Module 5: The Life-Span Approach Flashcards
What is the personality theory that intends to extend rather than repudiate Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory?
Erik Erikson’s Theory or The Life-Span Approach.
What does Erik Erikson’s Theory specifically extend from the Psychoanalytic Theory made by Freud?
It extends Freud’s psychosexual infantile development to further stages such as adolescence, adulthood, and old age (Freud’s psychosexual development only focuses on the formative years of development of a person).
What served as the foundation for the life-cycle approach?
The Freudian Theory.
What did Erik Erikson’s Theory place more emphasis on, influence-wise?
Social and historical influences.
What did the Life-Span Approach offer?
It offered a new way of looking at things.
What is the struggle of opposite psychosocial forces?
The psychosocial struggle.
What contributes to the formation of personality?
The psychosocial struggle.
What is the turning point in a person’s life?
Identity crisis.
What is the psychosocial struggle?
It is the struggle of opposite psychosocial forces
What is an identity crisis?
It is the turning point in a person’s life.
What can the identity crisis do to one’s personality?
It may either strengthen or weaken it.
What are the three ways Erikson extended Freud’s theory?
- Erikson elaborated on Freud’s stages of development.
- Placed a greater emphasis on the ego than the ID.
- Recognized the impact of cultural and historical forces on personality.
TRUE OR FALSE?
Erikson believed that personality does not continue to develop over time and only during the formative years of a child.
False.
TRUE OR FALSE?
Erikson believed that the ego is an independent part of one’s personality and is not dependent to the ID.
True.
Why did Erikson recognize the impact of cultural and historical forces on personality in his theory?
It is because although biological factors are important too, these factors do not provide a complete explanation of personality. Individuals are also not entirely governed by it.
What is characterized as a positive force at the center of one’s personality that is capable of creating a self-identity?
The ego.
What is the ego?
It is the positive force at the center of one’s personality capable of creating a self-identity.
What sort of sense does the ego have?
The ego has the sense of “I”.
What does the ego do?
The ego does the following:
- Organizes agency-synthesizing present experiences with past self-identities and anticipated images of the self.
- Helps in adapting to the various conflicts of life.
- Prevents individual’s from losing one’s individuality to the leveling forces of society.
When is the ego usually weak and fragile?
During childhood.
During which stage must the ego take form and gain strength?
During the adolescence stage.
What are the aspects of the ego?
Body ego, ego ideal, and ego identity.
What aspect of the ego is characterized by one’s way of seeing one’s physical self as differing from that of others?
The body ego.
What aspect of the ego is characterized by the image we have of ourselves compared to an established ideal?
The ego ideal.
What aspect of the ego refers to the image we have of ourselves on the various social roles we play?
The ego identity.
What is the ego ideal responsible for?
It is responsible for one’s satisfaction or dissatisfaction not only on the physical self, but with the entire personal identity.
When do rapid changes of the ego usually take place?
During adolescence.
TRUE OR FALSE?
Alterations on the three components or aspects of the ego may also take place at any stage of life.
True.
The ego exists only as what during birth?
Potential.
Where must the ego emerge?
Within the bounds of cultural environment.
What shapes one’s personality that is befitting the needs and values of a specific culture?
Society.
What is characterized by the illusion held by a specific society that it is somehow chosen to be more important than other societies?
Pseudospecies.
What is pseudospecies?
It is an illusion held by a specific society that it is somehow chosen to be more important than other societies.
Is pseudospecies a threat to every nation’s survival?
Yes.
What is the assumption of Erik Erikson’s epignetic principle?
The assumption is that the ego develops throughout the various stages of life.
What is the epignetic principle?
It is the step-by-step development in accordance to a predetermined rate and in a fixed sequence.
What are the basic points that are required to know in order to understand Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory?
1. Growth happens in accordance to the epignetic principle. 2. An interaction of opposites occurs at every stage 3. An ego quality or ego strength is produced by the conflicts at each stage. 4. Core pathology results from having too little basic strength for that stage. 5. The biological aspect of development is not undermined despite the focus on Psychosocial development. 6. Personality development is shaped by multiplicity of conflicts and events – past, precent and anticipated. 7. Personality development is characterized by an identity crisis at each stage of development, most especially, from adolescence onward
What does syntonic mean?
Harmonious.
What does dystonic mean?
Disruptive.
The ego strength is also referred to as what?
Basic strength.