Development is a prerequisite for the normal functioning of any organism, including humans, and occurs within the framework of the evolution of the species, within the personality and body of an individual person. We are born small babies with chubby cheeks, defenseless and weak, and we grow into strong, beautiful, dangerous predators.
The development of the body and organism occurs within the framework of biological and physiological maturation. And the psyche grows with an eye on the requirements of the surrounding society and habitat, and adapts to them.
Philosophers and scientists have put forward many hypotheses and classifications of psychosocial personality development. The most popular of them is the theory of development authored by Erik Homburger Erikson, a German psychologist and psychoanalyst.
The essence of Erikson's age periodization
The theory describes the stages of personality development under the influence of society. According to Erikson, a person goes through 8 stages of maturation from the point of view of the development of the individual self.
Me personally!
“You are unique!” - those around them repeat, without delving into the concept. People are identical in appearance, where is the uniqueness?
Uniqueness lies in the individual gene set. It gives a person unique opportunities for his physical, emotional and mental development. Depending on the influence of the environment, we can take advantage of what nature has given us, or remain at the level of a small child. Under the influence of society, certain qualities and a system of motivational incentives develop in the individual. With their help, a person realizes himself in society, revealing his inherent talents.
Individual is a Latin concept that means “indivisible.” Man as an individual is an integral and independent being, the result of the unity of natural qualities and acquired skills, who has raised himself into a unique individual.
The process of this education is gradated by Erikson's theory.
Cognitive development at age 20
Because thinking is more flexible, interpretation and understanding of subtleties is more prevalent.
Some people enter into post-formal thinking, which involves dialectical thinking. (argue, debate and understand that questions are not always absolutely correct or clear) and the awareness that solving a problem involves using past experience.
Self-development in your 20s
- Young people must solve several important problems:
- Articulating your gender identity
- Analysis of the beliefs and values they accepted as children
- Clarifying their sexual identity in the context of intimate relationships Worker in early adulthood
Early in a career, an employee questions his or her competence and commitment.
As the employee's role evolves, challenges arise, including:
- Dealing with job requirements and expectations and negotiating authority hierarchy
- Anxiety combined with concerns about financial self-sufficiency
Erikson age table
For clarity, Erickson depicted his theory in the form of a table.
The information in it is broken down by indicators:
- psychosocial stage - name of the stage;
- definition of the period - a description of the age frame within which the stage lasts;
- a group that gives a social order for development within the stage, and which is the closest society for a person during this period;
- the development task is the fundamental question that a person solves during the stage;
- social conditions that play a role in the formation of personality traits;
- the result is developed weak or strong qualities (virtues). Depends on the elaboration of the task.
Table.
Erikson's age periodization (click to enlarge) The results of working through a developmental stage task do not mean the development of bad or good qualities, and Erikson, when describing his theory, focused on maximum avoidance of the evaluative perception of results. We are talking about the development of individual personality qualities that help her in solving further problems (if successfully worked through - strong qualities) or hinder her (if the issue is not resolved - weak qualities). This does not mean that, in the future, human development should be given up. This only indicates that additional difficulties will arise in the future.
Phases and stages of the crisis period
O. Khukhlaeva examines the dynamics of the development of the crisis of early adulthood through the following phases:
- pre-crisis state, which is characterized by childish idealistic views of the world, excessive self-confidence, a riot of energy and feelings, and the euphoria of youth;
- a crisis itself, when a young person suddenly loses interest in what is happening around him and feels a feeling of inner emptiness, apathy, and reluctance to learn and achieve anything.
An important period of crisis is defining oneself in interpersonal relationships, or the so-called acquisition of intimacy according to Erikson, when, with a huge number of people nearby, a person feels cut off from the world, experiences a feeling of loneliness and uselessness.
The end of the transition to full adulthood, or the last stage, means the acceptance of its psychological criteria and the beginning of the formation of personal maturity.
Detailed description of Erikson's stages of development
Infancy - may there always be a mother, may there always be me
Entering the first stage - infancy - a tiny person begins to get acquainted with the world around him. The world becomes the mother (or the person replacing her).
A person's first decision in life:
- How does he see the world around him: friendly, hostile?
- Can the world be trusted?
With active personality development, the child takes a position of trust.
Determined by the following characteristics:
- Is it easy to feed the baby?
- Is he sleeping soundly?
- Do the intestines and other internal organs function normally?
A child with a positive attitude towards the world is not particularly worried and does not get angry if his mother disappears from sight, because he knows that she will return, that his mother will do everything to make him satisfied and happy.
The love and tenderness of a mother determines the child’s ability to believe and hope. The little person absorbs the image of his mother and introjects with her - unconsciously identifies, perceives all his mother’s experiences, feelings, attitude towards sounds, colors - to manifestations of the world around him, as his own.
Lack of response to the child's needs, support, inconsistent attitude towards child care can cause the development of a pessimistic attitude towards the world, up to a refusal to live according to its fundamental laws of active activity and communication with the external environment as an exchange of information.
Early childhood - you're getting married soon, but you can't get dressed!
With the sharp growth of the child's skills, the first declarations of independence arise. He learns to sit, crawl, walk, eat on his own, and take care of himself without help. Sometimes his claims to independence are too harsh and dangerous, and the parents’ task is to protect him from the potential dangers of the world around him, and from possible harm to others, gently guiding the inquisitive fidget.
This will allow the little person to develop independence skills. The child learns the meaning of a neat appearance, learns to understand why his mother gets angry when he gets dirty, why he needs to wash his face and brush his teeth. At this stage, the foundation of volitional behavior is laid, which at the next stage will develop into determination, but for now the child will learn to control his own behavior.
Excessive guardianship of the child, distrust in his ability to provide himself with minimal comfort, and at the same time, lack of support and the assignment of impossible tasks make the child dependent on others, instill a sense of shame for himself and doubt in his right to independence.
Childhood: I’m already quite big - I can cook soup for dolls
The child’s world grows, and brothers and sisters appear next to their parents. The child begins to wonder how far he can go from home, how independently he can make decisions. He begins to explain the world in his own way, to separate his opinion from the opinions of others. Due to a lack of knowledge, he comes up with his own explanations for the things around him, and the parents’ task is not to ridicule these child’s attempts to order the world around him.
Awakening curiosity pushes the child to ask unexpected questions, and parents can encourage this desire, answer them, and provide as much information and knowledge as possible. The “I want” that was formed at the previous stage is already developing into “I can.” With progressive development, the child shows entrepreneurial spirit and tests himself for his ability to act “like an adult.”
At this stage, parents need to understand that their child is becoming an independent, separate person. Now you need to not only love him, but respect his desires, desires to understand more of what is still incomprehensible, test yourself for your ability to make decisions and evaluate incoming information. The child needs the approval of his parents, a consistent line of support for his independence.
Often punishing a child, limiting activity, refusing to support and answer paradoxical questions, you can develop passivity in the child, uncertainty about his uniqueness and ability to bring something of his own into this world.
School age - first grade
A child goes to school, and now a huge number of people suddenly appear in his world, different, understandable and not very clear. The child has already realized whether he can spend some time without his parents and without their help. At the next stage, he tries to understand whether he can become completely independent, what are his chances of realizing all his “I want”, and how large are the horizons of his “I can”.
The child looks for role models and enters into a relationship of competition for good grades. The first ambitions to determine their place in the world appear. With positive development, the child hones his ability to acquire knowledge and skills, and draws his own conclusions about good and bad role models.
Without strong leadership, proper attention to developing the child’s ability to learn, without support and the formation of the concept of worthy models of behavior, self-doubt and disbelief in his ability to separate from his parents and survive in the big world grows in the child.
Adolescence and youth: a difficult age
At the previous stage, the child actively absorbed information about concepts such as “good” and “bad” and made his own conclusions. At the new stage, he moves on to practice and determines what place he wants to take in life, and becomes a teenager.
Actively searching for the question “Who do I want to be, who am I?” subjects the strength of the hitherto absolutely authoritative image of parents to a serious test. A teenager decides whether he wants to be like mom or dad? If the image of his parents does not at all coincide with his existing ambitions, he can rebel greatly, even to the point of completely denying everything he has learned so far.
At this age, a person is especially susceptible to the influence of religious movements and subcultures in which he is looking for a role model and a model of authoritative behavior. Peers become the main habitat, and the desire to win people's recognition can push them to desperate actions.
In the presence of a positive example from parents, their ability to convey their picture of the world, present unambiguous sexual and social models of behavior, and give adequate feedback, the teenager finds his own self, socializes and determines the purpose of his existence.
Without proper and clear feedback, without a firm conviction of what is expected of a teenager, in the absence of their own authority in the eyes of the child, parents may notice lethargy and anxiety in his behavior, an unwillingness to take responsibility for his actions. It is no longer possible to find a common language with a teenager; he reacts hostilely to any contact, confuses roles and behavior patterns.
In the worst case, he runs away from home, disappointed in his parents, family and himself. And most importantly, the correctness of the world he knew. In search of the truth about the environment, a teenager may begin to try everything that was forbidden to him, to lead a marginal lifestyle, since the main question is “Who am I?” (even to the point of impaired gender identification) he cannot decide because of the destroyed picture of the world that he had until now.
Maturity: welcome to the world of adults!
Having survived the rebellion of the previous stage, having made up his mind, a person who has already matured physically begins to be interested in the people around him. If in adolescence a child sought to stand out from his environment, then at this stage he has a desire to join the community: in communication with other people there is warmth and empathy. With others, a person receives approval, value, love. His attempts to assert himself made sense. At this stage, the strength of self-identification found at the previous stage is tested.
When receiving good feedback and understanding from friends and relatives, a person understands that he is loved. For the first time, he feels the desire to devote himself to serving his loved ones. He has grown up, does not require selfless care, he is an adult who can take care and make others happy.
If the image of I did not pass the test and received negative feedback, if a person did not have sufficient access to communication with loved ones and friends, then the person decides to isolate himself from the world and feels lonely, experiences the feeling of “the whole world is against me,” becomes a renegade, escapes into imaginary worlds.
Middle age: what is the use of this cat?
When a person goes through the stage of socialization and sorts out his relationship with the environment, he has the question “Can I do something useful for the world?” All attention is focused on work, hobbies, creativity. A person is trying to decide whether he can bring something to future generations? The person moves to a higher level. Until now, he had been thinking about his life and the life of his neighbor. Now it's time to think about history and heritage.
A person needs the results of his work, awareness of his own usefulness, and involvement in something large-scale. Many go into politics and engage in social activities. The accumulated life experience allows us to offer interesting solutions and ideas to the world. Positive results encourage a creative approach to professional activities and raising children. A person feels satisfied with life.
This stage occupies the longest period in a person’s life. Problems in the previous two - growing up, self-identification and unity with the environment - become a stumbling block for the realization of one’s own ambitions in middle age, and become the cause of crisis states.
A person with a “midlife crisis” is desperately trying to win back his life, have time to announce himself to the world, and find his place. If there is a relationship, then it undergoes a serious test. The stronger a person’s internal conflict, the greater the threat hangs over everything that has been at least built so far: work, family, friends.
If a person was unable to overcome internal panic, could not find a use for himself, destroyed everything he had built, but did not create anything new, then he feels devastation, and may feel the meaninglessness of life and the desire to end it as something unnecessary.
But the good news is that he has almost twice as much time to catch up on everything he lost in the first 25 years.
Old age: this is all that will remain after me
With the transition to the last stage, a person, wise by experience, acquires the ability to draw conclusions about himself:
- Was his life path worthy?
- Was he able to achieve everything he wanted?
- How satisfied is he with himself and what remains after him?
If a person cannot answer positively to the questions that arise in his head, then he still has a feeling of unfinished business. He turns into a grumpy grandfather (or a grumpy grandmother). Unfinished tasks and unfulfilled goals give rise to self-dissatisfaction and disappointment in life.
What is Ego Integration?
The feeling of ego integration is the feeling of the integrity of one’s “I”. Initially, children do not have a sense of “I”. For them, the world around them and themselves are one and the same. The famous psychologist Jean Piaget emphasized that infants have no personality boundaries. They begin to form only by 2-3 years.
The highest level of personal development is a state when the world for a person becomes an ideal place to satisfy his needs (both spiritual and lower order). This state is called integration in psychology. From an evolutionary point of view, it means the highest degree of fitness.
The integrated personality is a clipboard between society and the inner world. She is able to avoid harmful factors, enhance beneficial ones, and even turn evil into good. A high degree of integration is characterized by professional development of the individual at a serious level.
According to Erikson, ego integration arises as a property of late life. But only if a person was able to experience numerous victories and defeats during his life and was an inspiration for others. Ego integration of an elderly person is a look at the past years and their positive assessment: “I am satisfied with the life I have lived.” Such people are not afraid of death. Indeed, in their descendants or creative achievements, they were able, in a certain sense, to gain immortality.
On the other side of the barricades are those who have “wasted their lives.” They look at the time they have lived with regret: it now seems like a series of missed opportunities. At the end of their lives, they feel that it is too late to start something. Erikson's theory of personality development identifies two types of mentality in such people. First, they regret that life cannot be lived again. Secondly, they deny their own shortcomings, projecting them onto the world around them. “Despair means that there is too little time left to choose another path to wholeness; That’s why old people try to embellish their memories,” Erikson writes in his works. Feelings of anxiety and self-pity in their extreme cases lead to mental disorders in old age. These are hypochondria, paranoia, depression and dementia.
Let's summarize
Erikson's age periodization is a classification of personality development proposed by a psychologist. In accordance with the theory, a person, having been born with a certain potential inherent in him by nature, goes through 8 stages of growing up, at each of which he solves a separate problem, which becomes the basis for the development of his natural abilities and its implementation in society.
At each stage, the personality develops, acquiring strong or weak qualities - depending on whether he solves the main task of development or not. Poor development of personal qualities is not fatal. This means that it is difficult to solve problems at the next stages. With proper persistence, all the problems of the previous stages can be solved at the maturity stage.
Causes and essence of the crisis
The guys:
- need for self-determination;
- the need to face a choice - with whom to communicate, what to do, where to move next, etc.;
- developing a personal philosophy and attitude to life “by trial and error.”
For girls:
- stereotypes imposed from the outside, a la “every girl should be at this age”;
- wrong choice of life path, for example, studying rather than having a child;
- a change in the usual way of life, a feeling of being cut off from one’s home.
Personal life
Erik Erikson married in 1930. His chosen one was the dancer and artist from Canada Joan Mowat Serson. The couple met at a ball. The wife gave the man two sons and a daughter. While married, the psychologist converted to Christianity.
Erik Erikson with his wife Joan
When in 1933 it became clear that Adolf Hitler’s rise to power entailed a Nazi threat, Eric, along with his wife and children, left for Copenhagen. It was not possible to secure Danish citizenship, so the family moved to the USA, where this issue was not so pressing and it was easier to build a personal life.
In the late 1930s, the psychologist took the surname Erickson, and his stepfather's surname became his middle name.
Conclusion
No matter how much Erikson's theory of personality development is opposed to Freud's psychoanalysis, they also have something in common. In both theories, the stages of human development are predetermined. The order in which they are completed also remains unchanged. Erikson was convinced that conflicts in previous stages could also occur in subsequent stages. The eight tasks that Erikson identified in his theory are solved throughout life. If a person was unable to cope with any crisis in a timely manner, he has a chance to do it later - but with great effort. After all, every period of life “throws up” new difficulties. According to Erikson, a crisis is not a disaster, but just a turning point. It can both maladapt a personality and be a source of strength.
