Erik Erikson & Development Psychology Dengail T. hines april 24, 2014

1. Erik Erikson & Development PsychologyDengail T. hinesapril 24, 2014

2. How was erikson “developed”? • Born: June 15, 1902 in Frankfurt, Germany • Died: May 12, 1994 in Cape Cod, Massachussetts • Erikson’s mother, Karla Abrahamsen, came from a Jewish family in Copenhagen • German-born American developmental psychologist, psychoanalyst • Known for his theory of psychosocial development • Coined the term “identity crisis”

3. Me, myself, & i! • At temple school, Erikson was being teased for being Nordic for being tall, blonde, & blue-eyed being raised in the Jewish religion • Attended Das Humanistich Gymnasium which his main interests were art, history, & languages, but lacked in school & graduated w/o academic instincts • After graduation, Erikson attended art school in Munich

4. Me, myself & i! (cont’d) • At the age of 25, his friend Peter Blos invited him to Vienna to tutor art at the Birmingham-Rosenfield School whose affluent parents were undergoing psychoanalysis by Anna Freud • Specialized in child analysis & underwent training analysis w/ Freud • 1930: Married Joan MowatSerson & converted to Christianity • 1933: Studied the Montessori Method of education & received a Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute diploma

5. Me, myself, & I! (cont’d) • 1933: Moved to the United States, becoming the first child psychoanalyst in Boston, MA holding positions at Massachussetts General Hospital, the Judge Baker Guidance Center, & at Harvard Medical School & Psychological Clinic • 1936: Left Harvard & joined the staff at Yale University; changed his family’s surname from “Homburger” to “Erikson” since he was a neutralized citizen • 1938: Invited to observe the education of native Sioux children on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota • 1939: Erikson left Yale, moved his family to California. & joined a team engaged in a longitudinal study of child development for the University of California; opened his own private practice in child psychoanalysis

6. Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory • Focuses on how personalities evolve throughout life as a result of the interaction between biologically based maturation & the demands of society • Writes that society in which one lives makes certain psychic demands (crises) at each stage of development. • During each psychosocial stage, the individual must seek to adjust to the stresses & conflicts involved in these crises

7. Eight stages of psychosocial development • Basic trust vs. Basic mistrust • Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt • Initiative vs. Guilt • Industry vs. Inferiority • Identity vs. Role Confusion • Intimacy vs. Isolation • Generativity vs. Stagnation • Ego Integrity vs. Despair

8. “Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired.” • ~ Erik Erikson

9. Basic trust vs. basic mistrust • Birth to 1 ½ years (Infant) • Getting & taking • Hope • Developing trust is the first task of the ego, it is never complete • The child will never let the mother out of sight w/o anxiety & rage b/c she has become an inner certainty as well as an outer predictability • Balance of trust w/ mistrust depends largely on the quality of maternal relationship

10. Autonomy vs. shame & doubt • 1 ½ to 3 years (Early Childhood) • Holding on & letting go • Willpower • If denied autonomy, the child will turn against him/herself urges to manipulate & discriminate • Shame develops w/ child’s unconsciousness • Doubt has to do with having a front & back, a “behind” subject to its own rules. Left over doubt may become paranoia • Sense of autonomy fostered in the child & modified as life progresses serve the preservation in economic & political life of a sense of justice

11. Initiative vs. guilt • 3 to 5 years (Play Age) • Purpose • Initiative adds to autonomy the quality of undertaking, planning, & attacking a task for the sake of being active & on the move • The child feels guilt over the goals contemplated & the acts initiated in exhubant enjoyment of new locomotor & mental powers • The castration complex occurring in this stage is due to the child’s erotic fantasies • A residual conflict over initiative may be expressed as hysterical denial, which may causes the repression of the wish or the aborgoration of the child’s ego: paralysis & exhibition, or overcompensation of showing off • The Oedipal stage results not only in oppressive establishment of a moral sense restricting the horizon of the permissible, but also sets the direction towards the possible & tangible which permits dreams of early childhood to be attached to goals of an active adult life

12. Industry vs inferiority • 5 to 12 years (School Age) • Competence • To bring a productive situation to completion is an aim which gradually supersedes the whims & wishes of play • Fundamentals of technology are developed • To lose the hope of such “industrious” association may pull the child back to the more isolated, less conscious familial rivalry of the Oedipal time • The child can become a conformist & thoughtless slave whom others exploit

13. Identity vs role confusion • 12 to 18 years (Adolescence) • Fidelity • Adolescent is newly concerned w/ how they appear to others • Ego identity is the accrued confidence that the inner sameness & continuity prepared in the past are matched by the sameness & continuity of one’s meaning of others, as evidenced in the promise of a career • The inability to settle on a school or occupational identity is disturbing

14. Intimacy vs isolation • 18 to 40 years (Young Adulthood) • Love • Body & ego must be masters of organ modes & of the other nuclear conflicts in order to face the fear of ego loss in situations which call for self-abandon • Avoidance of these experiences lead to isolation & self-absorption • The counterpart of intimacy is distantiation • True genitality can fully develop • Danger of this stage is isolation which can lead to severe character problems

15. Generativity vs . stagnation • 40 to 65 years (Adulthood) • Care • Generativity is the concern in establishing & guiding the next generation • Simply wanting or having children doesn’t achieve generativity • Socially-valued work & disciples are also expectations of generativity

16. Ego integrity vs. despair • 65+ (Maturity) • Wisdom • Ego integrity is the ego’s accumulated assurance of its capacity for order & meaning • Despair is signified by a fear of one’s own death, as well as the loss of self-sufficiency, & of loved partners & friends • Healthy children, won’t fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear death

17. Overview

18. Always remember darlings…. “The richest & fullest lives attempt to achieve an inner balance between three realms: work, love, & play.” ~ Erik & Joan Erikson

19. references • http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/bio_erikson.htm • http://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html • http://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html