Erikson's Psycho-Social

MODULE
7 Theory of Development

Healthy children will not fear life if their elders

have integrity enough not to fear death."
-Erik Erikson

Introduction
Erikson's stages of psychosocial development is a very relevant, highly regarded
and meaningful theory. Life is a continuous process involving learning and trials which
help us to grow. Erikson's enlightening theory guides us and helps to tell us why.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this Module, you should be able to:
• explain the 8 Stages of Life to someone you care about.
• write a short story of your life using Erikson's stages as framework.
• suggest at least 6 ways on how Erikson's theory can be useful for you as a future
teacher.
 Activity
Erik Erikson's Stage Theory of Development Questionnaire
This contains selected items from Rhona Ochse and Cornelis Plug's self-report
questionnaire assessing the personality dimensions associated with Erikson's first 5 stages of
psychosocial development. It can serve to make the stages personally relevant to you.

Indicate how often each of these statements applies to you by using the following scale:

0 = never applies to you

1 = occasionally or seldom applies to you

2 = fairly often applies to you

3 = very often applies to you

Read the instructions at the end before putting scores here

Stage 1: Trust Versus Mistrust Score

(Infancy and Early Childhood)

_____1. I feel pessimistic about the future of

humankind.

_____2. I feel the world's major problems can

be solved.

_____3. I am filled with admiration for

humankind.

_____4. People can be trusted.

_____5. I feel optimistic about my future.

Total Score Stage 1

Stage 2: Autonomy Versus Shame and Doubt Score

(Infancy and Childhood)

_____6. When people try to persuade me to do

something I don't want to, I refuse.

_____7. After I have made a decision, I feel I

have made a mistake.

_____8. I am unnecessarily apologetic.

_____9. I worry that my friends will find fault

with me.

_____10. When I disagree with someone, I tell

them.

Total Score in Stage 2

Stage 3: Initiative Versus Guilt Score

(Infancy and Childhood)

_____11. I am prepared to take a risk to get

what I want.

_____12. I feel hesitant to try out a new way of

doing something.

_____13. I am confident in carrying out my

plans to a successful conclusion.

_____14. I feel what happens to me is the

result of what I have done.

_____15. When I have difficulty in getting

something right, I give up.

Total Score in Stage 3

Stage 4: Industry Versus Inferiority Score

(Infancy and Childhood)

_____16. When people look at something I

have done, I feel embarrassed.

_____17. I get a great deal of pleasure from

working.

_____18. I feel too incompetent to do what I

would really like to do in life.

_____19. I avoid doing something difficult

because I feel I would fail.

_____20. I feel competent.

Total Score in Stage 4

Stage 5: Identity Versus Identify Diffusion Score

(Adolescence)

_____21. I wonder what sort of person I really

am.

_____22. I feel certain about what should I do

with my life.

_____23. My worth is recognized by others.

_____24. I feel proud to be the sort of person I

am.

_____25. I am unsure as to how people feel

about me.

Total Score in Stage 5

Stage 6: Intimacy Versus Isolation Score

(Early Adulthood)
_____26. I feel that no one has ever known the
real me.

_____27. I have a feeling of complete

"togetherness" with someone.

_____28. I feel it is better to remain free than

to become committed to marriage for life.

_____29. I share my private thoughts with

someone.

_____30. I feel as though I am alone in the

world.

Total Score in Stage 6

Scoring:
Items on the questionnaire were derived from Erikson's statements about each stage.

Scores for each subscale range from 0 to 15, with high scores reflecting greater strength on a
particular personality dimension.

1. The response to item 1 should be reversed (0 = 3, 1 = 2, 2 = 1, 3 = 0) and then added to the

numbers given in response to items 2, 3, 4, and 5 to obtain a trust score.

2. Responses to items 7, 8, and 9 should be reversed and added to items 6 and 10 to assess
autonomy.

3. Answers to 12 and 15 should be reversed and added to items 11, 13, and 14 to measure
initiative.

4. Answer to 16, 18, and 19 should be reversed and then added to 17 and 20 to calculate industry.

5. Responses to 21 and 25 must be reversed and added to 22, 23, and 24 to obtain a measure of
identity.

6. Answers to 26, 28, and 30 are reversed and added to 27 and 29 to give intimacy.
 Analysis

Minimal Stage 1 Trust

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Shame and Doubt Stage 2 Autonomy

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Guilt Stage 3 Initiative

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Inferiority Stage 4 Industry

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Role Confusion Stage 5 Identity

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Isolation Stage 6 Intimacy

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

What did you discover about yourself in this questionnaire?

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Have this score in mind as you read about Erikson's stages and see how the stages can
guide you in self-understanding and in understanding others as well.
 Abstraction/Generalization

Introduction to 8 stages

1. Erikson's 'psychosocial' term is derived from the two source words - namely
psychological (or the root, 'psycho' relating to the mind, brain, personality, etc) and
social (external relationships and environment), both at the heart of Erikson's theory.
Occasionally you'll see the term extended to biopsychosocial, in which "bio" refers to
life, as in biological.

2. Erikson's theory was largely influenced by Sigmund Freud. But Erikson extended the
theory and incorporated cultural and social aspects into Freud's biological and sexually-
oriented theory.

3. It's also interesting to see how his ideas developed over time, perhaps aided by his own
journey through the "psychosocial crisis" stages model that underpinned his work.

4. Like other influential theories, Erikson's model is simple and well-designed. The theory
is a basis for broad or complex discussion and analysis of personality and behavior, and
also for understanding and for facilitating personal development - of self and others. It
can help the teacher in becoming more knowledgeable and at the same time
understanding of the various environmental factors that affects his own and his students'
personality and behavior.

5. Erikson's eight stages theory is a tremendously powerful model. It is very accessible and
obviously relevant to modern life, from several different perspectives for understanding
and explaining how personality and behavior develops in people. As such Erikson's
theory is useful for teaching, parenting, self-awareness, managing and coaching, dealing
with conflict, and generally for understanding self and others.

6. Various terms are used to describe Erikson's model, for example Erikson's
biopsychosocial or bio-psycho-social theory (bio refers to biological, which in this
context means life); Erikson's human development cycle or life cycle, variations of these.
All refer to the same eight stages psychosocial theory, it being Erikson's most distinct
work and remarkable model.
7. The epigenetic principle. As Boeree explains, "This principle says that we develop
through a predetermined unfolding of our personalities in eight stages. Our progress
through each stage is in part determined by our success, or lack of success, in all the
previous stages. A little like the unfolding of a rose bud, each petal opens up at a certain
time, in a certain order, which nature, through its genetics, has determined. If we
interfere in the natural order of development by pulling a petal forward prematurely or
out of order, we ruin the development of the entire flower." Erikson's theory delved into
how personality was formed and believed that the earlier stages served as a foundation
for the later stages. The theory highlighted the influence of one's environment,
particularly on how earlier experiences gradually build upon the next and result into one's
personality.

8. Each stage involves a psychosocial crisis of two opposing emotional forces. A helpful
term used by Erikson for these opposing forces is "contrary dispositions". Each crisis
stage refers to a corresponding life stage and its inherent challenges. Erikson used the
words "syntonic" for the first-listed "positive" disposition in each crisis (e.g., Trust) and
"dystonic" for the second-listed "negative" disposition (e.g., Mistrust). To signify the
opposing or conflicting relationship between each pair of forces or dispositions, Erikson
connected them with the word "verus".

9. If a stage is managed well, we carry away a certain virtue or psychosocial strength which
will help us through the rest of the stages of our lives. Successfully passing through each
crisis involves "achieving" a healthy ratio or balance between the two opposing
dispositions that represent each crisis.

10. On the other hand, if we don't do so well, we may develop mal-adaptations and
malignancies, as well as endanger all our future development. A malignancy is the worse
of the two. It involves too little of the positive and too much of the negative aspect of the
task, such as a person who can't trust others. A maladaptation is not quite as bad and
involves too much of the positive and too little of the negative, such as a person who
trusts too much.

11. The crisis stages are not sharply defined steps. Elements tend to overlap and mingle from
one stage to the next and to the preceding stages. It's a broad framework and concept, not
a mathematical formula which replicates precisely across all people and situations.

12. Erikson was keen to point out that the transition between stages is "overlapping". Crisis
stages connect with each other like interlaced fingers, not like a series of neatly stacked
boxes. People don't suddenly wake up one morning and be in a new life stage. Changes
don't happen in regimented clear-cut steps. Changes are graduated, mixed-together and
organic.
 13. Erikson also emphasized the significance of "mutuality" and "generativity" in his theory.
The terms are linked. Mutuality reflects the effect of generations on each other,
especially among families, and particularly between parents and children and
grandchildren. Everyone potentially affects everyone else's experiences as they pass
through the different crisis stages. Generativity, actually a named disposition within one
of the crisis stages (Generativity vs. Stagnation, stage seven), reflects the significant
relationship between adults and the best interests of children - one's own children, and in
a way everyone else's children - the next generation, and all following generations.

Now you are ready to go over the eight stages. As you read, enjoy filling up the concept map
we made, found at the beginning of each stage. This will help you remember the important terms
in each stage and how these terms are interrelated. Use the side margins to write your thoughts
about the stage and how they connect to your own life now as a future teacher.
 STAGE 1

The first stage, infancy, is approximately the first year or year and
Psychosocial half of life. The crisis is trust vs. mistrust. The goal is to develop
trust without completely eliminating the capacity for mistrust. If
Crisis the primary caregivers, like the parents can give the baby a sense
of familiarity, consistency and continuity, then the baby will
develop the feeling that the world is a safe place to be, that people are reliable and loving. If the
parents are unreliable and inadequate, if they reject the infant or harm it, if other interests cause
both parents to turn away from the infant's needs to satisfy their own instead, then the infant will
develop mistrust. He or she will be apprehensive and suspicious around people.

Maladaptation/Malignancy
Please understand that this doesn't mean that the parents have to be perfect. In fact,
parents who are overly protective of the child, who are there the minute the first cry comes out,
will lead that child into the maladaptive tendency which Erikson calls sensory maladjustment:
Overly trusting, even gullible, this person cannot believe anyone would mean them harm, and
will use all the defenses at their commands to find an explanation or excuse for the person who
did him wrong. Worse, of course, is the child whose balance is tipped way over on the mistrust
side. They will develop the malignant tendency of withdrawal, characterized by depression,
paranoia, and possibly psychosis.

Virtue
If the proper balance is achieved, the child will develop the virtue of hope, the strong
belief that, even when things are not going well, they will work out well in the end. One of the
signs that a child is doing well in the first stage is when the child isn't overly upset by the need to
wait a moment for the satisfaction of his or her needs.: Mom or Dad doesn't have to be perfect; I
trust them enough to believe that, if they can't be here immediately, they will be here soon;
things may be tough now, but they will work out. This is the same ability that, in later life, gets
us through disappointments in love, our careers, and many other domains of life.

STAGE 2
The second stage is early childhood, from about eighteen months to
three or four years old. The task is to achieve a degree of autonomy Psychosocial
while minimizing shame and doubt. If mom and dad, or caregiver
permits, the child, now a toddler, to explore and manipulate his or
Crisis
her environment, the child will develop a sense of autonomy or
Independence. The parents should not discourage the child, but neither should they push. A
balance is required. People often advise new parents to be "firm but tolerant" at this stage and the
advice is good. This way, the child will develop both self-control and self-esteem. On the other
hand, it is rather easy for the child to develop instead a sense of shame and doubt. If the parents
come down hard on any attempt to explore and be independent, the child will soon give up with
the belief that he/she cannot and should not act his/her own. We should keep in mind that even
something as innocent as laughing as the toddler's efforts can lead the child to feel deeply
ashamed and to doubt his or her abilities.

There are other ways to lead children to shame and doubt. If you give children
unrestricted freedom and no sense of limits, or if you try to help children do what they should
learn to do for themselves, you will also give them the impression that they are not good for
much. If you aren't patient enough to wait for your child to tie his or her shoe-laces, your child
will never learn to tie them, and will assume that this is too difficult to learn!

Maladaptation/Malignancy
Nevertheless, a little "shame and doubt" is not only inevitable, but beneficial. Without it,
you will develop the maladaptive tendency Erikson calls impulsiveness, a sort of shameless
willfulness that leads you, in later childhood and even adulthood, to jump into things without
proper consideration of your abilities. Worse, of course, is too much shame and doubt, which
leads to the malignancy Erikson calls compulsiveness. The compulsive person feels as if their
entire being rides on everything they do, and so everything must be done perfectly. Following all
the rules precisely keeps you from mistakes, and mistakes must be avoided at all costs. Many of
you know how it feels to always be ashamed and always doubt yourself. A little more patience
and tolerance with your own children may help them avoid your path. And give yourself a little
slack, too!

Virtue
If you get the proper, positive balance of autonomy and shame and doubt, you will
develop the virtue of willpower or determination. One of the most admirable - and frustrating -
things about two- and three-year-olds is their determination. "Can do" is their motto. If we can
preserve that "can do" attitude (with appropriate modesty to balance it) we are much better off as
adult/
 STAGE 3

Stage three is the early childhood stage, from three or four to five
Psychosocial or six. The task is to learn initiative without too much guilt.
Initiative means a positive response to the world's challenges,
Crisis taking on responsibilities, learning new skills, feeling purposeful.
Parents can encourage initiative by encouraging children to try out
their ideas. We should accept and encourage fantasy and curiosity and imagination. This is a
time for play, not for formal education. The child is now capable, as never before, of imagining a
future situation, one that isn't a reality right now. Initiative is the attempt to make that non-reality
a reality.

But if children can imagine the future, if they plan, then they can be responsible as well,
and guilty. If my two-year-old flushes my watch down the toilet, I can safely assume that there
were no "evil intentions". It was just a matter of a shiny object going round and down. What fun!
But if my five year old does the same thing... well, she should know what's going to happen to
the watch, what's going to happen to daddy's temper, and what's going to happen to her! She can
be guilty of the act and she can begin to feel guilty as well. The capacity for moral judgment has
arrived.

Erikson is, of course, a Freudian, and as such, he includes the Oedipal experience in this
stage. From his perspective, the Oedipal crisis involves the reluctance a child feels in
relinquishing his or her closeness to the opposite sex parent. A parent has the responsibility,
socially, to encourage the child to "grow up -- you're not a baby anymore!" But if this process is
done too harshly and too abruptly, the child learns to feel guilty about his or her feelings.

Maladaptation/Malignancy
Too much initiative and too little guilt means a maladaptive tendency Erikson calls
ruthlessness. To be ruthless is to be heartless or unfeeling to be "without mercy." The ruthless
person takes the initiative alright. They have their plans, whether it's a matter of school or
romance or politics or career. It's just that they don't care who they step on to achieve their goals.
The goals are the only things that matter, and guilty feelings and mercy are only signs of
weakness. The extreme form of ruthlessness is sociopathy.

Ruthlessness is bad for others, but actually relatively easy on the ruthless person. Harder
on the person is the malignancy of too much guilt, which Erikson calls inhibition. The inhibited
person will not try things because "nothing ventured, nothing lost" and, particularly, nothing to
feel guilty about. They are so afraid to start and take a lead on a project. They fear that if it fails,
they will be blamed.

Virtue
A good balance leads to the psychosocial strength of purpose m a sense of purpose is
something many people crave for in their lives, yet many do not realize that they themselves
make their purposes, through imagination and initiative. I think an even better word for this
virtue would have been courage, the capacity for action despite a clear understanding of your
limitations and past failing
 STAGE 4

Stage four is the school-age stage when the child is from about six
Psychosocial to twelve. The task is to develop a capacity for industry while
avoiding an excessive sense of inferiority. Children must "tame the
Crisis imagination" and dedicate themselves to education and to learning
the social skills their society sphere at work now: The parents and
other family members are joined by teachers and peers and other members of the community at
large. They all contribute. Parents must encourage, teachers must care, peers must accept.
Children must learn that there is pleasure not only in conceiving a plan, bit in carrying it out.
They must learn the feeling of success, whether it is in school or on the playground, academic or
social.

A good way to tell the difference between a child in the third stage and one in the fourth
stage is to look at the way they play games. Four-year-olds may love games, but they will have
only a vague understanding of the rules, may change them several times during the course of the
game, and be very unlikely to actually finish the game, unless it is by throwing the pieces at their
opponents. A seven-year-old, on the other hand, is dedicated to the rules, considers them pretty
much sacred, and is more likely to get upset if the game is not allowed to come to its required
conclusion.

If the child is allowed too little success, because of harsh teachers or rejecting peers for
example, the he or she will develop instead a sense of inferiority or incompetence. Additional
sources of inferiority, Erikson mentions, are racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination. If
a child believes that success is related to who you are rather than to how hard you try, then why
try?

Maladaptation/Malignancy
Too much industry leads to maladaptive tendency called narrow virtuosity. We see this in
children who aren't allowed to "be children," the ones that parents or teachers push into one of
competence, without allowing the development of broader interests. These are the kids without a
life: child actors, child athletes, child musicians, child prodigies of all sorts. We all admire their
industry, but if we look a little closer, it's all that stands in the way of an empty life.

Much more common in the malignancy called inertia. This includes all of us who suffer
from the "inferiority complexes" Alfred Adler talked about. If at first you don't succeed, don't
even try again! Many of us didn’t do well in mathematics, for example, so we'd die before we
took another math class. Others were humiliated instead in the gym class, so we never try out for
a sport or play a game of basketball. Others never developed social skills -- the most important
skills of all -- and so we never go out in public. We become inert.

Virtue
A happier thing is to develop the right balance of industry and inferiority -- that is, mostly
industry with just a touch of inferiority to keep us sensibly humble. Then we have the virtue
called competency

STAGE 5
Stage five is adolescence, beginning with puberty and ending
around 18 to 20 years old. The task during adolescence is to Psychosocial
achieve ego identity and avoid role confusion. It was
adolescence that interested Erikson first and most, and the Crisis
patterns he saw here were the bases for his thinking about all the
other stages.

Ego identity means knowing who you are and how you fit un to the rest of society. It
requires that you take all you've learned about life and yourself and mold it into unified self-
image, one that your community finds meaningful.

There are a number of things that make things easier: First, we should have a mainstream
adult culture that is worthy of the adolescent's respect, one with good adult role models and open
lines of communication.

Further, society should provide clear rites of passage, certain accomplishments and
rituals that help to distinguish the adult from the child. In primitive and traditional societies, an
adolescent boy may be asked to leave the village for a period of time to live on his own, hunt
some symbolic animal, or seek an inspirational vision. Boys and girls may be required to go
through certain tests of endurance, symbolic ceremonies, or educational events. In one way or
another, the distinction between the powerless, but irresponsible, time of childhood and the
powerful and responsible time of adulthood, is made clear.

Without these things, we are likely to see role confusion, meaning an uncertainty about
one's place in society band the world. When an adolescent is confronted by role confusion,
Erikson says, he or she is suffering from an Identity crisis. In fact, a common question of
identity: " Who am I?"

One of Erikson's suggestions for adolescence in our society is the psychosocial

moratorium. He suggests you take a little "time out." If you have money, go to Europe. If you
don't, bum around the Philippines. Quit school and get a job. Quit your job and go to school.
Take a break, smell the roses, get to know yourself. We tend to want to get to "success" as fast as
possible, and yet few of us have ever taken the time to figure you what success means to us. A
little like the young Oglala Lakota, perhaps we need to dream a little.
 There is such a thing as too much "ego identity," where a person is so involved in a
particular role in a particular society or subculture that there is no room left for tolerance.
Erikson calls this maladaptive tendency fanaticism. A fanatic believes that his way is the only
way. Adolescents are, of course, known for their idealism, and for their tendency to see things in
black-and-white. These people will gather others around them and promote their beliefs and life -
styles without regard to others' rights to disagree.

The lack of identity is perhaps more difficult still, and Erikson refers to the malignant
tendency here as repudiation. To repudiate us to reject. They reject their membership in the
world of adults and, even more, they reject their need of an identity. Some adolescents prefer to
go to groups that go against the norms to form their identity: religious cults, militaristic
organizations, groups founded on hatred, groups that have divorced themselves from the painful
demands of mainstream society. They may become involved in destructive activities - drugs, or
alcohol - or they may withdraw into their own psychotic fantasies. After all, being "bad" or being
"nobody" is better than not knowing who you are!

If you successfully negotiate this stage, you will have the virtue Erikson called fidelity.
Fidelity means loyalty, the ability to live by societies standards despite their imperfections and
incompleteness and inconsistencies. We are not talking about blind loyalty, and we are not
talking about accepting the imperfections. After all, if you love your community, you will want
to see it become the best it can be. But fidelity means that you have found a place in that
community, a place that will allow you to contribute.

STAGE 6
 If you have made it this far, you are in the stage of young
Psychosocial adulthood, which lasts from about 18 to about 30. The ages in the
adult stages are much fuzzier than in the childhood stages, and
Crisis people may differ dramatically. The task is to achieve some degree
of intimacy, as opposed to remaining in isolation.

Intimacy is the ability to be close to others, as a lover, a friend, and as a participant in society.
Because you have a clear sense of who you are, you no longer need to fear "losing" yourself, as
many adolescents do. The "fear of commitment" some people seem to exhibit is an example of
immaturity in this stage. This fear isn't always obvious. Many people today are always putting
off the progress of their relationships: I'll get married (or have a family or get involved in
important social issues) as soon as I finish school, as soon as I have a job, as soon as I have a
house, as soon as.... If you've been engaged for the last ten years, what's holding you back?

Neither should the young adult need to prove him or herself anymore. A teenage relationship is
often a matter of trying to establish identity through "couple-hood." Who am I? I'm her
boyfriend. The young adult relationship should be a matter of two independent egos wanting to
create something larger than themselves. We intuitively recognize this when we frown on a
relationship between a young adult and a teenager. We see the potential for manipulation of the
younger member of the party by the older.

Maladaptation/Malignancy
Erikson calls the maladaptive from promiscuity, referring particularly to the tendency to become
intimate too freely, too easily and without any depth to your intimacy. This can be true of your
relationships with friends and neighbors and your whole community as well as with lovers.

The malignancy he calls exclusion, which refers to the tendency to isolate oneself from love,
friendship, and community, and to develop a certain hatefulness in compensation for one's
loneliness.

Virtue
 If you successfully negotiate this stage, you will instead carry with you for the rest of
your life the virtue of psychosocial strength Erikson calls love. Love, in the context of his theory,
means being able to put aside differences and antagonisms through "mutuality of devotion." It
includes not only the love we find in a good marriage, but the love between friends and the love
of one's neighbor, co-worker, and compatriot as well.

STAGE 7

The seventh stage is that of middle adulthood. It is hard to pin a

Psychosocial time to it, but it would include the period during which we are
actively involved in raising children. For most people in our
Crisis society, this would put it somewhere between the middle twenties
and the late fifties. The task here is to cultivate the proper balance of generativity and stagnation.

Generativity is an extension of love into the future. It is a concern for the next
generation and all future generations. As such, it is considerably less "selfish" than the
intimacy of the previous stage: Intimacy, the love between lovers or friends, is a love
between equals, and is necessarily mutual. With generativity, the individual, like a parent,
 does not expect to be repaid for the love he gives to his children, at least not as strongly.
Few parents expect a "return on their investment" from their children: If they do, we don't
think of them as very good parents!

Although the majority of people practice generativity by having and raising children, there are
many other ways as well. Erikson considers teaching, writing, invention, the arts and sciences,
social activism, and generally contributing to the welfare of future generations to be generativity
as well --- anything, in fact, that satisfies that old "need to be needed." Stagnation, on the other
hand, is self-absorption, caring for no-one. The stagnant person stops to be a productive member
of society.

Maladaptation/Malignancy
It is perhaps hard to imagine that we should have any "stagnation" in our lives, but the
maladaptive tendency Erikson calls overextension illustrates the problem: Some people try to be
so generative that they no longer allow time for themselves, for rest and relaxation. The person
who is overextended no longer contributes well. I'm sure we all know someone who belongs to
so many clubs, or is devoted to so many causes, or tries to take so many classes or hold so many
jobs that they no longer have time for any of them!

More obvious, of course, is the malignant tendency of rejectivity. Too little generativity
and too much stagnation band you are no longer participating in or contributing to society. And
much of what we call "the meaning of life" is a matter of how we participate and what we
contribute.

This is the stage of the "midlife crisis." Sometimes men and women take a look at their
lives and ask that big, bad question "what am I doing all this for?" Notice the question carefully:
Because their focus is on themselves, they ask what, rather than whom, they are doing it for. In
their panic at getting older and not having experienced or accomplished what they imagined they
would when they were younger, then try to recapture their youth. Men are often the most
flambouyant examples: They leave their long-suffering wives, quit their humdrum jobs, buy
some "hip" new clothes, and start hanging around singles' bars. Of course, they seldom find what
they are looking for, because they are looking for the wrong thing!

Virtue
But if you are successful at this stage, you will have a capacity for caring that will serve
you through the rest of your life.
 STAGE 8

This last stage, referred to delicately as late adulthood or maturity,

Psychosocial or less delicately as old age, begins sometime around retirement,
after the kids have gone, say somewhere around 60. Some older
Crisis folks will protest and say it only starts when you feel old and so
on, but that's an effect of our youth-worshipping culture, which has even old people avoiding any
acknowledgement of age. In Erikson's theory, reaching this stage is a good thing, and not
reacting it suggests that earlier problems retarded your development.
The task is to develop ego integrity with a minimal amount of despair. This stage seems like the
most difficult of all. First comes a detachment from society, from a sense of usefulness, for most
people in our culture. Some retire from jobs they've held for years; others find their duties bas
parents coming to a close; most find that their input is no longer requested or required.

Then there is a sense of biological usefulness, as the body no longer does everything it used to.
Women go through a sometimes dramatic menopause. Men often find they can no longer "rise to
the occasion." Then there are the illnesses of old age, such as arthritis, diabetes, heart problems,
concerns about breast and ovarian and prostate cancers. There come fears about things that one
was never afraid of before -- the flu, for example, or just falling down. Along with the illnesses
come concerns of death. Friends die. Relatives die. One's spouse dies. It is, of course, certain that
you, too, will have your turn. Faced with all this, it might seem like everyone would feel despair.

In response to this despair, some older people become preoccupied with the past. After all, that's
where things were better. Some become preoccupied with their failures, the bad decisions they
made, and regret that (unlike some in the previous stage) they really don't have the time or
energy to reverse them. We find some older people become depressed, spiteful, paranoid,
hypochondriacal or developing the patterns of senility with or without physical bases.

Ego integrity means coming to terms with your life, and thereby coming to terms with the end of
life. If you are able to look back and accept the course of events, the choices made, your life as
you lived it, as being necessary, then you needn't fear death. Although most of you are not yet at
this point in life, perhaps you can still sympathize by considering your life up to now. We've all
made mistakes, some of them pretty nasty ones; Yet, if you hadn't made these mistakes, you
wouldn't be who you are. If you had been very fortunate, or if you had played it safe and made a
very few mistakes, your life would not have been as rich as is.

Maladaptation/Malignancy
The maladaptive tendency in stage eight is called presumption. This is what happens when a
person "presumes" ego integrity without actually facing the difficulties of old age. The person in
old age believes that he alone is right. He does not respect the ideas and views of the young. The
malignant tendency is called disdain, by which Erikson means contempt of life, one's own or
anyone's. The person becomes very negative and appears to hate life.

Virtue
Someone who approaches death without fear has the strength Erikson calls wisdom. He calls it a
gift to children because "healthy children will not fear life if their elders have integrity not to fear
death." He suggests that a person must be somewhat gifted to be truly wise, but I would like to
suggest that you understand "gifted" in as broad a fashion as possible. I have found that there are
people of very modest gifts who have taught me a great deal, not by their wise words, but by
their simple and gentle approach to life and death, by their "generosity of spirit.

Application

1. Write your own life story using the stages of psychosocial development as framework.
Go through each of the stages that apply to you (most probably, stages 1-5 or 6). Ask
information from your parents and other significant persons in your life. Look at old baby
books and photo albums. Also, include the result of your questionnaire in the activity
section. Write a narrative for each stage.

You may choose to have the project in PowerPoint slides or scrapbook style print
outs. For every psychosocial stage include pictures of yourself and significant persons in
your life. Discuss your own psychosocial development using Erikson's theory. Consider
the crisis, maladaptations/malignancies and the virtues.

Synapse Strengtheners

1. Read the book, Healing the Eight Stages of Life by Dennis Linn, Matthew Linn and
Sheila Fabricant-Linn. This is a classic book that uses the Eriksonian stages for personal
healing. A lot of people have been changed by this book. Have a reflection diary to write
your thoughts and insights about each stage.

2. Read on Erikson's ideas about the work he did with the Sioux Indians and his research in
Gandhi.
 Research Connection
Read a research that is related to Erikson’s Theory.

Fill out the matrix below.

PROBLEM Research Methodology

Source: (bibliographical entry

format)

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social Theory of Development, I realized

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