Erik Erikson was a famous developmental psychologist. He was born in Germany and died at the age of 91. He is famous for his theory known as “Erikson’s stages of psychological development.” The work has been done by Erik Erikson and Joan Erikson. According to Erik, there are eight stages of psychological development that every human being has to face from the embryonic stage to late adulthood. Each developmental stage is dependent upon the previous stage. A human must complete one stage successfully to become successful in the next stage of development. Furthermore, it has been said that if a person does not complete one stage successfully then he may face trouble in the later phases of life.
The first stage in “Erikson’s stages of psychological development” is of trust. Human being stays aged from 0-23 months. An infant depends upon his parents for his basic needs such as food, and clothing. In the beginning, the child needs to develop the trust that can I trust my parents? Can they take care of me? The next stage in the development is autonomy vs. shame which lasts from 2 years to 4 years. At this age, a child learns that is it okay to act the way he wants. Are his parents supportive? The third stage is initiative vs. guilt which is the pre-schooling phase where a child learns to act and do different things. Stage 4 is competence in which a child learns how to survive in the world. Stage 5, Fidelity, allows a teen to learn what can he do in his life and how can he become successful. The love stage teaches a person how to become successful in his relationships. The 2nd last stage teaches a person how to make his life memorable so that people remember him in good words. In the last stage which is integrity vs. despair, a retired person focuses on his entire life and sees what he has achieved so far (Rosenthal et.al 1981).
Works cited:
- Rosenthal, D. A., Gurney, R. M., & Moore, S. M. (1981). From trust on intimacy: A new inventory for examining Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 10(6), 525-537.
