to you by using the following scale:

0 never applies to you

1= occasionally or seldom applies to you

2=fairly often applies to you

3= very often applies to you

READ THE INSTRUCTIONS AT THE END BEFORE PUTTING SCORES HERE.

Stage 1: Trust Versus Mistrust (Infancy and Early Score

Childhood)

___1. I feel pessimistic about the future of humankind.

___2. I feel the world's major problems can be solved.

___3. I am filled with admiration for humankind.

___4.People can be trusted.

___5. I feel optimistic about my future.

TOTAL SCORE STAGE 1

Stage 2: Autonomy Versus Shame and Doubt (Infancy and Score
Childhood)

___6. When people try to persuade me to do some- thing I don't want

to, I refuse.
___7. After I have made a decision, I feel I have made a mistake.

___8. I am unnecessarily apologetic.

___9. I worry that my friends will find fault with me.

___10. When I disagree with someone, I tell them.

TOTAL SCORE STAGE 2

Stage 3: Initiative Versus Guilt (Infancy and Childhood) Score

___11.I am prepared to take a risk to get what I want.

___12.I feel hesitant to try out a new way of doing something.

___13.I am confident in carrying out my plans to a successful

conclusion.
___14.I feel what happens to me is the result of what I have done.

___15.When I have difficulty in getting something right, I give up.

TOTAL SCORE STAGE 3

Stage 4:Industry Versus Inferiority(Infancy and Childhood) Score

___16. When people look at something i have done, I feel

embarrased.
___17. I get a great deal of pleasure from working.

___18. I feel too incompetent to do what i would really like to do in

life,
___19. I avoid doing something difficult because i feel i would fail.

___20. I feel competent.

TOTAL SCORE STAGE 4

Stage 5: Identify Vesus Identify Diffusion( Adolescene) Score

___21. I wonder what sort of person I really am.

___22. I feel certain about what i should do with my life.

___23. My worth is recognized by others.

___24. I feel proud to be the sort of person I am.

___25. I am unsure as to how people feel about me.

TOTAL SCORE STAGE 5

Stage 6: Intimacy Versus Isolation (Early Adulthood) Score

___26. I feel that no one has ever known the real me.

___27. I have a feeling of complete “togetherness” with someone.

___28. I feel it is better to remain free than to become committed to

marriage for life.
___29. I share my private thoughts with someone.

___30.I feel as though I am alone in the world.

TOTAL SCORE STAGE 6

Scores for each subscale range from 0 to 15, with high scores reflecting greater strength on a particular
personality dimension.

• 1. The response to item I should be reversed (0 = 3, 1 = 2, 2-1, 3 = 0) and then added to the numbers
given in response to items 2, 3, 4, and 5 to obtain a trust score.

• 2. Responses to items 7, 8, and 9 should be reversed and added to items 6 and 10 to assess autonomy.

• 3. Answers to 12 and 15 should be reversed and added to items 11, 13, and 14 to measure initiative.

• 4. Answers to 16, 18, and 19 should be reversed and then added to 17 and 20 to calculate industry.

• 5. Responses to 21 and 25 must be reversed and added to 22, 24, and 25 to obtain a measure of identity.

• 6. Answers to 26, 28, and 30 are reversed and added to 27 and 29 to give intimacy.

• (Source: Ochse, R. & Plug, C. (1986) Cross-cultural investigation of the validity of Erikson's theory of
personality development. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 1240-1252 Copyright ©
1986 by the American Psychology Association)
• What did you discover about yourself in this questionnaire?
_____________________________________________________.

Have these scores in mind as you read about Erikson's stages and how the
stages can guide you in self-understanding and in understan others as well.
ABSTRACTION/GENERALIZATION

• Introduction to the 8 Stages:

• 1. Erikson's 'psychosocial' term is derived from the two source wee namely psychological (or
the root, 'psycho' relating to the mind, bo personality, etc) and social (external relationships
and environme both at the heart of Erikson's theory. Occasionally you'll see the extended to
biopsychosocial, in which "bio" refers to life, biological.
• 2. Erikson's theory was largely influenced by Sigmund Freud. Erikson extended the theory
and incorporated cultural and soc aspects into Freud's biological and sexually-oriented
theory.
• 3. It's also interesting to see how his ideas developed over time, pe aided by his own journey
through the 'psychosocial crisis's model that underpinned his work.
• 4 Like other influential theories, Erikson's model is simple and we designed. The theory is a basis
for broad or complex discussion analysis of personality and behaviour, and also for understanding for
facilitating personal development of self and others. It can the teacher in becoming more knowledgeable and at
the same understanding of the various environmental factors that affect his and his students' personality and
behavior.

• 5 Erikson's eight stages theory is a tremendously powerful model. very accessible and obviously relevant to
modern life, from seve different perspectives for for understanding and explaining how person and behavior
develops in people. As such Erikson's theory is us for teaching, parenting, self-awareness, managing and
coaching, with conflict , and generally for understanding self and others.

• 6. Various terms are used to describe Erikson's model, for exa Erikson's biopsychosocial or bio-psycho-social
theory (bio refer biological, which in this context means life); Erikson's human devel ment cycle or life cycle,
and variations of these. All refer to the eight stages psychosocial theory, it being Erikson'll refer istint
remarkable model.
• 7. The epigenetic principle. As Boeree explains, "This principle says that we develop through a
predetermined unfolding of our personalities in eight stages. Our progress through each stage is in
part determined by our success, or lack of success, in all the previous stages. Erikson's theory
delved into how personality was formed and believed that the earlier stages served as a foundation
for the later stages.

• 8. Each stage involves a psychosocial crisis of two opposing emotional forces. A helpful term used
by Erikson for these opposing forces is 'contrary dispositions'. Each crisis stage relates to a
corresponding life stage and its inherent challenges. Erikson used the words 'syntonic' for the first-
listed 'positive' disposition in each crisis (e.g., Trust) and 'dystonic' for the second-listed 'negative'
disposition (e.g., Mistrust). To signify the opposing or conflicting relationship between each pair of
forces or dispositions, Erikson connected them with the word 'versus'.
• 10. On the other hand, if we don't do so well, we may develop maladap- tations
and malignancies, as well as endanger all our future develop- ment. A
malignancy is the worse of the two. It involves too little of the positive and too
much of the negative aspect of the task, such as a person who can't trust others. A
maladaptation is not quite as bad and involves too much of the positive and too
little of the negative, such as a person who trusts too much.

• 11. The crisis stages are not sharply defined steps. Elements tend to over- lap and
mingle from one stage to the next and to the preceding stages. It's a broad
framework and concept, not a mathematical formula which replicates precisely
across all people and situations.
• 12. Erikson was keen to point out that the transition between stages is
"overlapping'. Crisis stages connect with each other like inter-laced
fingers, not like a series of neatly stacked boxes. People don't suddenly
wake up one morning and be in a new life stage. Changes don't happen in
regimented clear-cut steps. Changes are graduated,mixed-together and
organic..

• 13. Erikson also emphasized the significance of 'mutuality' and

'generativity' in his theory. The terms are linked.. Everyone potentially
affects everyone else's experiences as they pass through the different
crisis stages. Generativity, actually a named disposition within one of the
crisis stages (Generativity v Stagnation, stage seven), reflects the
significant relationship between adults and the best interests of children
• Now you are ready to go over the eight stages. As you read, enjoy fill. ing up the concept
map we made, found at the beginning of each stage. This will help you remember the
important terms in each stage and how these terms are interrelated. Use the side margins to
write your thoughts about the stage and how they connect to your own life now and as a
future teacher.

• The Eight Psychosocial Stages of Development:

The Eight Psychosocial Stages of
Development:

Stage 1
Too Much
Too Much

Maladaptation Psychosocial Crisis Malignacy

Virtue
Stage One
Psychosocial Crisis
• The first stage, infancy, is approximately the first year or year and a half of life.
The crisis is trust vs. mistrust. The goal is to develop trust without completely
eliminating the capacity for mistrust. If the primary caregivers, like the parents
can give the baby a sense of familiarity. consistency, and continuity, then the
baby will develop the feeling that the world is a safe place to be, that people are
reliable and loving. If the parents are unreliable and inadequate, if they reject the
infant or harm it. if other interests cause both parents to turn away from the
infant's needs to satisfy their own instead, then the infant will develop mistrust.
He of she will be apprehensive and suspicious around people.
Maladaptation/Malignancy
• In fact, parents who are overly protective of the child, who are there the minute
the first cry comes out, will lead that child into the maladaptive tendency which
Erikson calls sensory maladjustment: Overly trus even gullible, this person
cannot believe anyone trusting, would mean them harm, and will use all the
defenses at their command to find an explanation or excuse for the person who
did him wrong. Worse, of course, is the child whose balance is tipped way over
on the mistrust side. They will develop the malignant tendency of withdrawal,
characterized by depression, paranoia, and possibly psychosis.
Virtue
• If the proper balance is achieved, the child will develop the virtue of hope, the
strong belief that, even when things are not going well, they will work out well
in the end. One of the signs that a child is doing well in the first stage is when
the child isn't overly upset by the need to wait a moment for the satisfaction of
his or her needs: Mom or Dad doesn't have to be perfect; I trust them enough to
believe that, if they can't be here immediately, they will be here soon; things may
be tough now, but they will work out. This is the same ability that, in later life,
gets us through disappointments in love, our careers, and many other domains of
life.
The Eight Psychosocial Stages of
Development:

Stage 2
Too Much
Too Much

Maladaptation Psychosocial Crisis Malignacy

Virtue
Stage Two
Psychosocial Crisis
• The second stage is early childhood, from about eighteen months to three or four
years old. The task is to achieve a degree of autonomy while minimizing shame
and doubt. If mom and dad, or caregiver permits the child, now a toddler, to
explore and manipulate his or her environment, the child will develop a sense of
autonomy or independence. The parents should not discourage the child, but
neither should they push. A balance is required. People often advise new parents
to be "firm but tolerant" at this stage, and the advice is good. This way, the child
will develop both self-control and self-esteem. On the other hand, it is rather
easy for the child to develop instead a sense of shame and doubt.
 Maldaptation/Malignancy
• Nevertheless, a little "shame and doubt" is not only inevitable, but beneficial. Without it,
you will develop the maladaptive tendency Erikson calls impulsiveness, a sort of shameless
willfulness that leads you, in later childhood and even adulthood, to jump into things
without proper conside- ration of your abilities. Worse, of course, is too much shame and
doubt. which leads to the malignancy Erikson calls compulsiveness. The compulsive person
feels as if their entire being rides on everything they do. and so everything must be done
perfectly. Following all the rules precisely keeps you from mistakes, and mistakes must be
avoided at all costs. Many of you know how it feels to always be ashamed and always doubt
yourself. A little more patience and tolerance with your own children may help them avoid
your path. And give yourself a little slack, too!
Virtue
• If you get the proper, positive balance of autonomy and shame and doubt, you
will develop the virtue of willpower or determination. One of the most admirable
and frustrating things about two- and three-year- olds is their determination.
"Can do" is their motto. If we can preserve that "can do" attitude (with
appropriate modesty to balance it) we are much better off as adults.
The Eight Psychosocial Stages of
Development:

Stage 3
Too Much
Too Much

Maladaptation Psychosocial Crisis Malignacy

Virtue
Stage Three
Psychosocial Crisis
• Stage three is the early childhood stage, from three or four to five or six. The
task is to learn initiative without too much guilt. Initiative means a positive
response to the world's challenges, taking on responsi- bilities, learning new
skills, feeling purposeful. Parents can encourage initiative by encouraging
children to try out their ideas.Erikson is, of course, a Freudian, and as such, he
includes the Oedipal experience in this stage. From his perspective, the Oedipal
crisis involves the reluctance a child feels in relinquishing his or her closeness to
the opposite sex parent. A parent has the responsibility, socially, to encourage the
child to "grow up you're not a baby anymore!" But if this process is done too
harshly and too abruptly, the child learns to feel guilty about his or her feelings.
Maldaptation/Malignancy
• Too much initiative and too little guilt means a maladaptive tendency Erikson calls
ruthlessness. To be ruthless is to be heartless or unfeeling or be "without mercy". The
ruthless person takes the initiative alright They have their plans, whether it's a matter of
school or romance or politics or career. It's just that they don't care who they step on to
achieve their goals. The goals are the only things that matters, and guilty feelings and
mercy are only signs of weakness. The extreme form of ruthlessness is sociopathy.
Ruthlessness is bad for others, but actually relatively easy on the ruthless person. Harder on
the person is the malignancy of too much guilt, which Erikson calls inhibition. The
inhibited person will not try things because "nothing ventured, nothing lost" and,
particularly, nothing to feel guilty about. They are so afraid to start and take a lead on a
project. They fear that if it fails, they will be blamed.
Virtue

• A good balance leads to the psychosocial strength of purpose. A

sense of purpose is something many people crave for in their lives,
yet many do not realize that they themselves make their purposes,
through imagination and initiative. I think an even better word for
this virtue would have been courage, the capacity for action despite a
clear understanding of your limitations and past failings.
The Eight Psychosocial Stages of
Development:

Stage 4
Too Much
Too Much

Maladaptation Psychosocial Crisis Malignacy

Virtue
Stage Four
Psychosocial Crisis
• Stage four is the school-age stage when the child is from about six to twelve. The
task is to develop a capacity for industry while avoiding an excessive sense of
inferiority. Children must "tame the imagi nation" and dedicate themselves to
education and to learning the social skills their society requires of them. There is
a much broader social sphere at work now: Parents must encourage, teachers
must care, peers must accept. Children must learn that there is pleasure not only
in conceiving a plan, but in carrying it out. They must learn the feeling of
success, whether it is in school or on the playground, academic or social.
Maldaptation/Malignancy
• Too much industry leads to the maladaptive tendency called narrow virtuosity.
We see this in children who aren't allowed to "be children," the ones that parents
or teachers push into one area of competence, without allowing the development
of broader interests. These are the kids without a life: child actors, child athletes,
child musicians, child prodigies of all sorts. We all admire their industry, but if
we look a little closer. it's all that stands in the way of an empty life.
• Much more common is the malignancy called inertia. This includes all of
us who suffer from the "inferiority complexes" Alfred Adler talked
about. If at first you don't succeed, don't ever try again! Many of us
didn't do well in mathematics, for example, so we'd die before we took
another math class. Others were humiliated instead in the gym class, so
we never try out for a sport or play a game of basketball. Others never
developed social skills the most important skills of all and so we never
go out in public. We become inert.
Virtue
• A happier thing is to develop the right balance of industry and that is,
mostly industry with just a touch of inferiority to inferiority -- keep
us sensibly humble.. Then we have the virtue called competency.
The Eight Psychosocial Stages of
Development:

Stage 5
Too Much
Too Much

Maladaptation Psychosocial Crisis Malignacy

Virtue
Stage Five
Psychosocial Crisis
• Stage five is adolescence, beginning with puberty and ending around 18 or 20
years old. The task during adolescence is to achieve ego identity and avoid role
confusion. It was adolescence that interested Erikson first and most, and the
patterns he saw here were the bases for his thinking about all the other stages.

• Ego identity means knowing who you are and how you fit in to the rest of
society. It requires that you take all you've learned about life and yourself and
mold it into a unified self-image, one that your community finds meaningful
• Further, society should provide clear rites of passage, certain ac- complishments and rituals
that help to distinguish the adult from the child. In primitive and traditional societies, an
adolescent boy may be asked to leave the village for a period of time to live on his own, hunt
some symbolic animal, or seek an inspirational vision. Boys and girls may be required to go
through certain tests of endurance, symbolic ceremonies, or educational events. In one way or
another, the distinction between the powerless, but irresponsible, time of childhood and the
powerful and responsible time of adulthood, is made clear.
• One of Erikson's suggestions for adolescence in our society is the psychosocial moratorium.
He suggests you take a little "time out." If you have money, go to Europe. If you don't, bum
around the Philippines. Quit school and get a job. Quit your job and go to school. Take a
break, smell the roses, get to know yourself. We tend to want to get to "success" as fast as
possible, and yet few of us have ever taken the time to figure out what success means to us. A
little like the young Oglala Lakota, perhaps we need to dream a little.
The Eight Psychosocial Stages of
Development:

Stage 6
Too Much
Too Much

Maladaptation Psychosocial Crisis Malignacy

Virtue
 Stage Six
Psychosocial Crisis
If you have made it this far, you are in the stage of young adulthood, which lasts
from about 18 to about 30. The ages in the adult stages are much fuzzier than in
the childhood stages, and people may differ dramatically. The task is to achieve
some degree of intimacy, as opposed to remaining in isolation.

• Intimacy is the ability to be close to others, as a lover, a friend, and as a

participant in society. Because you have a clear sense of who you are, you no
longer need to fear "losing" yourself, as many adolescents do.
• Neither should the young adult need to prove him or herself anymore. A
teenage relationship is often a matter of trying to establish identity
through "couple-hood." Who am I? I'm her boyfriend. The young adult
relationship should be a matter of two independent egos wanting to
create something larger than themselves. We intuitively recognize this
when we frown on a relationship between a young adult and a teenager:
We see the potential for manipulation of the younger member of the
party by the older.
Maladaptation/Malignancy
• Erikson calls the maladaptive form promiscuity, referring particularly
to the tendency to become intimate too freely, too easily, and without
any depth to your intimacy. This can be true of your relationships
with friends and neighbors and your whole community as well as
with lover.
• The malignancy he calls exclusion, which refers to the tendency to
isolate oneself from love, friendship, and community, and to develop
a certain hatefulness in compensation for one's loneliness.
Virtue
• If you successfully negotiate this stage, you will instead carry with
you for the rest of your life the virtue or psychosocial strength
Erikson calls love. Love, in the context of his theory, means being
able to put aside differences and antagonisms through "mutuality of
devotion." It includes not only the love we find in a good marriage,
but the love between friends and the love of one's neighbor, co-
worker, and compatriot as well.
The Eight Psychosocial Stages of
Development:

Stage 7
Too Much
Too Much

Maladaptation Psychosocial Crisis Malignacy

Virtue
Stage Seven
Psychosocial Crisis
• The seventh stage is that of middle adulthood. It is hard to pin a time to it, but it would
include the period during which we are actively involved in raising children. For most people
in our society, this would put it somewhere between the middle twenties and the late fifties.
The task here is to cultivate the proper balance of generativity and stagnation.
• Generativity is an extension of love into the future. It is a concern for the next generation and
all future generations. As such, it is considerably less "selfish" than the intimacy of the
previous stage: Intimacy, the love between lovers or friends, is a love between equals, and it
is necessarily mutual. With generativity, the individual, like a parent, does not expect to be
repaid for the love he gives to his children, at least not as strongly. Few parents expect a
"return on their investment" from their children; If they do, we don't think of them as very
good parents!
Maladaptation/Malignancy
It is perhaps hard to imagine that we should have any "stagnation" in
our lives, but the maladaptive tendency Erikson calls overextension
illustrates the problem: Some people try to be so generative that they
no longer allow time for themselves, for rest and relaxation. The
person who is overextended no longer contributes well. I'm sure we all
know someone who belongs to so many clubs, or is devoted to so
many causes, or tries to take so many classes or hold so many jobs that
they no longer have time for any of them!
Virtue

• But if you are successful at this stage, you will have a

capacity for caring that will serve you through the rest of
your life.
The Eight Psychosocial Stages of
Development:

Stage 8
Too Much
Too Much

Maladaptation Psychosocial Crisis Malignacy

Virtue
Stage Eight
Psychosocial Crisis
• This last stage, referred to delicately as late adulthood or maturity. or less
delicately as old age. begins sometime around retirement, after the kids have
gone, say somewhere around 60. Some older folks will protest and say it only
starts when you feel old and so on, but that's an effect of our youth-worshipping
culture, which has even old people avoiding any acknowledgement of age. In
Erikson's theory, reaching this stage is a good thing, and not reaching it suggests
that earlier problems retarded your development!
• Then there is a sense of biological uselessness, as the body no longer does
everything it used to. Women go through a sometimes dramatic
menopause. Men often find they can no longer "rise to the occasion." Then
there are the illnesses of old age, such as arthritis, diabetes, heart
problems, concerns about breast and ovarian and prostate cancers. There
come fears about things that one was never afraid of before the flu, for
example, or just falling down. Along with the illnesses come concerns of
death. Friends die. Relatives die. One's spouse dies. It is, of course, certain
that you, too, will have your turn.
Maladaptation/Malignancy
• The maladaptive tendency in stage eight is called presumption. This
is what happens when, a person "presumes" ego integrity without
actually facing the difficulties of old age. The person in old age be-
lieves that he alone is right. He does not respect the ideas and views
of the young. The malignant tendency is called disdain, by which
Erikson means a contempt of life, one's own or anyone's: The person
becomes very negative and appears to hate life.
Virtue
• Someone who approaches death without fear has the strength Erikson
calls wisdom. He calls it a gift to children, because "healthy children
will not fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear
death." He suggests that a person must be somewhat gifted to be truly
wise, but I would like to suggest that you understand "gifted" in as
broad a fashion as possible. I have found that there are people of very
modest gifts who have taught me a great deal, not by their wise
words. but by their simple and gentle approach to life and death, by
their "generosity of spirit."