Analyzing Erikson's Psychosocial Development
Erikson’s Psychosocial Development
Erik Erikson describes psychosocial development as occurring in stages. He describes the different stages according to personality traits shown at the various stages.
I have interviewed and made my observations of persons at the different stages as follows:
Infancy (birth to 18 months)
Trust vs. Mistrust
A one year old baby was observed during a session of breastfeeding.
The baby is hungry and it is time for the mother to breastfeed him. She picks up her son and holds him gently on her lap telling him she is going to give him some milk and latches him on to her breast. The baby immediately calms down and sucks for a few minutes. While the baby is drinking, the mother looks at her son lovingly and …show more content…
This woman seems to have acquired this stage in that she has established her professional career and settled down in her own family with her husband and children.
Middle Adulthood (40 to 65 years)
Generativity vs. Stagnation
For this stage, I interviewed and observed a 46 year old woman.
This woman has a family made up of a husband and three children. She also has professional qualifications. In the past few years she has changed her career so she would be able to spend more time with her family.
She said she feels useful and accomplished in both her family life as well as at work.
According to Erikson during middle adulthood we establish our careers, settle down within a relationship, and have our own families we also give back to society through raising our children and being productive at work. It seems that this woman has moved on in this regard.
Maturity (65 to death)
Ego Integrity vs. …show more content…
During the interview, this man seems to enjoy narrating his past experiences and how life was in the past. He also likes to pass on his skills to other members of his family and he has also been distributing some of his photos of when he was a young man to his children. In spite of his mature age this man is still very active in his hobbies, travel and profession, though he admits that he is taking life more slowly and he is not as energetic as he was when he was younger.
Erikson believed that ‘If we see our lives as unproductive we feel guilty about our pasts or feel that we did not accomplish our life goals, we become dissatisfied with life and develop despair, often leading to depression and hopelessness. ’ This man seems to be happy with what he has managed to accomplish in his lifetime and would like to continue to help society with the energy still left in
Erik Erikson describes psychosocial development as occurring in stages. He describes the different stages according to personality traits shown at the various stages.
I have interviewed and made my observations of persons at the different stages as follows:
Infancy (birth to 18 months)
Trust vs. Mistrust
A one year old baby was observed during a session of breastfeeding.
The baby is hungry and it is time for the mother to breastfeed him. She picks up her son and holds him gently on her lap telling him she is going to give him some milk and latches him on to her breast. The baby immediately calms down and sucks for a few minutes. While the baby is drinking, the mother looks at her son lovingly and …show more content…
This woman seems to have acquired this stage in that she has established her professional career and settled down in her own family with her husband and children.
Middle Adulthood (40 to 65 years)
Generativity vs. Stagnation
For this stage, I interviewed and observed a 46 year old woman.
This woman has a family made up of a husband and three children. She also has professional qualifications. In the past few years she has changed her career so she would be able to spend more time with her family.
She said she feels useful and accomplished in both her family life as well as at work.
According to Erikson during middle adulthood we establish our careers, settle down within a relationship, and have our own families we also give back to society through raising our children and being productive at work. It seems that this woman has moved on in this regard.
Maturity (65 to death)
Ego Integrity vs. …show more content…
During the interview, this man seems to enjoy narrating his past experiences and how life was in the past. He also likes to pass on his skills to other members of his family and he has also been distributing some of his photos of when he was a young man to his children. In spite of his mature age this man is still very active in his hobbies, travel and profession, though he admits that he is taking life more slowly and he is not as energetic as he was when he was younger.
Erikson believed that ‘If we see our lives as unproductive we feel guilty about our pasts or feel that we did not accomplish our life goals, we become dissatisfied with life and develop despair, often leading to depression and hopelessness. ’ This man seems to be happy with what he has managed to accomplish in his lifetime and would like to continue to help society with the energy still left in