The role of identity and free will in the development of the self

Question 1

Eight stages of identity development

Answer 1

1. Erik Erikson built on Sigmund Freud’s psychodynamic idea that we develop through stages
2. Erikson (1959) focused on mental and social development and looked at our whole lifespan, from birth to old age, and how we build our identity through ‘crises’
3. We develop through eight challenges or opportunities, each of which occurs at a particular age
4. His theory, known as the ‘eight stages of man’, is biopsychosocial

Question 2

psychodynamic

Answer 2

1. Freud’s theory about psychological forces that drive human behaviour and emotions and their interactions with early experiences

Question 3

identity

Answer 3

who or what someone or something is

Question 4

biopsychosocial

Answer 4

1. make up of 3 parts/factors
2. biology (we go through stages as we age)
3. psychology (it is about mental development)
4. social factors (how our interactions with others help to shape us)

Question 5

Development through a sequence

Answer 5

1. According to Erikson, psychological problems can arise if we do not develop through ‘normal’ stages.
2. Erikson recognised the importance of other people in development
3. e.g. a strong identity comes from other people recognising a child’s achievements
4. In each stage, there can be confusion if the challenge of that stage is not achieved
5. Each crisis has two opposite alternatives e.g. trust or mistrust
6. The individual needs to resolve each crisis to successfully complete a stage

Question 6

Stages of Erikson’s theory in order

Answer 6

1. Infancy
2. Early Childhood
3. Mid-Childhood
4. Late Childhood
5. Adolescents
6. Early Adulthood
7. Mid-Adulthood
8. Late adulthood

Question 7

Infancy

Answer 7

1. From 0 to 18 months
2. Basic trust vs mistrust : Gets care and security from caregivers or does not
3. Virtue to be acquired is hope which develops from building trusting relationships with caregivers and a positive view of the world.
4. Caregivers who are inconsistent, emotionally unavailable, or rejecting contribute to feelings of mistrust in the children under their care. Failure to develop trust will result in fear and a belief that the world is inconsistent and unpredictable.

Question 8

Early Childhood

Answer 8

1. 1.5 - 3 years old
2. Autonomy vs Shame and doubt: Has self-certainty or is self-conscious
3. Virtue to be acquired is Will
4. develops physical skills such as grasping, walking and sphincter control
5. The main event is toilet training and the social focus
   is parents.
6. By allowing kids to make choices and gain control, parents and caregivers can help children develop a sense of autonomy.

Question 9

Mid-Childhood

Answer 9

1. 3-5 years
2. Initiative vs Guilt : Role experimentation or fixation on a role
3. Becomes more assertive and takes more initiative, and guilt as a result of failure to master independence.
4. Virtue to be acquired is Purpose
5. Children who try to exert too much power experience disapproval, resulting in a sense of guilt.

Question 10

Late childhood

Answer 10

1. 5 - 12 years
2. Industry vs Identity Confusion : Learning about effort or stuck regarding effort
3. Virtue to be acquired is Competence
4. they deal with demands and learn new skills as well as inferiority as a result of failure and incompetence.
5. Through social interactions, children begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments and abilities. Children need to cope with new social and academic demands. Success leads to a sense of competence, while failure results in feelings of inferiority

Question 11

Adolscence

Answer 11

1. 12 - 18 years
2. Identity vs Identity Confusion : Finding out about identity
3. Virtue to be acquired is Fidelity
4. achieves a sense of self in terms of occupation, sexuality, gender, politics and religion
5. Teens need to develop a sense of self and personal identity. Success leads to an ability to stay true to yourself, while failure leads to role confusion and a weak sense of self.

Question 12

Early Adulthood

Answer 12

1. 18 - 40 years
2. Intimacy or Isolation : Understands own sexuality or has confusion
3. Virtue to be acquired is love
4. social focus is friends and partners
5. Young adults need to form intimate, loving relationships with other people. Success leads to strong relationships, while failure results in loneliness and isolation.

Question 13

Mid-Adulthood

Answer 13

1. 40 - 65 years old
2. Generativity or Stagnation : gives back to the next generation or does not
3. Virtue to be acquired is care
4. main event is parenting and the social focus is home
5. Adults need to create or nurture things that will outlast them, often by having children or creating a positive change that benefits other people.

Question 14

Late adulthood

Answer 14

1. 65+ years old
2. Integrity vs Despair: Reflect on living a good life as oppose to regret
3. Virtue to be acquired is wisdom
4. main event is reflection and acceptance of one’s own life and the social focus is humankind as
   a whole.
5. At this point in development, people look back on the events of their lives and determine if they are happy with the life that they lived or if they regret the things they did or didn’t do.

Question 15

Strengths of Erikson’s theory

Answer 15

1. It can be applied to people throughout their life. It is a lifespan theory. On the contrary, Freud’s theory looked at development up to adulthood, and then supposed that early experiences predicted later development. Erikson can account for development through our lives.
2. Has practical applications. For e.g. Goodcase and Love (2016) suggest using Erikson’s ideas about integrity and despair with therapists working with those over 65, showing that older people are still developing and can benefit from examining their own beliefs

Question 16

Weaknesses of Erikson’s theory

Answer 16

1. Cultures have wide differences in the age a developmental stage might occur. for e.g. marriage in one culture can happen at 13, while in others it happens at 30. Therefore, intimacy or isolation can be experiences differently between cultures, and it may not be as universal
2. Giligan (1982) criticesed it by saying that it is gender stereotyping, such as intimacy or isolation being about women more than men

Question 17

The consequence of belief in free will

Answer 17

1. Roy Baumeister (2008) looks at free will, which is about self-control and making rational choices

Question 18

Free will

Answer 18

the ability to choose exactly what type of behaviour we want to show; the opposite of being ‘determined’

Question 19

deterministic

Answer 19

our actions come from what we are born with and what we experience; this is the opposite of having ‘free will’ or free choice

Question 20

Different views about free will

Answer 20

1. if things happen because of our biology, influences from growing up or other outside forces, it is hard to say that people act in a completely free way. As such they should not be held responsible for their actions. This is deterministic
2. Jean Paul Sartre, according to Baumeister, claimed that there is always a choice about any action, and so people are always responsible for their actions and always free
3. Immanuel Kant, according to Baumeister, felt that freedom was about morality and sound reasoning, but that only some actions are decided on in this way. Free will is about self-control and reasoned choices

Question 21

Baumeisters view of free will

Answer 21

1. Baumeister argues that psychology must investigate free will, which impacts on our social and moral judgements
2. Free will can be studied scientifically by looking at how we control our behaviour and make rational choices
3. According to Baumeister, self-control and making choices is biologically ‘expensive’ - it can deplete our resources by using up a lot of glucose int he brain
4. e.g. it was found that after blood glucose depletion, drinking lemonade with sugar improved people’s self-control on tasks

Question 22

Consequences of believing in free will

Answer 22

1. Leads to our justice system
2. improves prosocial behaviour in someone
3. improves someone’s control over their emotions and impulses
4. helps someone to learn from the challenges they encounter

Question 23

A belief in free will leads to our justice system

Answer 23

1. If nobody is responsible for their behaviour, then punishment will not prevent a repeat of that behaviour
2. In ‘heat of passion’ crimes, according to Baumeister, a judge might give a reduced sentence because free will was affected by biology
3. this underlines how the justice system does believe in free will (and that it can be affected by biology)

Question 24

A belief in free will improves prosocial behaviour in someone

Answer 24

1. Belief in free will can help with self-control
2. People who feel empowered and in control of their actions and emotions are more likely to acknowledge responsibility for themselves.
3. this can make someone more likely to help others in society

Question 25

A belief in free will improves someone’s control over their emotions and impulses

Answer 25

1. It takes energy to make choices and use rational decision-making
2. Being less impulsive can help to manage that energy

Question 26

A belief in free will helps someone to learn from the challenges they encounter

Answer 26

1. Someone who believes they have free will is more likely to reflect on any guilt or problems associated with negative events
2. This can help them to avoid similar events in the future

Question 27

Strengths of Baumeister’s (2008) views

Answer 27

1. It focuses on our everyday understanding of what it means to act from free will, rather than on philosophical discussions. People understand free will as thinking about what they are doing and making decisions based on their own judgements and ideas which is a more useful approach than suggesting, philosophically, that none of our actions are free
2. Baumeister and Munroe (2014) suggested that once social psychology can measure free will in terms of making choices and decisions, ‘scientific’ experiments can be carried our to advance understanding of free will and decision making. Vohs and Schooler (2008) is one such experiment

Question 28

Weaknesses of Baumeister’s (2008) views

Answer 28

1. Free will is tested using experiments, so it becomes specific decision-making rather than a wider description of why we act. Reducing free will to specific measurable behaviours (reductionism) can be said to take the ‘whole’ of a person’s decision-making into account (holism), missing important aspects of human intention
2. There are other explanations for what we might see as free will. Actions may be randomly displaced rather than coming from free will. Ebert and Wegner (2011) carried out an experiment to see if randomness could be mistaken for free will and found that it could.