Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development 

Erik Erikson was a prominent psychologist whose theory on psychosocial development is still widely respected today. Born to a Jewish mother and a Danish father in Germany in the early twentieth century, Erikson was Jewish but had blonde hair and blue eyes which caused a conflicting sense of identity. Eventually, he fled to America with his wife for a new start. Erikson theorized that there were eight psychosocial stages that went from birth to old age. Each stage is defined by a specific developmental task which must be successful developed for a person to grow psychosocially in a healthy way.

Erikson believed that every single person regardless of where they live will go through each of the eight stages with conflict, but how they handle that conflict is what most impacts a person’s life.

The first stage is trust versus mistrust which spans from infancy to one year of age. Babies rely on a caregiver to attend to their needs and when these needs are appropriately met, an infant will develop feelings of trust in their caregiver and environment.

When an infant’s caregiver is unsympathetic and does not meet those needs, development is filled with mistrust. In the future, this could lead to a pessimistic view of the world. The second stage is autonomy versus shame and doubt which spans from age one to three. A child needs the freedom to explore to allow for the development of independence and autonomy. If a child is punished for exploring and restricted from ever doing so, feelings of shame and doubt will develop.

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Stage three and four are the last developmental stages for children and include initiative versus guilt and industry versus inferiority.

Stage five is industry versus inferiority which spans from puberty to a person’s twenties. This is where a person figures out who they are, what they believe, who they love, and what they value. Positive resolution means a more solid sense of identity whereas negative resolution might lead to role confusion and the lack of strong sense of identity (Licht et al 354;358). The last three stages are intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation, and integrity versus despair. Each state covers a portion of adulthood until old age. Positively dealing with each stage leads to meaningful relationships, impacting the next generation, and satisfaction in old age. Without successfully conquering each stage, adults may feel isolated, bored, conceited, selfish and ultimately be filled with regret in old age.

The theoretical stage that impacted my development the most is initiative versus guilt. Initiative versus guilt spans from the ages of three to six. In this stage, a child should have more experiences which allow them to be more social . This usually leads to more responsibility and the ability to plan and create. Without responsibility or the ability to handle it, feelings of anxiety will likely develop. As a young child, I was emotionally and sexually abused by my biological father and it truly halted my ability to be a child. I always felt incapable of handling responsibility. Any questions I asked my father, were answered very critically and it made me doubt my ability to do anything. My childhood experiences did not prompt me to extend myself socially but rather to isolate in an effort to protect myself. In my inability to handle any form of responsibility, I had an immense amount of guilt and anxiety.

I believed I was a burden to those around me. I can clearly see how not fully handling the crisis of the initiative versus guilt stage has consequently impacted every developmental stage after it well into adulthood. According to Michael Wurdeman of Winona State University, individuals are pushed each stage due to biological and social demands which is important because it concludes that a person goes to the next stage of development whether they have successfully handled their crises or not. A person who unsuccessfully handles the crisis in a previous stage is danger of isolating themselves in the intimacy versus isolation stage which I find to be a very accurate statement as I tend towards self-isolation as an adult. Therapy has helped immensely, but without I would have never positively resolved the crises of being stuck in that stage of initiative versus guilt.

Erikson believed that the ego develops as a person resolves social crises throughout each stage of psychosocial development (McLeod). Biology and social demands mean a person moves onto the next stage of development whether those crises are successfully resolved or not. My own personal life experience shows me that Erikson’s theory is relatable. Because I inadequately handled the crisis from that stage, every stage after was adversely affected. It took me most of my young adult life to resolve the issues that came from being abused during the initiative versus guilt stage. In my opinion, Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development is valid.

Works Cited

1. Friedman, Lawrence Jacob. Identity’s architect: A biography of Erik H. Erikson. Harvard University Press, 2000.
2. Licht, Deborah M., Misty G. Hull and Coco Ballantyne. Psychology: Second Editon. New York City: Worth Publishers, 2017.
3. McLeod, Saul. ‘Erik Erikson.’ (2013).
4. Wurdeman, Michael, Impact of Abuse Throughout a Child’s Psychological Development, 2015. Counselor Education Capstones. 27. https://openriver.winona.edu/counseloreducationcapstones/27