Family Life Cycle:Eight Stages of Self Development

Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of Self Development

Erik Erikson was a German-born American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on psychosocial development of human beings. He may be most famous for coining the phrase “identity crisis”.

• Erikson's stages of psychosocial development as articulated by Erik Erikson explain eight stages through which a healthily developing human should pass from infancy to late adulthood.

• In each stage the person confronts, and hopefully masters, new challenges.

• Each stage builds on the successful completion of earlier stages. The challenges of stages not successfully completed may be expected to reappear as problems in the future.

However, mastery of a stage is not required to advance to the next stage. Erikson's stage theory characterizes an individual advancing through the eight life stages as a function of negotiating his or her biological forces and sociocultural forces.

Each stage is characterized by a psycho social crisis of these two conflicting forces (as shown in the chart you will study). If an individual does indeed successfully reconcile these forces (favoring the first mentioned attribute in the crisis), he or she emerges from the stage with the corresponding virtue.

For example, if an infant enters into the toddler stage (autonomy vs. shame & doubt) with more trust than mistrust, he or she carries the virtue of hope into the remaining life stages

Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of Self Development

Key Terms:

• Personality: The characteristic ways each individual acts, thinks and feels

• Identity: Your sense of who you are; your sense of

self; who you are, what you want, what you can accomplish

Personality develops through stages.

Identity Crises: Social challenges or turning points that must be met and resolved at several points in our lives

What are the 8 Stages of Development?

Stage #1: Trust vs. MistrustAge range: Birth to 18 monthsTask: Come to feel the world is a safe place and can be trustedExample: Regular, as needed feeding, changing, touching

Stage #2: Autonomy vs DoubtAge range: 18 months to 3 years

Task: Free will – learning to do things on their own; they have the ability

Example: Feeding, toilet training, learning to walk on their own, talking

Stage #3: Initiative vs Guilt

Age range: 3 – 5 years

Task: Develop a conscience; begin to set their own limits

Example: Can’t always get what you want!

Stage #4: Industry vs InferiorityAge range: 6 –12 yearsTask: Learn to master skills; learn to make and do things; take pride in your accomplishmentsExample: Literacy/numeracy; reading, writing, math

Stage #5: Identity vs Confusion

Age range: 12 - 18 years

Task: Develop a sense of self; Discover who we are separate from others

Example: Create life-long goals; lasting friendships; figure out what we believe in

Stage #6: Intimacy vs IsolationAge range: 18 –35 yearsTask: Develop and strengthen personal relationshipsExample: Get married, have a family, make a life-long commitment to another person

Stage #7: Generativity vs. StagnationAge range: 35 –65 yearsTask: Become successful in our career; Establish a stable home environmentExample: Have a good job, donate to charities, get our kids through school, enjoy life!

Stage #8: Integrity vs DespairAge range: 65 years - deathTask: Reflect back on our livesExample: Looking back on life without regrets, and being happy for things that you’ve contributed to society

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