Erik Erikson’s

Psycho-Social
Theory of
Development
What to do?
-Write your own life story using the stages of psycho-social
development framework.
-Deadline: Wednesday, October 2, 2024
-Handwritten or encoded
Handwritten – 1 whole sheet of paper, 3-5 sentences per
paragraph, write 1 paragraph for each stage
Encoded – 1-2 pages, Arial, 11, spacing 1.15, A4, Normal
margin
-Include a title

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Terms to remember!
Malignancy Maladaptation
Involves too little of the Involves too much of the positive
positive and too much of the and too little of the negative
negative aspect of the task
Example: a person who trusts so
much
Example: a person who can’t
trust others

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Stage 1
Trust Vs.
Mistrust

1 year old – 1 ½ year old

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Trust Vs. Mistrust
○ Goal: to develop trust without completely eliminating
mistrust
○ If primary caregivers, can give the baby the sense of
familiarity, consistency, and continuity, then the baby
will feel that the world is a safe place to be, that people
are reliable and loving.
○ If parents are unreliable and inadequate, if they reject
the infant and harm it, then the infant will develop
mistrust.
○ He/she will be apprehensive and suspicious around
people. 6
Maladaptation/Malignancy
• Parents don’t have to be perfect
• Sensory maladjustment: If parents are overly protective, this will
lead the child to be overly trusting, gullible, cannot believe that
anyone would do them harm, will use all the defenses to find an
explanation or excuse for the person who did them wrong.
• Withdrawal: tipped way over on mistrust side, characterized by
depression, paranoia, and possibly psychosis

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Virtue

○ If proper balance is achieved, the child will develop the

virtue of hope.
○ Hope – the strong belief that even when things are not
going well, they will work out well in the end.
○ This is the same ability that later in life gets us through
the disappointments in love, our careers, and many other
domains of life.

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Stage 2
Autonomy Vs.
Shame and
doubt

Early childhood
18 months – 3 to 4 years old

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Autonomy Vs. Shame and doubt
○ Achieve a degree of autonomy while minimizing shame
and doubt
○ Autonomy - independence or freedom, as of the will or
one's actions; self-government
○ If mom and dad, or caregiver permits the toddler to
explore and manipulate his/her environment, the child
will develop a sense of autonomy or independence

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Autonomy Vs. Shame and doubt
○ Parents should not discourage the child, but neither
should they push them. Balance is required.
○ We should keep in mind that even something as innocent
as laughing at the toddler’s efforts can lead the child to
feel deeply ashamed and to doubt his or her abilities

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Maladaptation/Malignancy
• A little shame and doubt is not only inevitable but beneficial.
Without it you will develop impulsiveness.
• 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.
• too much shame and doubt leads to compulsiveness
• Compulsiveness – the feeling as if their being rides on everything
they do, and so everything must be done perfectly

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Virtue

○ If you strike the balance, the child will develop the virtue
of willpower or determination.
○ If we can preserve that “can do” attitude (with
appropriate modesty to balance it) we are much better
off as adults.

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Stage 3
Initiative Vs.
Guilt

Early childhood
3 – 6 years old

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Initiative Vs. Guilt
○ The task is to learn initiative without too much guilt.
○ Initiative – a positive response to the world’s challenges,
taking on responsibilities, learning new skills, feeling
purposeful.
○ Time for play, not for formal education.

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Maladaptation/Malignancy
• Too much initiative and too little guilt means a maladaptive
tendency called ruthlessness.
• Ruthlessness – to be heartless or unfeeling or be without mercy
• Sociopathy – extreme form of ruthlessness
• Inhibition – malignancy of too much guilt, the person will not try
things because “nothing ventured, nothing lost” and nothing to
feel guilty about

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Virtue

○ A good balance leads to the psychological strength of

purpose
○ You create your purpose through imagination and
initiative.
○ Courage – the capacity for action despite a clear
understanding of your limitations and past failings.

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Stage 4
Industry Vs. Inferiority

School-age
6-12 years old

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Industry Vs. Inferiority
○ The task is to develop a capacity for industry while
avoiding an excessive sense of inferiority
○ Children must tame imagination and dedicate
themselves to education and to learning the social skills
their society requires of them.
○ Children must learn that there is pleasure not only in
conceiving a plan, but in carrying it out.
○ They must learn the feeling of success.

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Industry Vs. Inferiority
○ Racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination can be
a source of inferiority.

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Maladaptation/Malignancy
• Too much industry leads to narrow virtuosity.
• Seen in children who are not allowed to be children who are pushed
into one area of competence.
• Inertia – those who suffer inferiority complexes and believes that “If
at first you don’t succeed, don’t ever try again!”
•

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Virtue

○ Competency – right balance of industry and inferiority, to

keep us sensibly humble but capable of doing things

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Stage 5
Ego Identity Vs. Role
Confusion

Adolescence
Puberty – 18 or 20 years old

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Ego Identity Vs. Role Confusion
○ Ego identity – knowing who you are and how you fit in to
the rest of the society
○ Role confusion – uncertainty about one’s place in the
society and the world.

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Maladaptation/Malignancy
• Fanaticism – too much ego identity, believes that there way is the
only way. Gathers people to promote their beliefs and life styles
without regards to others’ right to disagree.
• Repudiation – lack of identity, to repudiate is to reject your
membership in the world of adults and the need for identity
• Joining in religious cults, militaristic organizations, groups founded
in hatred, etc.

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Virtue

○ Fidelity – loyalty, the ability to live by societies standards

despite their imperfections and incompleteness and
inconsistencies
○ You have found a place in that community, a place that
will allow you to contribute.

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Stage 6
Intimacy Vs. Isolation

Young adulthood
18-30 years old

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Intimacy Vs. Isolation
○ Intimacy – ability to be close to others, as a lover, a
friend, and as a participant in the society

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Maladaptation/Malignancy
• Promiscuity – the tendency to become too intimate too freely, too
easily, and without any depth to your intimacy.
• Exclusion – tendency to isolate oneself from love, friendship, and
community, and to develop a certain hatefulness in compensation
for one’s loneliness

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Virtue

○ Love – psychosocial strength, being able to put aside

differences and antagonisms through mutuality of
devotion

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Stage 7
Generativity Vs.
Stagnation

Middle Adulthood

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Generativity Vs. Stagnation
○ Generativity – extension of love into the future, the
concern for the next generation and all future
generations
○ Teaching, writing, invention, arts and sciences, social
activism, contributing to the welfare of future
generations
○ Anything that satisfies the need to be needed
○ Stagnation – self absorption, caring for no one, stops to
be productive member of society
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Maladaptation/Malignancy
• Overextension – some people try to be so generative that they no
longer allow time for themselves for rest and relaxation
• Rejectivity – too much stagnation, no longer contributing to society,
midlife crisis

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Virtue

○ The capacity for caring that will serve you through the
rest of your life.

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Stage 8
Ego Integrity Vs.
Despair

Late Adulthood
Around 60 years old

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Ego Integrity Vs. Despair
○ Most find their input is no longer requested or required,
biological uselessness
○ Illnesses and death
○ Ego integrity – coming to terms with your life and
thereby coming to terms with the end of life

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Maladaptation/Malignancy
• Presumption – a person presumes ego integrity without actually
facing the difficulties of old age, believes he alone is right, does not
respect the ideas and views of the young
• Disdain – a person becomes very negative and appears to hate life

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Virtue

○ Wisdom – the strength to approach death without fear

○ Generosity of spirit, not just wise in words but also has a
simple and gentle approach to life and death

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Group reporting/topic
presentation
○ Group 1 - Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory
○ Group 2 - Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development
○ Group 3 - Bioecological Model Theory of Development

○ Development of Learner at Various Stages

○ Group 4 - Prenatal Development, Infancy and
Toddlerhood
○ Group 5 - Early Childhood and Middle Childhood
○ Group 6 - Late Childhood and Adolescence

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