Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

Psychosocial Theory of Erik Erikson
Erikson completed the psychoanalytic theory where he explained the life development of a person from infancy up to adulthood. The stages are grounded on specific developmental tasks at a given age (American Chemical Journal, 2013.). This means that each stage is fixed and has specific time models. Erikson also pointed out the effect of social interaction, environment and the significant events on one’s self-identity and in the society. The unique in psychosocial theory is what Erikson called crisis which is the challenging point into one’s individuality. If the person overcomes the crisis in each stage, the person will more likely to develop successful development of identity and personality. Thus, Erikson

Intimacy is the virtue and isolation is the core pathology. In this stage, the person will have the ability to form strong connections and close relationship with other people but Erikson also believed that they will develop strong sense of identity separately meaning the person will not forget his one’s own identity during the phase of having intimate relationship with others. The person will achieve the higher level of maturity without distorting their real identity.
Once the maturity level will not occur, the person will develop isolation in forming close relationship with others. It is also where the person enters sexual relationship. When sexual intimacy takes place, the partners will develop care for each other, will share their feelings and tends not to harm each other (Karcher & Benne, 2008).
The seventh stage is generativity versus stagnation, in which generativity or procreativity is the virtue and stagnation is the core pathology. The person will feel a sense of connectedness of his/her own generation to younger generation. It is where adults understand more about their lives and spiritual understanding of life. They form symbolic link to other younger generations. They involve themselves into social activities, volunteerism and community involvement. The opposite side is stagnation in which the person loses sense of engagement in his/her own life and in community (Roseborough,

Existentialists view that every individual can find his own meaning in life. Meaning in life is how the person perceives his own existence and how he places meaning in every aspect of his life ( Ehichioya Obinyan, 2014). It is intrinsic - the individual alone is responsible for attaining it (Cooper, 2003).
This study utilized Rollo May’s Existential Psychology. For Rollo May, people have become alienated from the real world, from others and, most especially from themselves. They become less mindful of their true identity, hence cannot make a choice for their own. According to Rollo May (1981), experiencing freedom and choice is a basic human tendency that shows the intention of the person. Intentionality is what makes people construct his perception in life. He believes that this allows people to overcome the contradiction of object and the