Erik Erikson
The most interesting topic that we discussed in class the semester, was the theory that Erik Erikson had developed. Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development is one of the best-kenned theories of personality in psychology. Much akin to Sigmund Freud, Erikson believed that personality develops in a series of stages. Unlike Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages, Erikson’s theory describes the impact of convivial experience across the whole lifep. One of the main elements of Erikson’s psychosocial stage theory is the development of ego identity.
Ego identity is the conscious sense of self that we develop through interaction. According to Erikson, our ego identity is fluctuating due to incipient experiences and information we acquire in our circadian interactions with others. I learned that when psychologists talk about identity, they are talking about the notions, ideals, and values that avail make up a person’s comportment. Identity commences when were very puerile and it becomes very paramount and critical in the adolescent teen ages. Shaping our identity never really ends it’ll change for the good and maybe even for the bad for the rest of our lives.
Our personal identity gives each of us something unique that dissevers one’s self from every other person in this world. Erikson additionally believed that a sense of competence motivates someone’s actions. Each stage in Erikson’s theory is concerned with becoming competent in an area of life. If the stage is handled well, the person will feel as if the have achieved something great, which is sometimes referred to as ego strength or ego quality. If the stage is managed poorly, the person will emerge with a sense of inadequacy.
In each stage, Erikson believed people experience a conflict that accommodates as a turning point in development. In Erikson’s view, these conflicts are centered on either developing a psychological quality or failing to develop that quality. During these times, the potential for personal magnification is high, but so is the potential for failure. I believe that, that’s something that a lot people are faced with. It’s like having a dream and going after it, say for hockey. For me I dream big with it, I want to make it in the professionals.
Therefore I’m taking a risk, I can either achieve what I’m aiming for or I can fail. I also feel that for my identity I need to be more than just a good hockey player. I need to be a good person all around. You see a hockey player, you’d never know he’s a professional athlete. But once you put the skates on him, he becomes a beast. So overall Erikson proposed a lifep model of development, taking in five stages up to the age of 18 years and three further stages beyond, well into adulthood. Erikson suggests that there is still plenty of room for perpetuated magnification and development throughout one’s life.
Erikson put a great deal of accentuation on the adolescent period, feeling it was a crucial stage for developing a person’s identity. Like Freud and many others, Erik Erikson maintained that personality develops in a predetermined order, and build upon each precedent stage. This is called this epigamic principle. The outcome of this ‘maturation timetable’ is a wide and integrated set of life skills and abilities that function together within the autonomous individual. However, Instead of fixating on sexual development, he was intrigued with how children socialize and how this affects their sense of self.
