Erik Erikson: The Father of

Psychosocial Development

Children love and want to be loved and they

very much prefer the joy of accomplishment to
the triumph of hateful failure. Do not mistake a
child for his symptom
-Erik Erikson
 Who is Erik Erikson?
Born in Germany on June 15th 1902.
He was an artist and a teacher in the
late 1920s when he met Anna Freud,
an Austrian psychoanalyst. With
Annas encouragement, he began
to study child psychoanalysis at the
Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute.
He immigrated to the US in 1933 and
taught at Yale and Harvard
University.
It was at this point in his life that he
became interested in the influence of
society and culture on child
development. To satisfy his curiosity,
he studied groups of American Indian
Children to help formulate his
theories. Studying these children
enabled him to correlate personality
growth with parental and societal
values.
Field of Research
He studied groups of Aboriginal
children to learn about the influence
of society and culture on child
development. From this, he
developed a number of theories, the
most famous being his psychosocial
development.
He believed that humans have to
resolve different conflicts as they
progress through each stage of
development in the life cycle.
Eriksons theory consists of eight
stages of development. Each stage is
characterized by a different conflict
that must be resolved by the
individual. If a person is unable to
resolve a conflict at a particular
stage, they will be confront and
struggle with it later in life.
Eriksons Psychosocial Development
Age Stage Psychosocial Psychosocial Environmental
(Years) Crisis Strength Influence
1 Infancy Trust vs. Mistrust Hope Maternal
2-3 Early childhood Autonomy vs. Willpower Both parents or
Shame and Doubt adult substitutes

4-5 Preschool Initiative vs. Guilt Purpose Parents, family

and friends
6-11 Middle Childhood Industry vs. Competence School
Inferiority
12-18 Adolescence Identity vs. Role Fidelity Peers
confusion
18-35 Young adulthood Intimacy vs. Love Spouse, lover,
Isolation friends
35-65 Middle age Generativity vs. Care Family, society
Stagnation
Over 65 Old age Integrity vs. Wisdom All humans
Despair
Eriksons Contributions
He made major contributions in
the area of child development
by studying groups of Native
American children and
developed the concept of
identity crisis.
He was concerned with the
relationship between
society/culture and child
development, which he
termed psychosocial
development.
This interest led him to develop
the Eight Stages of
Development.
In each stage, the individual
encounters a developmental
crisis.
In order to move on to the next
stage, the individual must
resolve the crisis.
THE END