Erikson's 8 Stages of Psycho-social Development

Stages and Crises

• Each of the stages in the lifespan of an individual have different crises, and however the crises are dealt with determine an outcome of a virtue of a person, or a negative outcome which determine the kind of mindset the individual will have

Stage 1 Trust v. Mistrust (1st year of life)

• A child depends entirely on a caregiver to provide sustenance in order to live. How well the child gets taken care of overall determines the kind of trust the child will have.
• If the child is cared for on a constant daily basis and all her needs are met, the child will grow to be trusting of others. This will lead to a virtue of hope in the child.
• If a child does not have all of her needs met, she will have difficulty trusting others. This will result in a negative outcome of fear and suspicion towards others.
• Trust or mistrust developed determines how well the child will be able to form relationships with others

Stage 2 Autonomy v. Shame

• Occurs from age 1-3 years.
• If the child is encouraged to be independent and provided with support to let him know he is not alone, he will develop confidence to try things on his own and make decisions for himself
• If the child is not treated with patience and the caregiver does more for him than letting him make his own decisions, or gets shamed for everything that was not done right he will be discouraged from trying to do things on his own therefore developing shame or doubt in his abilities.

Stage 3 Initiative v. Guilt

• Occurs from ages 3-5
• In this stage a child starts to interact with other children at school and the development of interpersonal skills begins.
• A sense of leadership begins to form here when the child tries to initiate and plan activities with others and she begins to feel confident as a leader.
• When this is developed a virtue of purpose forms in her when her exploring gets fed and encouraged
• If her curiosity is discouraged enough she will begin to feel incapable of leading anything and fall back into the role of a follower letting others make decisions for her leaving too strong a feeling of guilt of getting in the way, often feeling insecure.

Stage 4 Industry v. Inferiority

• Happens in childhood (6-12 years)
• The child tries to seek approval from authority in showing competence in skills the authority teaches her and will pride herself in wanting to prove herself capable.
• When her skill advancement is encouraged she will feel competent and want to continue doing her best.
• When the child is not encouraged or reinforced when she does well she will feel she is not doing enough to please the authority figure and feel inferior to her peers.

Stage 5 Identity v Role Confusion

• Transition form child to adult
• Teenager begins to learn rules he will occupy as an adult, explore possibilities, what he wants to do in terms of career and relationships to fit in.
• With the exploration he will eventually acquire an identity as a unique or integrated person (the virtue), but if the sense of identity is not achieved, he will be confused as to what his role is creating a negative outcome of rebellion for missing that sense of belonging to any part of society

Stage 6 Intimacy v Isolation

• Early Adulthood (18-40)
• Young adults begin to seek longer term relationships.
• When successful in achieving long term relationship the individual develops a sense of commitment, safety and care, producing a virtue of love.
• When intimacy is avoided, the individual is likely to isolate and feel lonely and even depression can come from it resulting in overall unhappiness.

Stage 7 Generativity v Stagnation

• Middle adulthood ( 40-65)
• With a career and possible family, adults begin to settle into their relationship and begin to make family the center of their lives and build a sense of being part of a bigger picture focusing on raising their children in a way that they believe they are contributing to society.
• When this doesn't happen the adult feels stuck and a sense of being unproductive because they are missing that feeling of being part of a greater thing.
• A virtue that can come form dealing with these crises is care for the well being of others, and the negative outcome is just being stagnant or unproductive

Stage 8 Integrity v Despair

• Senior Citizens (65+)
• During this time of life the individual looks back at their life and thinks of what they accomplished, how much wisdom they acquired form their experiences and how satisfied they are with it overall
• When the senior is satisfied with his/her life, they are more accepting of their death after they were able to share their wisdom with those they care for
• When the senior is not happy with their life overall they end up with a dissatisfaction with their life altogether.