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He continued (in rather complicated language, hence paraphrasing)
that at no stage can a 'goodness' be achieved which is impervious to
new conflicts, and that to believe so is dangerous and inept.
The crisis stages are not sharply defined steps. Elements tend to
overlap 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.
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. In this respect the 'feel' of the model is similar to other
flexible human development frameworks (for example, Elisabeth
Kübler-Ross's 'Grief Cycle', and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs).
Where a person passes unsuccessfully through a psychosocial crisis
stage they develop a tendency towards one or other of the opposing
forces (either to the syntonic or the dystonic, in Erikson's language),
which then becomes a behavioural tendency, or even a mental problem.
In crude terms we might call this 'baggage' or a 'hang-up', although
perhaps avoid such terms in serious work. I use them here to illustrate
that Erikson's ideas are very much related to real life and the way
ordinary people think and wonder about things.
Erikson called an extreme tendency towards the syntonic (first
disposition) a 'maladapation', and he identified specific words to
represent the maladapation at each stage. He called an extreme
tendency towards the dystonic (second disposition) a 'malignancy', and
again he identified specific words to represent the malignancy at each
stage. More under 'Maladapations' and 'Malignancies'.
Erikson emphasised the significance of and 'mutuality' and
'generativity' in his theory. The terms are linked. Mutuality reflects the
effect of generations on each other, especially among families, and
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particularly between parents and children and grandchildren. 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 - one's own children, and in a way everyone else's children -
the next generation, and all following generations.
Generations affect each other. A parent obviously affects the child's
psychosocial development, but in turn the parent's psychosocial
development is affected by their experience of dealing with the child
and the pressures produced. Same for grandparents. Again this helps
explain why as parents (or teachers or siblings or grandparents) we can
often struggle to deal well with a young person when it's as much as we
can do to deal with our own emotional challenges.
In some ways the development actually peaks at stage seven, since
stage eight is more about taking stock and coming to terms with how
one has made use of life, and ideally preparing to leave it feeling at
peace. The perspective of giving and making a positive difference for
future generations echoes Erikson's humanitarian philosophy, and it's
this perhaps more than anything else that enabled him to develop such
a powerful concept.
Freud's influence on erikson's theory
Erikson's psychosocial theory of the 'eight stages of human
development' drew from and extended the ideas of Sigmund Freud and
Freud's daughter Anna Freud, and particularly the four (or five,
depending on interpretation) Freudian stages of development, known
as Freud's psychosexual stages or Freud's sexual theory. These
concepts are fundamental to Freudian thinking and are outlined below
in basic terms relating to Erikson's psychosocial stages.
Freud's concepts, while influential on Erikson, are not however
fundamental to Erikson's theory, which stands up perfectly well in its
own right.
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It is not necessary therefore to understand or agree with Freud's ideas
in order to appreciate and use Erikson's theory. If you naturally relate
to Freud's ideas fine, otherwise leave them to one side.
Part of Erikson's appeal is that he built on Freud's ideas in a socially
meaningful and accessible way - and in a way that did not wholly rely
on adherence to fundamental Freudian thinking. Some of Freud's
theories by their nature tend attract a lot of attention and criticism -
sex, breasts, genitals, and bodily functions generally do - and if you are
distracted or put off by these references then ignore them, because they
are not crucial for understanding and using Erikson's model.
Freud's psychosexual stages - overview
Age guide is a broad approximation, hence the overlaps. The stages
happen in this sequence, but not to a fixed timetable.
Freudian psychosexual stages - overview
Erikson's
age guide
psychosocial
crisis stages
1. Oral Stage - Feeding, crying, teething, biting, 1. Trust v 0-1½
yrs,
thumb-sucking, weaning - the mouth and the Mistrust
baby, birth to
breast are the centre of all experience. The
walking
infant's actual experiences and attachments to
mum (or maternal equivalent) through this
stage have a fundamental effect on the
unconscious mind and thereby on deeply
rooted feelings, which along with the next two
stages affect all sorts of behaviours and
(sexually powered) drives and aims - Freud's
'libido' - and preferences in later life.
2. Anal Stage - It's a lot to do with pooh - 2. Autonomy 1-3
yrs,
'holding on' or 'letting go' - the pleasure and v Shame and toddler, toilet
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control. Is it dirty? Is it okay? Bodily expulsions Doubt
training
are the centre of the world, and the pivot
around which early character is formed. Am I
pleasing my mum and dad? Are they making me
feel good or bad about my bottom? Am I okay or
naughty? Again the young child's actual
experiences through this stage have a deep
effect on the unconscious and behaviours and
preferences in later life.
3. Phallic Stage - Phallic is not restricted to boys. 3. Initiative v 3-6 yrs, pre-
This stage is focused on resolving reproductive Guilt
school,
issues. This is a sort of dry run before the real
nursery
game starts in adolescence. Where do babies
come from? Can I have a baby? Why has dad got
a willy and I've not? Why have I got a willy and
mum hasn't? Why do they tell me off for
touching my bits and pieces down there? (Boys)
I'm going to marry mum (and maybe kill dad).
(Girls) I'm in love with my dad. Oedipus
Complex, Penis envy, Castration Anxiety, etc. "If
you touch yourself down there it'll fall off/heal
up.." Inevitably once more, experiences in this
stage have a profound effect on feelings and
behaviour and libido in later life. If you want to
know more about all this I recommend you read
about Freud, not Erikson, and I repeat that
understanding Freud's psychosexual theory is
not required for understanding and using
Erikson's concepts.
4. Latency Stage - Sexual dormancy or 4. Industry v 5-12
yrs,
repression. The focus is on learning, skills, Inferiority
early school
schoolwork. This is actually not a psychosexual
stage because basically normally nothing
formative happens sexually. Experiences, fears
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and conditioning from the previous stages have
already shaped many of the child's feelings and
attitudes and these will re-surface in the next
stage.
5. Genital stage - Puberty in other words. 5. Identity v 11-18
yrs,
Glandular, hormonal, and physical changes in Role
puberty,
the adolescent child's body cause a resurgence Confusion
teens
of sexual thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
Boys start treating their mothers like woman-
earlier
for
servants and challenge their fathers (Freud's
girls
'Oedipus'). Girls flirt with their fathers and
argue with their mums (Freud's 'Electra'). All
become highly agitated if away from a mirror
for more than half an hour (Freud's Narcissus
or Narcissism). Dating and fondling quickly
push schoolwork and sports (and anything else
encouraged by parents and figures of authority)
into second place. Basically everyone is in
turmoil and it's mostly to do with growing up,
which entails more sexual undercurrents than
parents would ever believe, even though these
same parents went through exactly the same
struggles themselves just a few years before.
It's a wonder anyone ever makes it to
adulthood, but of course they do, and mostly it's
all
perfectly
normal.
This is the final Freudian psychosexual stage.
Erikson's model, which from the start offers a
different
and
more
socially
oriented
perspective, continues through to old age, and
re-interprets Freudian sexual theory into the
adult life stages equating to Erikson's crisis
stages. This incorporation of Freudian sexual
stages into the adult crisis stages is not
especially significant.
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Arguably no direct equivalent Freudian stage, 6. Intimacy v 18-40,
although as from Identity and the Life Cycle Isolation
courting,
(1969) Erikson clearly separated Puberty and
early
Genitality (Freud's Genital stage) , and related
parenthood
each respectively to Identity v Role Confusion,
and Intimacy v Isolation.
No direct equivalent Freudian stage, although 7.
30-65,
Erikson later interpreted this as being a Generativity v middle age,
psychosexual stage of 'Procreativity'.
Stagnation
parenting
Again no direct equivalent Freudian stage. 8. Integrity v 50+, old age,
Erikson later called this the psychosexual stage Despair
grandparents
of 'Generalization of Sensual Modes'.
N.B. This is a quick light overview of Freud's sexual theory and where it
equates to Erikson's crisis stages. It's not meant to be a serious detailed
analysis of Freud's psychosexual ideas. That said, I'm open to
suggestions from any Freud experts out there who would like to offer
improved (quick, easy, down-to-earth) pointers to the Freudian
psychosexual theory.
Erikson's eight psychosocial crisis stages
Here's a more detailed interpretation of Erikson's psychosocial crisis
stages.
Remember age range is just a very rough guide, especially through the
later levels when parenthood timing and influences vary. Hence the
overlap between the age ranges in the interpretation below.
Interpretations of age range vary among writers and academics.
Erikson intentionally did not stipulate clear fixed age stages, and it's
impossible for anyone to do so.
Below is a reminder of the crisis stages, using the crisis terminology of
the original 1950 model aside from the shorter terminology that
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Erikson later preferred for stages one and eight. The 'Life Stage' names
were suggested in later writings by Erikson and did not appear so
clearly in the 1950 model. Age range and other descriptions are general
interpretations and were not shown specifically like this by Erikson.
Erikson's main terminology changes are explained below.
Crisis stages are driven by physical and sexual growth, which then
prompts the life issues which create the crises. The crises are therefore
not driven by age precisely. Erikson never showed precise ages, and I
prefer to state wider age ranges than many other common
interpretations. The final three (adult) stages happen at particularly
variable ages.
It's worth noting also that these days there's a lot more 'life' and
complexity in the final (old age) stage than when the eight stages were
originally outlined, which no doubt fuelled Joan Erikson's ideas on a
'ninth stage' after Erik's death.
Erikson's eight psychosocial stages
age range, other
Psychosocial Crisis Stage Life Stage
descriptions
0-1½ yrs, baby, birth to
1. Trust v Mistrust
Infancy
walking
2. Autonomy v Shame and
1-3 yrs, toddler, toilet
Early Childhood
Doubt
training
3-6 yrs, pre-school,
3. Initiative v Guilt
Play Age
nursery
4. Industry v Inferiority
School Age
5-12 yrs, early school
5. Identity v Role Confusion Adolescence
9-18 yrs, puberty, teens*
6. Intimacy v Isolation
Young Adult
18-40, courting, early
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parenthood
30-65, middle age,
7. Generativity v Stagnation Adulthood
parenting
8. Integrity v Despair
Mature Age
50+, old age, grandparents
* Other interpretations of the Adolescence stage commonly suggest
stage 5 begins around 12 years of age. This is reasonable for most boys,
but given that Erikson and Freud cite the onset of puberty as the start
of this stage, stage 5 can begin for girls as early as age nine.
Erikson's psychosocial theory essentially states that each person
experiences eight 'psychosocial crises' (internal conflicts linked to
life's key stages) which help to define his or her growth and
personality.
People experience these 'psychosocial crisis' stages in a fixed sequence,
but timings vary according to people and circumstances.
This is why the stages and the model are represented primarily by the
names of the crises or emotional conflicts themselves (e.g., Trust v
Mistrust) rather than strict age or life stage definitions. Age and life
stages do feature in the model, but as related rather than pivotal
factors, and age ranges are increasingly variable as the stages unfold.
Each of the eight 'psychosocial crises' is characterised by a conflict
between two opposing positions or attitudes (or dispositions or
emotional forces). Erikson never really settled on a firm recognisable
description for the two components of each crisis, although in later
works the first disposition is formally referred to as the 'Adaptive
Strength'. He also used the terms 'syntonic' and 'dystonic' for
respectively the first and second dispositions in each crisis, but not
surprisingly these esoteric words never featured strongly in
interpretations of Erikson’s terminology, and their usual meanings are
not very helpful in understanding what Erikson meant in this context.
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The difficulty in 'labeling' the first and second dispositions in each crisis
is a reflection that neither is actually wholly good or bad, or wholly
positive or negative. The first disposition is certainly the preferable
tendency, but an ideal outcome is achieved only when it is counter-
balanced with a degree of the second disposition.
Successful development through each crisis is requires a balance and
ratio between the two dispositions, not total adoption of the apparent
'positive' disposition, which if happens can produce almost as much
difficulty as a strong or undiluted tendency towards the second
'negative' disposition.
Some of the crisis stages are easier to understand than others. Each
stage contains far more meaning than can be conveyed in just two or
three words. Crisis stage one is 'Trust versus Mistrust', which is easier
to understand than some of the others. Stage four 'Industry versus
Inferiority' is a little trickier. You could say instead 'usefulness versus
uselessness' in more modern common language. Erikson later refined
'Industry' to 'Industriousness', which probably conveys a fuller
meaning. See the more detailed crisis stages descriptions below for a
clearer understanding.
Successful passage through each stage is dependent on striking the
right balance between the conflicting extremes rather than entirely
focusing on (or being guided towards) the 'ideal' or 'preferable'
extreme in each crisis. In this respect Erikson's theory goes a long way
to explaining why too much of anything is not helpful for developing a
well-balanced personality.
A well-balanced positive experience during each stage develops a
corresponding 'basic virtue' (or 'basic strength - a helpful personality
development), each of which enables a range of other related emotional
and psychological strengths. For example passing successfully through
the Industry versus Inferiority crisis (stage four, between 6-12 years of
age for most people) produces the 'basic psychosocial virtue' of
'competence' (plus related strengths such as 'method', skills,
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techniques, ability to work with processes and collaborations, etc).
More detail is under 'Basic virtues'.
Where passage through a crisis stage is less successful (in other words
not well-balanced, or worse still, psychologically damaging) then to a
varying extent the personality acquires an unhelpful emotional or
psychological tendency, which corresponds to one of the two opposite
extremes of the crisis concerned.
Neglect and failure at any stage is is problematical, but so is too much
emphasis on the apparent 'good' extreme.
For example unsuccessful experiences during the Industry versus
Inferiority crisis would produce a tendency towards being overly
focused on learning and work, or the opposite tendency towards
uselessness and apathy. Describing these unhelpful outcomes, Erikson
later introduced the terms ' maladaptation' (overly adopting 'positive'
extreme) and 'malignancy' (adopting the 'negative' extreme). More
detail is under 'Maladaptations' and 'Malignancies'. In the most extreme
cases the tendency can amount to serious mental problems.
Here is each crisis stage in more detail.
Erikson's psychosocial crisis stages - meanings and interpretations
Erikson used particular words to represent each psychosocial crisis. As
ever, single words can be misleading and rarely convey much meaning.
Here is more explanation of what lies behind these terms.
Erikson reinforced these crisis explanations with a perspective called
'psychosocial modalities', which in the earlier stages reflect Freudian
theory, and which are paraphrased below. They are not crucial to the
model, but they do provide a useful additional viewpoint.
'psychosocial crisis'
/ 'psychosocial
meaning and interpretation
modality'
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1. Trust v Mistrust
The infant will develop a healthy balance
between trust and mistrust if fed and cared for
'To get'
and not over-indulged or over-protected. Abuse
or neglect or cruelty will destroy trust and
'To give in return'
foster mistrust. Mistrust increases a person's
resistance to risk-exposure and exploration.
(To receive and to
"Once bitten twice shy" is an apt analogy. On the
give in return. Trust other hand, if the infant is insulated from all and
is reciprocal -
any feelings of surprise and normality, or
maybe karma
unfailingly indulged, this will create a false
even..)
sense of trust amounting to sensory distortion,
in other words a failure to appreciate reality.
Infants who grow up to trust are more able to
hope and have faith that 'things will generally be
okay'. This crisis stage incorporates Freud's
psychosexual Oral stage, in which the infant's
crucial relationships and experiences are
defined by oral matters, notably feeding and
relationship with mum. Erikson later shortened
'Basic Trust v Basic Mistrust' to simply Trust v
Mistrust, especially in tables and headings.
2. Autonomy v
Autonomy means self-reliance. This is
Shame & Doubt
independence of thought, and a basic confidence
to think and act for oneself. Shame and Doubt
'To hold on'
mean what they say, and obviously inhibit self-
expression and developing one's own ideas,
'To let go'
opinions and sense of self. Toilet and potty
training is a significant part of this crisis, as in
(To direct
Freud's psychosexual Anal stage, where
behaviour outward parental reactions, encouragement and patience
or be retentive. Of
play an important role in shaping the young
course very
child's experience and successful progression
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Freudian...)
through this period. The significance of parental
reaction is not limited to bottoms and pooh - it
concerns all aspects of toddler exploration and
discovery while small children struggle to find
their feet - almost literally - as little people in
their own right. The 'terrible twos' and 'toddler
tantrums' are a couple of obvious analogies
which represent these internal struggles and
parental battles. The parental balancing act is a
challenging one, especially since parents
themselves are having to deal with their own
particular psychosocial c