Erik Homberger Erikson Was a German psychoanalyst known for his contributions to developmental psychology and especially for having formulated the theory of psychosocial development and its 8 stages. He was born in Frankfurt, Germany, on June 15, 1902 and died in Massachusetts, United States, on May 12, 1994.
Erikson did not grow up with his biological father, since his parents separated before his birth. His father was of Danish origin and his mother, Karla Abrahamsen, was also a young Danish girl. She raised Erikson alone until she turned three. He then married Theodor Homburger, a Jewish pediatrician.
The family moved to Karlsruhe, located in southern Germany. According to Erikson himself in an essay called Autobiographical Notes on Identity Crises , His parents hid him throughout his childhood that his mother had previously married and was also the son of a man who abandoned him before his birth.
After finishing high school, Erik decided that he wanted to be an artist. He studied art and for a time lived as a young rebel, wandering around Europe. Finally, at the age of 25 he decided to settle down and set a course for his life.
He became a teacher at an experimental school for American students, at the recommendation of a friend. Thus began a new stage in his life that took him to what would be his trade the rest of his existence.
The Beginnings of Erikson's Psychology
Erikson obtained the position like teacher in that experimental school. That place was run by Dorothy Burlingham, also a friend of Anna Freud . The young artist was not alone with the art. In addition to being a teacher, he continued to study, thus Montessori education .
In addition, thanks to the help of Anna Freud, Erikson studied at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute. There he specialized in child psychoanalysis.
His closeness to Anna Freud put him in contact with psychoanalysis and that is why he decided to become a psychoanalyst. In fact, his didactic analysis, a treatment that psychoanalysts must undergo in order to be therapists, did it with Anna Freud herself.
All this led him to be accepted into the exclusive circle of disciples of Sigmund Freud. It was during that time that Erikson met a Canadian dance teacher, Joan Serson, with whom he married and later had three children.
After the Nazis came to power in Vienna, Erikson and his wife fled the city. First settled for a short time in Copenhagen, then went to Boston (United States) in 1933. There, the psychoanalyst taught at the most prestigious universities in North America: Harvard, Yale and Berkeley.
At the Harvard Medical School he got his first job, where he had a private practice to practice psychoanalysis of children. By then, Erikson was associated with renowned psychologists as Kurt Lewin Y Henry Murray , As well as with anthropologists such as Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict and Gregory Bateson.
After working at Harvard, the psychoanalyst worked at Yale University, a period devoted to working on the influence of culture and society on child development. To reach its conclusions, Erikson conducted studies with groups of Native American children.
In this way he managed to formulate theories that would allow him to mark a relationship between personality growth and social and family values.
Between the years of 1939 and 1951 he worked at the University of California at Berkeley and San Francisco. In 1939, Erikson gained US citizenship and for some reason decided to change his surname from Homburger to Erikson.
In 1950 he wrote his first great work titled Children and society (Childhood and Society). This book contained the articles he devoted to his studies of North American tribes and essays on analysis of Máximo Gorki Y Adolf Hitler . It also included a discussion of the American personality, and argument bases of what would be his version on the Freudian theory .
And, although Erikson was close to Freud's postulates, he disagreed with the father of psychoanalysis in some respects. Erikson disagreed with Freud's relevance to sexual development to explain the evolutionary development of the individual. Erikson thought that it was the individual himself who over the years was developing his consciousness through social interaction.
But this issue of the influence of culture on personality, which gave rise to his famous theory of psychosocial development, not only remained in this book. It was a postulate that was repeated constantly in other works of the psychoanalyst. Among them The truth of Gandhi , A book from which he obtained two great recognitions: the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development
Erik Erikson's best-known theory was the theory of personality development or psychosocial development theory. The specialist focused on integrating clinical psychoanalysis with cultural anthropology, in order to give new nuances to the aspects of evolutionary development. With this psychoanalytic model Erikson sought to describe the development of personality in the stage of childhood and adulthood but from a social approach.
Erikson's perspective takes into account both the psychological and social aspects of the individual, associating the behavior of each person according to their age. Unlike Freud, who focused on the study of the unconscious and the Ello, Erikson based his theory on the psychology of the Self.
Erikson's theory of psychosocial development was developed from a reinterpretation of the Psychosexual phases Established by Freud. In them the psychoanalyst emphasized social aspects. In this theory Erikson increased the understanding of the 'I' and made him see it as a vital and positive force, but above all intense. In addition, taking as a starting point the stages of Psychosexual development from Freud , He explained them and integrated them into the social and psychological aspects.
He also expanded the concept of personality development by extending it to the whole cycle of life. That is to say that it took into account the development from childhood to old age. And finally he explored the impact of culture, society and history on the development of the personality of the individual.
The theory of psychosocial development is also a theory of competence. Erikson argues that the individual develops a series of specific competencies in each of the stages of life.
This means that, for example, for the emotional growth of children, they must develop in a particular order. The fundamental thing in this case is socialization, since it is in this way that they can develop in a healthy way their own personal identity.
According to Erikson's theory, if people acquire the competences that correspond to them in each of the stages, when leaving them the person will feel a sense of mastery. This sensation has been called by the psychoanalyst as a force of the ego.
By acquiring this competence, the individual's sense of self-sufficiency will help him solve the challenges he will face in the next stage.
Another aspect that characterizes the theory of Erikson are the conflicts that mark each of the stages of life. According to the expert, it is these conflicts that allow the development of the individual. And when the person in question resolves them, it grows psychologically. Much has been said that people grow in difficulties and that is part of what the theory proposes. The human being is able to find its potential for growth by resolving the conflicts that affect it in each of the stages.
Erikson classified the development of the Self into eight stages. In each of them it is necessary to solve specific tasks in order to be able to move on to the next stage. These stages of Erikson are articulated with the"social environment", which has an influence on the resolution of each of the tasks of individuals.
The 8 psychosocial stages according to Erikson
1- Confidence vs distrust
It is a stage that is given from birth to 18 months. This stage depends on the relationship established with caregivers, specifically with the mother. At this stage babies begin to build trust in each other. And from the healthy development of this bond will depend their future relations of trust.
When trust develops successfully, the individual gains confidence and security in the world around him. But if this process is not completed successfully, the person may develop an inability to trust and a sense of fear that will make him feel insecure and unsatisfied emotionally.
2- Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
This stage ranges from 18 months to 3 years. At this stage the child's cognitive and muscular development begins. It is the moment when they begin to become independent, walking away from the mother or choosing toys, clothes or food. If independent behavior is supported, children become more confident and secure.
On the other hand, this is also the stage in which they begin to exercise and control the muscles related to eliminations of the body. This learning can lead them to feel shame or doubt. If they are not given the opportunity to assert themselves, they could become very dependent on others and even lack self-esteem.
3- Initiative vs fault
It is a stage that goes from 3 to 5 years. It is when the child begins to develop in a physical and intellectual way. And it's time when they start planning activities, inventing games, and interacting with other children. It is important that children have the opportunity to develop this sense of initiative and feel confident in their ability to make decisions or to lead others.
If not, they could be frustrated and the result would be the development of a sense of guilt. If they get negative responses from their parents, they will feel like a nuisance to people, will not develop initiative and will always be followers but not Leaders .
4 - Laboriousness vs. Inferiority
This stage occurs between 6 and 7 years to approximately 12 years. This is when children begin preschool and begin to feel interested in how things work. It is also the time when they try to carry out many activities for themselves. Your effort to accomplish certain things needs to be stimulated, whether at home or at school.
If their actions are not taken positively, children may develop a sense of insecurity. Their failures should never be highlighted negatively, much less make comparisons between themselves and other children. This will make them feel insecure in front of others.
5- Search for identity vs. identity diffusion
This stage occurs in adolescence. It is the moment when they begin to wonder who they are. This is where true independence begins. It is the time when they want to spend more time with their friends and when they begin to think about the future.
This is when the search for identity occurs. In this process they will often feel confused because they will be in a stage of self-discovery. And as they discover who they are and what they like they will want to show it to the world.
6- Intimacy vs. isolation
It is a stage that occurs from the age of 20 to 40 years. At this stage of life the way of relating to other people changes. The individual begins to be interested in making their intimate relationships have a reciprocal commitment based on trust.
If this type of privacy is not allowed, the risk of social isolation and loneliness can lead to a depression .
7- Generativity vs. stagnation
It occurs between 40 and 60 years. This is the moment when individuals dedicate time to their family and in which they also seek a balance between being productive and stagnation.
Productivity is associated with the future, the feeling of being useful and necessary for others. The opposite is the stagnation. At this stage people also often wonder what it is they do. They may feel stagnant, with no life purpose.
8- Integrity vs hopelessness
It develops from the age of 60 until death. It occurs in old age, when the individual can no longer be productive in the way that used to be. It is a stage in which the way of living changes radically by the changes that the Body and mind . The environment is also altered. Friends and family die and it is necessary to go to duels.