Definition
Unlike Freud's psychoanalysis, which saw personality as being completed in childhood, Erikson's psychosocial development theory holds that development continues throughout the life span. It is called “psychosocial” because it locates the driving force of development in social relationships and cultural demands rather than sexual drives.
The theory is a core theory in developmental psychology, child, youth and elderly welfare, human behavior and the social environment, educational psychology and life-cycle units in nursing; in particular, the concept of ego identity in adolescence is used almost as an everyday word.
Key Concepts
The epigenetic principle
Erikson explained development with the epigenetic principle, borrowed from biology. All development follows a ground plan, and just as each part appears at its own time to form a whole, each aspect of personality comes to the fore in a set order.
Psychosocial crisis
Each stage involves a crisis in which a positive and a negative tendency are set against each other. Here “crisis” means not a disaster but a turning point; when the positive tendency outweighs the negative one, an ego strength (virtue) emerges. How well an earlier stage is resolved affects the next stage, but it can be revisited later.
Ego identity
Ego identity, the task of adolescence, is a consistent sense of “who I am and where I am going.” Erikson emphasized the importance of a psychosocial moratorium, a period in which society allows young people to experiment with roles.
Stages and Components
| Stage | Period (approx.) | Psychosocial crisis | Ego strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Infancy (0–1) | Trust vs. mistrust | Hope |
| 2 | Early childhood (1–3) | Autonomy vs. shame and doubt | Will |
| 3 | Preschool age (3–6) | Initiative vs. guilt | Purpose |
| 4 | School age (6–12) | Industry vs. inferiority | Competence |
| 5 | Adolescence | Identity vs. role confusion | Fidelity |
| 6 | Early adulthood | Intimacy vs. isolation | Love |
| 7 | Middle adulthood | Generativity vs. stagnation | Care |
| 8 | Old age | Ego integrity vs. despair | Wisdom |
Age ranges differ slightly between textbooks. After Erikson's death, his wife Joan Erikson added a “ninth stage” for people in their eighties and nineties in the extended edition of The Life Cycle Completed (1997). James Marcia (1966) made the identity concept measurable through four statuses based on crisis and commitment: identity achievement, moratorium, foreclosure and diffusion.
Theorists and Background
Erikson (1902–1994) was born in Germany and, without a formal university degree, trained in psychoanalysis with Anna Freud in Vienna. After the Nazis came to power he moved to the United States, where he worked at Harvard, Yale and Berkeley, and observed child-rearing in Native American communities, focusing on the influence of culture on development. Some argue that his own deep struggles with identity, stemming from his parentage and upbringing, are reflected in the theory.
While keeping the psychoanalytic framework, he belongs to the tradition of ego psychology, which emphasizes the adaptive functions of the ego rather than the id. Together with Piaget's theory of cognitive development, which deals with changes in cognitive structure, it is often compared as one of the two major stage theories of developmental psychology.
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Criticisms and Limitations
- Difficulty of empirical testing: The concepts of stages and crises are so broad that they are hard to measure and test. Only some concepts, such as Marcia's identity statuses, have been developed empirically.
- Fixed order and ages of stages: Today, as the timing of employment and marriage varies, intimacy and identity tasks often appear at the same time or in a different order.
- Gender and cultural bias: Gilligan (1982) criticized placing identity before intimacy as based on male development. Others note that it reflects Western middle-class values that prize individual independence.
- Insufficient explanation of crisis resolution: The specific mechanisms by which crises are resolved at each stage are not fully described.
Applying It in a Report
Child and youth welfare cases
A case of an elementary school student who experiences academic failure can be analyzed in terms of industry vs. inferiority, and a case of a university student who cannot decide on a career in terms of identity vs. role confusion and Marcia's moratorium status. Complementing how family, school and community support or hinder these tasks with ecological systems theory raises the quality of a social work report.
The CampusDown library (in Korean) also has reports that apply this theory in practice, such as 「Erikson의 심리사회적 발달단계와 현재 자신이 속한 단계의 과업수행 정도, 현대인의 정신건강 향상 방안」, 「프로이드와 에릭슨의 발달 이론: 심리성적 발달 5단계와 심리사회적 발달 8단계」. They show how the theory can be connected to real cases. For more, try the '에릭슨' report search.
Elderly welfare and ego integrity
Ego integrity vs. despair in old age is often cited as the theoretical basis for reminiscence therapy and life-review programs. Using it together with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which deals with esteem and belonging, strengthens the rationale of a program proposal.
Education and comparisons of development
A “comparison table of Freud's, Erikson's and Piaget's developmental stages” is a staple topic for exams and assignments. Adding Vygotsky, who emphasized learning through social interaction, clearly shows the differences in perspectives on development.
References
- Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and Society. New York: W. W. Norton.
- Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and Crisis. New York: W. W. Norton.
- Erikson, E. H., & Erikson, J. M. (1997). The Life Cycle Completed: Extended Version. New York: W. W. Norton.
- Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego-identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3(5), 551–558.
- Gilligan, C. (1982). In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.