Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development

Introduction

The German-born American psychoanalyst Erik Homburger Erikson (1902-1994) attempted to revive the structure of psychoanalysis after the death of Sigmund Freud in 1939. Erikson considered himself to be a Freudian psychoanalyst in spite of some opinions that he fell outside the Freudian tradition. Erikson helped to establish the theoretical approach called ego psychology, along with the Austrian-born American psychoanalyst Heinz Hartmann (1894-1970), the German psychologist Ernst Kris (1901-1957), and the Hungarian-born American psychologist David Rapaport (1911-1960) (Cross, pp.96-105).

The theme of ego psychology is that the “ego” is capable of functioning autonomously and is not confined to internal conflicts with the “id” and the “superego” as in Freudian doctrine. Erikson's major contributions to contemporary psychoanalytic theory include a psychosocial theory of development and psychohistorical analyses of famous persons. According to Erikson's theoretical approach, the term psychosocial refers to the stages of an individual's life from birth to death and focuses on the social/environmental influences that interact with the physical and psychological growth of the person (Levine, pp.36-41). Erikson's psychosocial theory, which describes “stages” of development, supplements S. Freud's psychosexual stage of development theory, J. Piaget's cognitive stage development theory, and H. S. Sullivan's interpersonal stage development theory.

Stage 5: Identity vs. Rejection (adolescence, about 15-16)

Childhood is completed with the development of productive skills (except where succeeded the previous phase) and with the onset of sexual maturity. Here begins the youth. The physical changes have again strong and unsettling adolescents are strongly oriented to the external perception. In search according to a new sense of self, the young people many struggles of former years again by fighting. Identity is created in this phase by the confidence that self-perception and perception coincide approximately (Sudbery, pp.121-134).

Erik Erikson (1902-94) departed from Freud's teachings by emphasising societal factors in development. His main contribution to the theory of psychosocial development was to extend across the lifespan, dividing the life-course into eight stages, each with a specific 'crisis' to resolve. By far the most influential stage to emerge from this formulation was the identity 'crisis' during adolescence. Erikson defined identity as 'confidence in one's inner continuity amid change'. Furthermore, Erikson proposed that men must achieve a stable identity prior to intimacy, whereas women's identity is defined through their intimate roles of wife and mother. Such a formulation was clearly influenced by the historical time and culture in which the theory emerged! From this initial foundation, ...