Chapter 6 - Erikson

Question 1

Psychological stages of development

Answer 1

To Erickson, eight successive stages encompassing the life span. At each stage, we must cope with a crisis in either an adaptive or a maladaptive way.

Question 2

Epigenetic principle of maturation

Answer 2

The idea that human development is governed by a sequence of stages that depend on genetic or hereditary factors

Question 3

Crisis

Answer 3

To Erickson, the turning point faced at each developmental stage

Question 4

Basis strengths

Answer 4

To Erickson, motivating characteristics and belief that derive from the satisfactory resolution of the crisis at each developmental stage

Question 5

Ego identity

Answer 5

The self-image formed during adolescence that integrates our ideas of what we are and what we want to be

Question 6

Identity crisis

Answer 6

The failure to achieve ego identity during adolescence

Question 7

Basic weakness

Answer 7

Motivating characteristics that derive from the unsatisfactory resolution of developmental crises

Question 8

Maldevelopment

Answer 8

A condition that occurs when the ego consists solely of a single way of coping with conflict

Maladaptive - when only the positive, adaptive, tendency is present (can lead to neuroses)
Malignant - when only the negative, adaptive, tendency is present (psychoses)

Question 9

Psychohistorical analysis

Answer 9

The application of Erickson’s lifespan theory, along with psychoanalytic principles, to study of historical figures

Question 10

Play constructions

Answer 10

A personality assessment technique for children in which structures assembled from dolls, blocks, and other toys are analyzed.

Question 11

Erickson’s stages of Psychosocial development and basic strength

Answer 11

1) trust vs. Mistrust - hope
2) autonomy vs. Doubt, shame - hope
3) initiative vs. Guilt - purpose
4) industriousness vs. Inferiority - competence
5) identity cohesion vs. Role confusion - fidelity
6) intimacy vs. Isolation - love
7) generativity vs. Stagnation - care
8) ego integrity vs. Despair - wisdom

Question 12

Trust vs. Mistrust

Answer 12

Age: birth - 1
Stage: oral-sensory
Basic strength: hope (belief that our desires will be satisfied)

Result of trust: Expect consistency and continuity from others - maldevelopment = sensory maladjustment
Result of mistrust: suspicious, fearful, and anxious - maldevelopment = withdrawal

Question 13

Autonomy vs. Doubt and shame

Answer 13

Age: 1-3
Stage: muscular-anal
Basic strength: will (determination to exercise freedom of choice and self-restraint in the face of society’s demands)

Result of autonomy: child learns to exercise independence - maldevelopment = shameless willfulness
Result of shame: self-doubt - maldevelopment = compulsion

Other notes: development of ability to hold on or let go (toilet training as society’s first attempt to refute an instinctual need

Question 14

Initiative vs. Guilt

Answer 14

Age: 3-5
Stage: locomotor-genital
Basic strength: purpose (courage to envision and pursue goals)

Result of initiative: awareness of permissible behaviour, initiative can be channeled toward realistic and socially accepted goals - maldevelopment = ruthlessness
Result of guilt: affects self-directed activities throughout the person’s life - maldevelopment = inhibition

Other notes: Oedipal relationship - desire to possess parent or opposite sex and conflict with same-sex parent - reaction of parents will be formative in this.

Question 15

Industry vs inferiority

Answer 15

Age: 6-11
Stage: latency
Basic strength: competence (exertion of skill and intelligence in pursuing and completing tasks)

Result of industriousness: praise and reinforcement lead to feelings of competence and encouragement - maldevelopment = narrow virtuosity (lack of creativity)
Result of inferiority: develops feelings of inadequacy - maldevelopment = inertia (tendency to do nothing)

Question 16

Identity cohesion vs. Role confusion

Answer 16

Age: 12-18
Stage: adolescence
Basic strength: fidelity (sincerity, genuiness, and a sense of duty in our relationships with other people - integration of what is socially acceptable and personally acceptable and desirable)

Result of identity cohesion: healthy ego identity = ability to face adulthood with certainty and confidence - maldevelopment = fanaticism (single minded zeal)
Result of role confusion: caused by identity crisis which is caused by inability to achieve ego identity (who one is and who they want to be) - no sense of who or what they are or where they belong or where they want to go - maldevelopment = repudiation (rejection of a proposal or idea)

Other notes: peers are highly influencing during this time.

Question 17

Intimacy vs. Isolation

Answer 17

Age: 18-35
Stage: young adulthood
Basic strength: love (greatest of all human virtues - mutual devotion in a shared identity, the fusing of oneself with another person)

Result of intimacy: encompasses feelings of care and commitment (ability to fuse oneself with another person in relationship without losing sense of self identity) - maldevelopment = promiscuity
Result of isolation: avoidance, aggression, and rejection toward people - maldevelopment = exclusivity

Question 18

Generativity vs stagnation

Answer 18

Age: 35-55
Stage: adulthood
Basic strength: care (concern for others - manifested in need to teach not only to help others but also to fulfill one’s identity)

Result of generativity: teaching, mentoring, and guiding the next generation - maldevelopment = overextension
Result of stagnation: boredom, pseudo-intimacy, and child-like behaviours - maldevelopment = rejectivity (self-absorption and little connection to others)

Question 19

Ego integrity vs. Despair

Answer 19

Age: 55+
Stage: maturity -old age
Basic strength: wisdom (detached concern with the whole of life - conveyed to next generation in integration of experience Best described by the word heritage)

Result of ego integrity: accepting one’s place and past - maldevelopment = presumption
Result of despair: regretful of missed opportunities and mistakes = feelings of self-disgust, contempt, and bitterness (feeling like life has been wasted - maldevelopment = distain