Erik Erikson: The Father of
Psychosocial Development
“Children love and want to be loved and they
very much prefer the joy of accomplishment to
the triumph of hateful failure. Do not mistake a
child for his symptom”
-Erik Erikson
Who is Erik Erikson?
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Born in Germany on June 15th 1902.
He was an artist and a teacher in the
late 1920s when he met Anna Freud,
an Austrian psychoanalyst. With
Anna’s encouragement, he began
to study child psychoanalysis at the
Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute.
He immigrated to the US in 1933 and
taught at Yale and Harvard
University.
It was at this point in his life that he
became interested in the influence of
society and culture on child
development. To satisfy his curiosity,
he studied groups of American Indian
Children to help formulate his
theories. Studying these children
enabled him to correlate personality
growth with parental and societal
values.
Field of Research
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He studied groups of Aboriginal
children to learn about the influence
of society and culture on child
development. From this, he
developed a number of theories, the
most famous being his psychosocial
development.
He believed that humans have to
resolve different conflicts as they
progress through each stage of
development in the life cycle.
Erikson’s theory consists of eight
stages of development. Each stage is
characterized by a different conflict
that must be resolved by the
individual. If a person is unable to
resolve a conflict at a particular
stage, they will be confront and
struggle with it later in life.
Erikson’s Psychosocial Development
Age
(Years)
Stage
Psychosocial
Crisis
Psychosocial
Strength
Environmental
Influence
1
Infancy
Trust vs. Mistrust
Hope
Maternal
2-3
Early childhood
Autonomy vs.
Shame and Doubt
Willpower
Both parents or
adult substitutes
4-5
Preschool
Initiative vs. Guilt
Purpose
Parents, family
and friends
6-11
Middle Childhood
Industry vs.
Inferiority
Competence
School
12-18
Adolescence
Identity vs. Role
confusion
Fidelity
Peers
18-35
Young adulthood
Intimacy vs.
Isolation
Love
Spouse, lover,
friends
35-65
Middle age
Generativity vs.
Stagnation
Care
Family, society
Over 65
Old age
Integrity vs.
Despair
Wisdom
All humans
Erikson’s Contributions
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He made major contributions in
the area of child development
by studying groups of Native
American children and
developed the concept of
identity crisis.
He was concerned with the
relationship between
society/culture and child
development, which he
termed “psychosocial
development”.
This interest led him to develop
the Eight Stages of
Development.
In each stage, the individual
encounters a developmental
crisis.
In order to move on to the next
stage, the individual must
resolve the crisis.
THE END