Erik Erikson Liam Decker

Biography Erik Erikson was born on June 15 in 1902, in Frankfurt, Germany. His father abandoned his family when Erik was still young. While he was growing up, he was teased in school because he was tall, blonde and blue-eyed, unlike the other kids. This is when his interest in identity first started. After he finished school, he studied psychoanalysis and moved to the United States in 1933. He had several teaching positions in the U.S., of which Harvard and Yale were two. He also published a few books through his life based on his research and theories.

Hope Will Purpose Competence Fidelity Love Caring Wisdom Virtues Explanation Hope Infant stage – Reliability on the parents Will Toddler stage – Learn to explore. Bad if child is neglected Purpose Kindergarten – Initiative vs. guilt Competence 7-13 – Comparing self worth to others. Fidelity Adolescent/Mid-twenties – Questioning of self Love Young adult/Early forties – intimate relationships, work, family. Caring Forties/Sixties – Measuring success/failures. Wisdom Old age – Reflecting on the past.

Contribution Erik Erikson ‘s contribution to child psychology and development was with his theory of development. This theory was demonstrated in a chart earlier on. The main points of this theory are that children, and people, develop their personality all throughout their lives, not just as a child as Sigmund Freud had suggested. Throughout out lives, we’re put in different situations that call for different emotions or feelings to be invoked, not just up until the age of five.

Research Erikson’s research lead him to develop his developmental theory. His research suggests that, for each virtue at each stage to be optimal, one must accept and understand both extremes of the virtues. For an example, at the initiative vs. guilt stage, to understand both equally, one would have to go through and understand the effects of both. Only then would one understand and truly accept and have balance between to two extremes.

Influence According to Erik’s theory, personality development is very much affected by socialization. They influence each other because what happens through socialization to a child, or a person, will affect the way their personality develops. A person’s values and beliefs can easily by acquired through socialization as opposed to learning it on their own. An example of this would be with one of the stages of development theorized by Erikson. In the competence stage, the child or teen compares themselves to others. Depending on what society tells them, they may feel above others, or below them.

Theory So is Erikson’s theory still relevant today? Of course it is. One can argue whether or not it’s true, but it is relevant in today’s society. Everybody in society does develop a personality in some form, so Erikson’s theory can easily be applied to everybody. His theory is essentially universal to the growth and development of a person anywhere. Everybody will go through each stage at some point.