The Erik Erikson’s personality theory It is a psychosocial theory that follows the genetic principle and includes a series of stages of human development.
Erik Erikson’s theory of the stages of human development contains the following stages:
- Stage I: sensory-oral stage
- Stage II: anal-muscular stage
- Stage III: genital-locomotor stage
- Stage IV: dormancy stage
- Stage V: adolescence stage
- Stage VI: stage of young adulthood
- Stage VII: stage of middle adulthood
- Stage VIII: stage of late adulthood
Each stage of development must be completed to move on to the next. Each stage of Erikson’s theory has a function, if the task to be carried out is achieved, a virtue is learned, on the contrary, maladaptations or malignities develop, according to Erikson.
Next, in this Psychology-Online article, we will introduce a great student of Personality Theories in Psychology: Erik Erikson. We explain in depth the theory of the stages of human development, the options in each of the stages, the concepts and the biography and work of Erik Erikson.
Beginning of Erik Erikson’s Theory
The Erik Erikson’s personality theory It is born from the confluence of all its influences and its observation and study. One of his observations was to the American tribe of the Oglala Dakota (or Sioux).
In this tribe, there was a tradition that was applied to adolescents to determine their fate in life. They were encouraged to enter the forest without weapons and without clothing other than a loincloth and a pair of moccasins in search of a dream. Hungry, thirsty and tired, the boy would wait to have a dream on the fourth day of his trip that would reveal his vital destiny. Upon returning home, he would relate the content of his dream to the elders of the tribe, which would be interpreted according to a legendary practice. The dream of him would tell the boy if he was destined to be a good hunter, a great warrior, an expert in hunting wild horses, or perhaps become a specialist in weapon making, a spiritual leader, a priest or a healer
In any case, the number of roles played in life was limited, most people played generalist roles. These roles were learned by being surrounded by other people in the family and community.
At the time when The Oglala Dakota were visited by Erik Erikson, things had changed a little. They had been reduced to closed reserves as a result of countless wars and threats. The buffalo, the main source of food, clothing, shelter and almost everything necessary to live, had been hunted to virtual extinction. To make matters worse, their customs had been taken from them, not by white soldiers, but by the efforts of government bureaucrats aimed at turning the Dakota into Americans.
The children were forced to attend state schools almost all year round, under the belief that civilization and prosperity arise from education. Here, they learned many things that went against what they had learned at home. They were taught to compete, which went against Dakota traditions of equality. They were told to speak loudly and loudly, when precisely their relatives told them to remain calm and still. In short, his parents were in a situation of pain in the face of what they considered a corruption typical of a foreign culture.
Over time, their original culture disappeared and the new culture did not provide the necessary substitutes: there was no more pursuit of dreams.
Erik Erikson was moved by the plight of the Dakota children. But Growing up and finding one’s place in the world is not an easy task. For many other Americans neither.
To what extent are you an adult? When do we enter puberty? Have you already been baptized or have you gone through your “bar mizvah”?; your first sexual experience?; 15th birthday party?; your driver’s license? Your college graduation? Voting in your first elections? your first job? Legal drinking age? college graduation?; When exactly do others treat us like adults?
There are certain contradictions: you can be old enough to drive a fast two-ton SUV, but you are not allowed to vote; you may be old enough to die in war for your country, but not old enough to drink a beer; As a college student you can be trusted with hundreds of dollars for educational credits, but you are not allowed to choose your subjects.
In more traditional societies (as in ours 50 or 100 years ago), young people They looked at their parents, their relationships, neighbors and teachers. They were decent, hard-working people (mostly) and they wanted to be like them.
Most children today look for identification in “media”, especially on television. It’s easy to understand why. The people on TV are more beautiful, smarter, more witty, healthier and happier than anyone in our neighborhood. Unfortunately, these are not real. There are a large number of students who become frustrated when they discover the great effort involved in the career they have chosen. This doesn’t happen on TV. Later, they discover that the jobs they do are not as creative and satisfying as they expected. It’s not like on TV either. We should not be surprised then that many kids take the shortest path that crime seems to offer or the fantastic life that drugs promise.
Some people may consider these statements as a exaggeration or stereotype of adolescence modern. Perhaps his transition from childhood to adulthood was a smooth one, but many people, including him, could have followed a dream.
Erik Erikson Biography
Erik Erikson was born in Frankfurt, Germany on June 15, 1902. His heritage is surrounded by a certain mystery. His biological father was an unknown Dane who abandoned his mother just when Erik was born. His mother, Karla Abrahamsen, was a young Jewish woman who raised him alone during the first three years of Erik’s life. At this time, she married Dr. Theodor Homberger, his pediatrician, and they moved to Karlsruhe in southern Germany.
After finishing high school, Erik decided to be an artist. When he wasn’t attending art classes, he wandered around Europe, visiting museums and sleeping under bridges. He lived the life of a careless rebel for a long time, before seriously considering what to do with his life.
When he turned 25, a friend of his, Peter Blos (an artist and later a psychoanalyst), suggested that he apply for a teaching position in an experimental school for American students directed by Dorothy Burlingham, a friend of Anna Freud. In addition to teaching art, she achieved a certificate in Montesori education and another from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. He was psychoanalyzed by Anna Freud herself.. While there, he met a theatrical dance teacher, with whom they had three children.
The moment the Nazis take power, they leave Vienna and head first to Copenhagen and then to Boston. Erikson accepted a position at Harvard Medical School and practiced child psychoanalysis in his private practice. During this time, he managed to rub shoulders with psychologists such as Henry Murray and Kurt Lewin, as well as anthropologists Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson. They had a lot of influence on Erik Erikson.
He later taught at Yale and then at the University of California at Berkeley. There Erik Erikson made his studies on the Dakota Indians and the Yurok. When he obtained his American citizenship, he officially adopted the name Erik Erikson; the reason is unknown.
In 1950 he wrote Childhood and Society, a book that contained articles on his studies of American tribes, analysis of Maxim Gorky and Adolf Hitler, as well as a discussion of the American personality and the argumentative bases of his version of Freudian theory. These themes (the influence of culture on personality and the analysis of historical figures) were repeated in other works, one of which, Ghandi’s Truthwon the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
During Senator Joseph McCarthy’s reign of terror in 1950, Erik Erikson leaves Berkeley when professors are asked to sign a “loyalty pledge.” From this moment on, Erikson spends 10 years working and teaching in a clinic in Massachusetts and then another 10 years back at Harvard. After his retirement in 1970, he did not stop writing and researching for the rest of his life. He dies in 1994.
Erik Erikson’s personality theory
Erik Erikson is a Freudian ego psychologist. This means that he accepts Freud’s ideas as basically correct, including debatable ones such as the Oedipus complex, as well as the ideas regarding the Ego of other Freudians such as Heinz Hartmann and of course, Anna Freud.
Nevertheless, Erikson’s personality theory is much more oriented towards society and culture than any other Freudian, as could be expected from a person with his anthropological interests. Practically, he displaces instincts and the unconscious in his theories. Perhaps for this reason, Erik Erikson is as popular among Freudians as he is among non-Freudians.
Erik Erikson’s Personality Theory: The Epigenetic Principle
Erik Erikson is well known for his work on redefinition and expansion of Freud’s theory of stages. It established that development works from a epigenetic principle. His theory postulates the existence of eight stages of human development, phases that extend throughout the entire life cycle. Progress through each stage is determined in part by our successes or failures in the preceding stages. Each stage of human development begins at a specific moment, with a certain order that has been determined by nature through genetics. If we interfere with this natural order of development by starting a stage too early or at a time that is not appropriate, we destroy the entire development.
Each stage of human development includes certain tasks or functions They are psychosocial in nature. Although Erikson calls them crises because he follows the Freudian tradition, the term is broader and less specific.
The various tasks described by the author are established based on two terms: one is the infant’s task, called “trust-distrust.” At first it is obvious to think that the child must learn to trust and not distrust. But Erikson states very clearly that we must learn that there is a balance. We certainly need to learn more about trust, but we also need to learn some distrust so that we don’t become stupid adults.
Each stage of human development has an optimal time as well. It is useless to push a child into adulthood too quickly, which is very common among people obsessed with…