Erikson's Eight Stages Of Psychosocial Development

Mary Ainsworth was a very influential figure in the field of psychology. Not only did she focus on the scientific study of love, but she also looked at how this theory developed. Mary’s lifelong process looked at the origins and nature of attachments between the interactions of infants and their primary caregivers. Going off of Harry Harlow’s research with Rhesus monkeys, it was discovered that attachments were formed with the primary caregiver because of the comfort that is provided, and not just nourishment as previously thought.

Two theories that will be discussed in this paper is Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development and John Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment. Erikson’s theory is considered psychosocial, emphasizing the importance of social and cultural factors within a lifespan, from infancy to later adulthood. Erikson’s theory is broken down into eight consecutive age-defined stages. During each stage, a person experiences a psychosocial crisis that contributes to their personality development. Erikson was highly influenced by Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytical Theory of Development. Although, at first Freud was limited to childhood based on the phallic stage, Erikson focused on developing a lifespan theory. The eight stages are as followed:

Babies are born with an innate ability to learn and their brain to develop after birth. The neural pathways of a human’s brain are built based on their early experience in the world. A baby’s world is based on how they are treated by people in it therefore if the environment is scary then the baby will be reluctant to explore, as demonstrated n Bowlby’s and Ainsworth’s attachment theory. The brain and body become wired enough to understand what is safe and what should be feared.

During this stage in life, Erikson describes individuals in the generativity vs. stagnation stage (Capp, 2004). Individuals between the ages 40 to 65 have generally married, have a career and have their own families. Erikson refers to generativity as a concern of the next generation by guiding and establishing them. He also stated that a well-developed man wants to feel needed and the younger generation should acknowledge that need (Capp, 2004). Dunkel and Sefcek (2009) stated that the individual is faced with the challenge of self constructive tasks and to help the next generation, not just their children but other individuals that may need guidance or influence.

According to Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, trust vs. mistrust, occurs in the first year of life. Erikson believed that the caregiver’s response to the infant’s cries help them develop a sense of trust, when the caregiver responds right away to the infant’s distress of crying or fussing (Mooney, 2000). Erikson believed that in the earliest years of life, mainly during infancy, patterns of trust or mistrust are formed that control, or at least influence, a person’s actions or interactions for the rest of life (Erikson, 1950).

One of the main theories in Developmental psychology is the attachment theory that was devised by Bowlby (1969) and was added to in 1973, by Mary Ainsworth. The attachment theory surrounds the bond between a primary care giver and a baby. They believe that attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space. In 1930 Bowlby worked as a psychiatrist in a children’s unit, where he treated many emotionally disturbed children, this lead him to consider the relationship between mother and child and the impact that could have on the child’s development. Bowlby believed that the attachment process was an all or nothing process and that you either were attached or were not attached.

The attachment theory, developed by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth is an essential key that explains many child-parent relationships and the influence it has on development. Attachment is a process that begins during infancy in an individual’s life and can have long lasting effects. Bowlby’s theory concluded that the bonds formed between a caregiver and a child during the early years were the blueprints for future relationships. Ainsworth’s “strange situation” experiments and numerous studies tested Bowlby’s original theory and expanded on it. This paper will provide an overview on the research that has been conducted on the effects of attachment patterns on an individual’s early and later development.

Human development changes throughout a lifespan and those changes include, physical, cognitive, social, and emotional changes between birth and adulthood. This paper reflects my own personal changes and focuses specifically on the changes concerning both cognitive development and psychosocial development.

Research of over the course 30 years showed that infants are far more competent, social, and responsive and are able to make sense of their environment. Infants are no longer regarded as passive and do not only respond to stimuli (Fantz, 1963).

Attachment theory tries to describe the evolution of personality and behaviour in relationships and it gives a reason for the difference in a person’s emotional and relationship attitudes.

Erik Erikson’s stage of psychosocial cognition describes the eight stages of a developing human being and how they should go through their lifecycle. The individuality stage meets and then describes the challenges that an individual would experience. I will try to explain how Forrest Gump will relate to Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development assumption. Forrest Gump perceive many motions as he developed throughout his life. We often coin these changes that Erikson mentions in this movie. His model conveys the biological and sociological forces that Forrest goes through to effectively outgo from infancy to adulthood.

Attachment in early life is a fundamental aspect of child development and the establishment of intimate and reciprocal relationships with caregivers. Shaffer & Kipp (2007) define attachment as ‘a close emotional relationship between two persons, characterized by mutual affection and a desire to maintain proximity’. Contrary to the original view of infant attachment as a ‘secondary drive’ of the dependency on caregivers for physiological needs, such as hunger; Bowlby (1969, 1973) proposed that all infants are born with an innate bias to form an attachment to a primary attachment figure to whom they can seek comfort, or a ‘secure base’ during stressful circumstances. It is proposed by Ainsworth (1967) that parental sensitivity is crucial to shaping the security and development of the initial infant-parent attachment relationship, however the phenomenon of attachment requires both infants and caregivers to contribute in the formation of the attachment bond. Ultimately, the quality of attachment in early life shapes both the social and emotional

When I was born in this auspicious earth the first face I saw was my parents face. I used to cry a lot and mom usually thinks I’m hungry and feeds me every time when I do so. So I got to know my mom a lot and I used to play with my dad and these two were familiar faces to me in the initial stages and I developed a trust on them, The important thing I felt in this stage was feeding and my parent’s care. As we were in a joint family I always stayed with my parents and never allowed my uncle or aunt to lift me, when they tried to do so I used to switch on my alarm that is my cry, it forced my mom to run all the way from the kitchen to take care of me.

Step 1. Firstly, the clients’ point of view needs to be understood. In this session it is important to show core listening skills of empathy, genuineness and acceptance. A crisis will be caused by an event - an initial, identifiable occurrence in the life of the individual. The scale of such events can vary enormously, from large-scale natural disasters and wars to situations that can appear less dramatic (e.g., incidences of bullying in a school, a marriage, transition from college to a job). The important element about the event that causes a crisis is that some element of it is perceived as threatening to the affected individual. (Tedrick Parikh & Wachter Morris, 2011)

The life span of an individual goes through developmental stages in life, from conception to death. The majority of the stages we pass are biological, socio-economical and psychological birth rights.