Psychosocial Development Flashcards
According to Erikson, what are the three crisis of adulthood?
- Intimacy vs Isolation = Love
- Generativity vs Stagnation = Care
- Ego integrity vs Ego despair = Wisdom
According to Erikson’s stage theory, what is personality?
Determined by the interaction between internal needs with external societal demands
- Sequential
- Both aspects of the struggle is experienced by the individual
- Future and present behavior is shaped by the past
Intimacy vs Isolation
Having the ability to establish an intimate relationship
- Share all aspect about yourself without losing identity
- A full understanding of yourself
- Baseline for long-term relationship
- Loneliness if unable to establish relationship
Generativity vs Stagnation
Concerns about upcoming generation, need to sustain society
- Parenthood, teaching, services that sustain society
- Stagnation when you dont develop concern for society, self-absorption
What is generativity?
Expressed concern for the next generation
Ego integrity vs Ego despair
- Awareness of end of life, on mortality
- Reminiscence, increase awareness
- Living on through others
- Despair - profound feeling of loss with no do-overs and not enough time
- Acceptance
What signalize that you’ve reached integrity?
- Self-affirming and self-accepting
- Happy over the life they have lived, judged their life has been a good one
What does the research say about the first crisis?
- Comes before identity
Chumships, close friendship, of late childhood
Adolescent, roots from attachment relationships and infancy - Gender differences/issues
Exists in both genders, but how do you define intimacy?
What does research says about second crisis?
- Generativity has some support, connected to next gen
- Gender differences, more important to women
- Associated with positive factors of life; work life satisfaction, emotional well-being
- Needs elaboration on how this manifest
- Generativity as a term is too broad to capture the essence of adulthood
What does research say about third crisis, specifically reminiscence?
- Not important or relevant for integrity
- Maladaptive for some
- Seem to not be age-related, younger people do it more often
- Elder who reminisce, is less scared of death
- Connection between younger and older gens
What is an assumption from theories based on life transitions?
- Going through life is a series of stability and instability
- Predictable age-related crisis , following a period of relative stability
- They are universal
- Assume that middle-aged adults experience a personal crisis
What is a midlife crisis?
- A period in life of where you’re supposed to take a good look at yourself
- Attain better understanding of oneself
- Behavioural changes
- Stereotypes
What does research say about midlife crisis?
- Largely unsupported
- Scales suggest no elevation at midlife (longitudinal studies)
- Individuals attribute their crisis to life stressors, not a specific time period
- More likely midlife correction or general problems of psychopathology
- Data say that 40s and 50s is no less traumatic than other age periods
What could be some explanations for midlife crisis?
- Self-fulfilled prophecies
- Profound dissatisfaction with where you are
- Feeling of needing to change, often happens gradually over time
- Cause of media
- General cognitive changes, most complex understanding of self, emotions and motivations
What is self-concept?
An organized, coherent, integrated pattern of self-perception
- How we construct identity
- Life narratives
- Integrated reconstructed past, perceived present and anticipated future
