Erik Erikson (Psychosocial theory)

Running head : Psychosocial Theory

Examine the research that Erikson had done to test his theory as well as examine the research that other theorists did to strengthen or weaken his theory

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University

Examine the research that Erikson had done to test his theory as well as examine the research that other theorists did to strengthen or weaken his theory

A theory is a set of ly ideas describing , explaining and predicting behavior (Woolfolk , 1987 . It aims at giving meaning to what is observable

and serves as a basis for improving lives . Works of Erikson have mostly tended to revolve around the views he put forward on adolescence as a stage in life as well as the attempts of individuals at this stage to discover their identity . HYPERLINK "http /en .wikipedia .org /wiki /Erikson 27s_stages_of_psychosocial_develop ment " \o "Erikson 's stages of psychosocial development " Many of his critics have described him as ego psychologist (Erikson , as cited in Marcia , 1980 ) due to his emphasis of the ego in person as opposed to the id . Many have been keen to point at his association with Freud Their argument being that his theory differs from that of Freud which only had five stages consisting of stage one through adolescence . On the contrary Erik 's theory , has eight different stages which are identifiable and last the entire life time

Of all the theories advanced by Erik , it is the psychosocial development theory which has been widely been referred to , as well as criticized by other theorists (Marcia , 1980 Schultz Schultz , 1987 Waterman , 1985 Cole Cole , 1989 . In the psychosocial development theory , every stage is associated with a conflict . Once every conflict is resolved successfully , then the result is a favorable outcome

In 1958 , Erikson reported that , from the 1st stage , each stage has out comes for example in the first stage , trust or mistrust produces a favorable outcome by bringing about the virtue of hope

For the rest of stages i .e . stages 2-8 conflicts are resolved by

Toilet training for stage 2

Independence for stage 3

School for stage 4

Peer relationships for stage 5

Love relationships for stage 6

Parenting for stage 7

and

Acceptance of life for the final stage

These stages are discussed in details in the following sections of this . For successful resolutions of the conflict , Erik assigned virtues (Erikson , 1968 ) for all the above eight stages as follows : The virtues are in of stages1-8

Hope

Will

Purpose

Confidence

Fidelity

Love

Care

and

Wisdom

The psychosocial theory is similar to Freud 's but unlike Freud 's theory of psychosexual stages , Erik 's theory goes the point of discussing the social experience in a whole lifetime . Another major stray from the Freud 's theory is that Freud 's theory states that development goes up to the age of 11 or 12 years . Erik differs in opinion and in his theory by asserting that development goes on for the whole life and 8 stages

To support...