Erikson

Post-Freudian theory

Extends Freud’s infantile developmental stages.

Identity crisis

Turning point in one’s life that may either strengthen or weaken personality.

Homburger

Erik’s last name.

Ego

Person’s ability to unify experiences and actions in an adaptive manner.

Body ego

Experiences with our body, of seeing our physical self as different from other people.

Ego ideal

Image we have of ourselves in comparison with an established ideal.

Ego identity

Image we have of ourselves in the variety of social roles we play.

Pseudospecies

Illusion perpetrated and perpetuated by a particular society that is somehow chosen to be the human species.

Epigenetic Principle

Implies a step-by-step growth. One stage is built upon a previous stage.

Syntonic

Harmonious element in a stage of life.

Dystonic

Disruptive element in a stage of life.

Basic Strength

Conflict between the dystonic and syntonic elements produce an ego quality or ego strength called ___.

Core Pathology

Too little basic strength at any one stage results in ___.

Identity crisis

Personality development is characterized by an ___.

Infancy

Period encompassing approximately the first year of life and paralleling Freud’s oral phase of development.

Oral-Sensory Mode

A phrase that includes infants’ principal psychosexual mode of adapting. Receiving and accepting what is given.

Basic Trust

Achieved when infants realize that their mother will provide food regularly.

Basic Mistrust

When infants find no correspondence between their oral-sensory needs and their environment.

Hope

Basic strength of infancy

Withdrawal

Core pathology of infancy.

Early Childhood

Anal stage. 2nd and 3rd years of life. When young children receive pleasure from sense of control over their interpersonal environment.

Anal-urethral-muscular mode

Children learn to control their body, especially in relation to cleanliness and mobility.

Autonomy

Children stubbornly express their anal-urethral-muscular mode is a demonstration of ___.

Shame

A feeling of self-consciousness of being looked at and exposed.

Doubt

Feeling of not being certain.

Will

Basic Strength of Early Childhood

Compulsion

Core pathology of early childhood.

Play age

Freud’s phallic phase. Roughly ages 3-5.

Genital-Locomotor mode

Primary psychosexual mode during the play age.

Initiative

Head=on mode of approaching the world.

Guilt

Consequence of perceived taboo and inhibited goals.

Purpose

Basic strength of Play age. Children compete at games in order to win or to be on top.

Compulsion

Core Pathology of Play age

School age

Latency years of Freud’s theory. Social world of children is expanding beyond family to include peers.

Latency

Allows children to divert their energies into learning the technology of their culture and the strategies of their social interactions.

Psychosocial Conflict

An internal, life-span tension between an individual's psychological needs and the demands of their social environment

Industry

A willingness to remain busy with something and to finish a job.

Inferiority

If a child’s work is insufficient to accomplishing their goals, they acquire a sense of ___.

Competence

Basic Strength of school age. Confidence to use one’s physical and cognitive abilities to solve problems that accompany school age.

Inertia

Core Pathology of school age.

Adolescence

By the end of this period, a person must gain a firm sense of ego identity. Period of social latency.

Puberty

Genital maturations. Plays a minor role in Erikson’s concept of adolescence.

Ego identity

Reaches a climax during adolescence as young people strive to find out who they are and who they are not.

Identity Confusion

Syndrome of problems that includes a divided self-image, an inability to establish intimacy, rejection of community standards.

Fidelity

Basic Strength of adolescence. Faith in one’s ideology.

Role Repudiation

Core pathology of adolescence. Blocks one’s ability to synthesize various self-images and values into a workable identity.

Diffidence

Under Role Repudiation: An extreme lack of self-trust or self-confidence. Shyness and hesitancy to express oneself.

Defiance

Under Role Repudiation: Act of rebelling against authority. Hold to socially unacceptable beliefs and practices simply because there beliefs and practices are unacceptable.

Young Adulthood

About age 19-30 but more defined by acquisition of intimacy at the beginning, and generativity at the end.

Genitality

Can develop only during young adulthood when it is distinguished by mutual trust and a stable sharing of sexual satisfactions with a loved person. Only in an intimate relationship.

Intimacy

Ability to fuse one’s identity with that of another person without fear of losing it.

Mature intimacy

Ability and willingness to share a mutual trust.

Isolation

Incapacity to take chances with one’s identity by sharing true intimacy.

Love

Basic strength of adulthood. Mature devotion that overcomes basic differences between men and women.

Exclusivity

Core pathology of young adulthood.

Adulthood

A time when people begin to take their place in society and assume responsibility for whatever society produces.

Procreativity

Refers to more than genital contact. Includes assuming responsibility for the care of offspring.

Generativity

Defined as the generation of new beings as well as new products and ideas.

Stagnation

Generational cycle of productivity and creativity is crippled when people become too absorbed in themselves.

Care

Basic strength of adulthood. Widening commitment to take care of the persons, products, and ideas one has learned to care for.

Rejectivity

Core pathology of Adulthood. Unwillingness to take care of certain persons or groups.

Old Age

From age 60 to the end of life.

Generalized Sensuality

To take pleasure in variety of different physical sensations. Includes a greater appreciation for the traditional lifestyle of the opposite sex.

Integrity

The feeling of wholeness and coherence. An ability to hold together one’s sense of ‘I-ness’.

Despair

To be without hope.

Wisdom

Basic strength of Old age. Informed and detached concern with life itself in the face of death. Exhibit an active but dispassionate interest.

Disdain

A reaction to feeling in an increasing state of being finished, confused, helpless.