Erikson Stages of Psychosocial Development

Erikson Stages of Psychosocial Development

Introduction

The Eriksson stages of psychosocial development have been presented by the renowned psychologist Erik Erikson, and these highlight eight stages of healthy human development. According to Erikson, everyone has to pass through these stages as the child moves from infancy to adulthood. Each stage is characterized by the confrontation and mastering of new challenges. The arrival and successful completion of each stage is partly dependent on the successful completion of the previous stage—without fully accomplishing each stage the next one cannot arrive. Furthermore, if the person does not meet all the challenges of one stage during the specified period and there are some loopholes left behind, there are chances that the issues might reappear in future as problems or concerns (Erikson, 1998).

However, mastering each stage is not the sole requirement for proceeding in life and advances, in the stages of psychosocial development--people, must be able to negotiate his biological forces with the socio-cultural forces in order to be a perfect biological, as well as a social being. Each of the eight stages is characterized by the differences and conflict in these forces, and only when the person succeeds in reconciling with these forces, he or she emerges from each stage as corresponding virtue. The following paragraphs discuss each stage with all its requirements and demands:

The Stages of Psychosocial Development

1.Hopes: trust vs. Mistrust (Oral- sensory, Birth- 2 Years)

The first stage of psychosocial development presented by Erikson starts at birth and lasts till two years of age. This is the infancy period, and the fact that all the needs of the infant are met by the parents. This is the period which determines whether trust or mistrust gets developed between the infant, the parents and thus the environment. According to Erikson, trust means an essential truthfulness of others that are accompanied by the basic sense of one's own trustworthiness.

During the initial days, the infant is solely dependent on the parents; his food comes from mother and love, care and attention from both parents. The child's outlook towards the world and his understanding of the relations in the outside world gets developed during this era and is dependent on the child's relations with the parents. If the parents take proper care of the child and subject him to warmth, care, affection and regularity, the child would learn to trust the world and develop all sorts of positive connotations. On the other hand, if the parents fail to provide the required love and trust, the infant would develop mistrust towards the world, which would last throughout the life. This mistrust might lead to frustration, suspicion and withdrawal from the society. Thus, according to Erikson, the child learns to trust or mistrust the world during initial days of his life and the impression continues throughout the lifetime.

2.Will: Anatomy vs. Shame and Doubt (Muscular- Anal, 2-4 Years)

The stage lasts from 2 to 4 years, when the child begins to gain control over the eliminative functions and starts developing the ...