Erik Erikson: The Father of Psychosocial Development “Children love and want to be loved and they very much prefer the joy of accomplishment to the triumph of hateful failure. Do not mistake a child for his symptom” -Erik Erikson

Who is Erik Erikson? Born in Germany on June 15 th He was an artist and a teacher in the late 1920s when he met Anna Freud, an Austrian psychoanalyst. With Anna’s encouragement, he began to study child psychoanalysis at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute. He immigrated to the US in 1933 and taught at Yale and Harvard University. It was at this point in his life that he became interested in the influence of society and culture on child development. To satisfy his curiosity, he studied groups of American Indian Children to help formulate his theories. Studying these children enabled him to correlate personality growth with parental and societal values.

Field of Research He studied groups of Aboriginal children to learn about the influence of society and culture on child development. From this, he developed a number of theories, the most famous being his psychosocial development. He believed that humans have to resolve different conflicts as they progress through each stage of development in the life cycle. Erikson’s theory consists of eight stages of development. Each stage is characterized by a different conflict that must be resolved by the individual. If a person is unable to resolve a conflict at a particular stage, they will be confront and struggle with it later in life.

Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Age (Years) StagePsychosocial Crisis Psychosocial Strength Environmental Influence 1InfancyTrust vs. MistrustHopeMaternal 2-3Early childhoodAutonomy vs. Shame and Doubt WillpowerBoth parents or adult substitutes 4-5PreschoolInitiative vs. GuiltPurposeParents, family and friends 6-11Middle ChildhoodIndustry vs. Inferiority CompetenceSchool 12-18AdolescenceIdentity vs. Role confusion FidelityPeers 18-35Young adulthoodIntimacy vs. Isolation LoveSpouse, lover, friends 35-65Middle ageGenerativity vs. Stagnation CareFamily, society Over 65Old ageIntegrity vs. Despair WisdomAll humans

Erikson’s Contributions He made major contributions in the area of child development by studying groups of Native American children and developed the concept of identity crisis. He was concerned with the relationship between society/culture and child development, which he termed “psychosocial development”. This interest led him to develop the Eight Stages of Development. In each stage, the individual encounters a developmental crisis. In order to move on to the next stage, the individual must resolve the crisis.

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