16.3: Theories of Social Development
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Erikson and Psychosocial Theory
One of the best-known theories of social development is the Eight Psychosocial Crises described by Erik Erikson.[1] Erik Erikson (1902‐1994) believed we know what motivates us throughout life. We make conscious choices in life, focusing on meeting particular social and cultural needs rather than purely biological ones. For instance, humans are driven by the need to experience the world as a trustworthy place, feel we are capable individuals, believe we can contribute to society, and possess confidence in having lived a meaningful life. These are all psychosocial problems. Erikson divided the lifespan into 8 crises, usually called stages. Each stage or crisis consists of psychosocial tasks to accomplish. Erikson believed that an individual’s personality takes shape throughout his lifespan in the face of life’s challenges. According to Erikson, successful development involves positively dealing with and resolving the goals and demands of each crisis. If a person does not resolve a crisis successfully, it may hinder his ability to deal with later crises.
Erikson’s theory that emphasizes the social relationships that are important at each stage of personality development. The lifespan is broken into eight stages, each with a major psychosocial task to accomplish or crisis to overcome.
Psychosocial Stages
- Trust vs. mistrust (0‐1 year): the infant must have basic needs met consistently to feel that the world is a trustworthy place.
- Autonomy vs. shame and doubt (1 ‐2 years): mobile toddlers have newfound freedom they like to exercise, and they learn some essential independence by being allowed to do so.
- Initiative vs. guilt (3 ‐5 years): preschoolers like to initiate activities and emphasize doing things "all by myself."
- Industry vs. inferiority (6‐11 years): school-aged children focus on accomplishments and begin making comparisons between themselves and their classmates.
- Identity vs. role confusion (adolescence): teenagers try to gain a sense of identity by experimenting with various roles, beliefs, and ideas.
- Intimacy vs. isolation (young adulthood): in our 20s and 30s, we make some of our first long‐term commitments in intimate relationships.
- Generativity vs. stagnation (middle adulthood): In our 40s through the early 60s, we focus on being productive at work and home and are motivated to feel that we've contributed to society.
- Integrity vs. despair (late adulthood): we look back on our lives and hope to see that we have lived well and have a sense of integrity because we lived according to our beliefs.
The first 3 stages form a foundation for discussions on emotional and social development during the lifespan. These stages or crises can occur more than once: for instance, a person may struggle with a lack of trust beyond infancy under certain circumstances.
Erikson’s stages of trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame/doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair
Crises of Infants and Preschoolers: Trust, Autonomy, and Initiative
From the day they are born, infants face a crisis (in Erikson's paradigm) about trust and mistrust. They are happiest if they can eat, sleep, and excrete according to their schedules, regardless of whether their schedules are convenient for their caregiver. Unfortunately, a young infant is in no position to control or influence a caregiver's scheduling needs, so the infant faces a dilemma about how much to trust or mistrust the caregiver's helpfulness. It is as if the infant asks "If I demand food (or sleep, or a clean diaper, etc.) now, will my caregiver be able to help me meet this need?" Hopefully, between the 2 of them, caregiver and child resolve this choice in favor of the infant's trust: the caregiver proves to be adequate in attentiveness, and the infant risks trusting the caregiver's motivation and skill.[1]
Caregivers who are consistently and appropriately responsive and sensitive to their infant's needs help the infant develop a sense of trust; the infant will see the world as a safe, predictable place. Unresponsive or inconsistent caregivers who do not meet their infant's needs can elicit feelings of anxiety, fear, and mistrust; the infant may see the world as unpredictable and unsafe. If infants are treated cruelly, or their needs are not met appropriately, they will likely grow up with a sense of mistrust for people in the world.[2]
As soon as the first crisis resolves, a new one develops over autonomy and shame. The child (now a toddler) may trust their caregiver, but their trust contributes to the desire to assert autonomy by taking care of basic personal needs, such as feeding, toileting, or dressing. At this stage of development, you will often hear toddlers say things like “me-do-it” as they exert their autonomy. Given the child's lack of experience in these activities, self-care is risky at first: the toddler may feed (or use the toilet, dress themselves, etc.) clumsily and ineffectively. The child's caregiver risks overprotecting the child by criticizing their early efforts unnecessarily, causing the child to feel shame for even trying.[1] Erikson believed that toddlers should be allowed to explore their environment as freely as safety permits, fostering their understanding of independence that later grows self-esteem, initiative, and overall confidence. If denied the opportunity to act on their environment (within developmentally appropriate measures), toddlers may begin to doubt their abilities, leading to low self-esteem and feelings of shame (Berger, 2005). Hopefully, the new crisis resolves in favor of autonomy through the combined efforts of the child to assert independence and of the caregiver to support the child.
About the time a child is of preschool age (3-5 years old) the autonomy exercised during the previous period becomes more elaborate, extended, and focused on objects and people other than the child. The child at an early education center, for example, may now undertake to build the "biggest city in the world" out of all available unit blocks, even if other children want some of the blocks for themselves. The child's projects and desires create a new crisis of initiative and guilt because the child soon realizes that acting on impulses or desires can sometimes negatively affect others: more blocks for one child may mean fewer for someone else. As with the crisis over autonomy, caregivers must support the child's initiatives whenever possible without making the child feel guilty for desiring to have or do something that affects others' welfare. By limiting behavior where necessary—but not limiting internal feelings—caregivers demonstrate support of this newfound ability to take the initiative. Expressed in Erikson's terms, the crisis resolves in favor of initiative.[1]
Criticisms of Erickson's Theory
Criticisms of Erikson's theory stem from his focus on stages and his assumption that completing one stage is a prerequisite for the subsequent development crisis (Marcia, 1980). His theory also focuses on the social expectations found in certain cultures, but not in all. For instance, the idea that adolescence is a time of searching for identity might translate well in the middle‐class culture of the United States, but not as well in cultures where the transition into adulthood coincides with puberty through rites of passage and where adult roles offer fewer choices.[2]
[1] Thompson, P. (2019). Foundations of Educational Technology is licensed CC BY
[2] Child Abuse, Neglect, and Foster Care is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Diana Lang