(1)Erikson Psychoanalytic Psychology

Brief Overview:

• psychosexual development

• identity crisis

Erikson is known for his….

his influential theory of psychosocial development.

Ego Psychology:

theory that emphasizes the integration of biological and psychosocial forces in the determination of personality functioning with a special focus on developmental crises. 

Frued v Erikson

Freud: ego is weak in comparison to the powerful id.

Erikson: ego is a powerful agency that helps people to resolve inner conflicts and environmental challenges, ultimately promotes health.

The main focus of ego psychology is the…

development of a strong ego identity as individuals resolve the crises inherent in the developmental process.

Erikson maintained that personality develops in….

a predetermined order through eight stages of psychosocial development, from infancy to adulthood.

The epigenetic principle:

principle that there is a genetically determined sequence of human development that occurs in a series of stages, universal to humankind, and unfolds in a predetermined sequence.

For Erikson these crises are of a

psychosocial nature because they involve psychological needs of the individual which conflict with the needs of society.

According to Erikson, Psychosocial/Ego development occurs throughout the lifetime.

The maturation process has critical points referred to as crisis.

Successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and the acquisition of basic virtues. Basic virtues are characteristic strengths which the ego can use to resolve subsequent crises.

Positive resolution of each crises = strengthening of the ego.

Positive resolution in one stage increases the chances of positive resolution in later stages.- He initially did not feel that way(they were v black and white)

Failure to successfully complete a stage can result in a reduced ability to complete further stages, and therefore, the development of an unhealthy personality and sense of self. 

These stages, however, can be resolved successfully at a later time.

Ego strength = virtue

Virtues: human qualities or strengths that emerge from successful resolution of the crisis associated with various developmental stages. 

Each stage provides the opportunity for the establishment of a unique strength or virtue

1.Oral-sensory stage: Basic trust versus Mistrust,  1^st year of life.

Pleasure centers around the mouth and feeding.

Crisis, basic trust or basic mistrust, a direct result of parenting.

•Ego strength: hope.

By developing a sense of trust, the infant can have hope that as new crises arise, there is a real possibility that other people will be there as a source of support.

During this stage, the infant is uncertain about the world in which they live and looks towards their primary caregiver for stability and consistency of care.

If the care the infant receives is consistent, predictable, and reliable, they will develop a sense of trust which will carry with them to other relationships, and they will be able to feel secure even when threatened.

If these needs are not consistently met, mistrust, suspicion, and anxiety may develop. In this situation the infant will not have confidence in the world around them or in their abilities to influence events.

Muscular-anal stage: 

Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt, 2^nd stage, 2^nd and 3^rd years of life.

Children at this stage are focused on developing a sense of personal control over physical skills and a sense of independence.

During this stage children begin to assert their independence, by walking away from their mother, picking which toy to play with, and making choices about what they like to wear, to eat, etc.

Main issue, toilet training: forces children to obey and leads to conflict of wills.

Autonomy and self-control takes place if parents guide children’s behavior gradually yet firmly. If to harsh and demanding, shame and doubt occurs.

Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt

Ego strength: will: a gradual increase in the power to exercise judgment and decision.

The virtue of Will develops if children in this stage are encouraged and supported in their increased independence, they become more confident and secure in their own ability to survive in the world.

If children are criticized, overly controlled, or not given the opportunity to assert themselves, they begin to feel inadequate in their ability to survive, and may then become overly dependent upon others, lack self-esteem, and feel a sense of shame or doubt in their abilities.

Locomotor-genital stage: Initiative versus guilt, 3^rd stage, ages 4 and 5.

Children assert themselves more frequently through directing play and other social interaction.

Initiative is sparked, become more curious about those around them, and can now locomote more freely. 

Has similar issues with parents regarding Oedipus complex.  Believes they attempt to possess the parent of the opposite sex and feel rivalry for the same sex parent.

Children begin to plan activities, make up games, and initiate activities with others. If given this opportunity, children develop a sense of initiative and feel secure in their ability to lead others and make decisions.

Conversely, if this tendency is squelched, either through criticism or control, children develop a sense of guilt.  Too much guilt can make the child slow to interact with others and may inhibit their creativity.

Some guilt is, of course, necessary; other wise the child would not know how to exercise self-control or have a conscience.

Parental response determines the outcome.

If over-punished or over-criticized, guilt develops. With understanding and redirection, ego strength development.

ego strength:

thinking big, identifying with parents, and beginning a new set of life goals.

Play activities are important during this stage as they are working through roles for their future

Latency stage: Industry versus inferiority, 4^th stage, ages 6 – 12.

Lull in sexual desires and focus turns from the home to school life.

The child’s peer group will gain greater significance and will become a major source of the child’s self-esteem. The child now strives for a sense of accomplishment and self-esteem based on the values of society.

Ego strength: Competence

If children are encouraged and reinforced for their initiative, they begin to feel industrious (competent) and feel confident in their ability to achieve goals.

If their initiative is not encouraged, if it is restricted by parents or teachers, then the child begins to feel inferior, doubting their own abilities, and therefore may not reach their potential.

Some failure may be necessary so that the child can develop modesty. Again, a balance between competence and modesty is necessary. 

According to Erikson, the important event at this stage is attendance at school. As a student, the children have a need to be productive and do work on their own. They are both physically and mentally ready for it. Interaction with peers at school also plays an imperative role of child development in this stage.

Adolescence: Identity versus role confusion, 5^th stage, age 13 – 19.

Now have a growing sense of self-identity, though strongly depends on past stages. Adolescents search for a sense of self and personal identity through an intense exploration of personal values, beliefs, and goals.

Identity: multifaceted concept that involves knowing who you are and where you are going, as well as what you are not and do not want to be, the unified sense of self as uniquely different from others.

This is a major stage of development where the child has to learn the roles he will occupy as an adult. It is during this stage that the adolescent will re-examine their identity and try to find out exactly who they are.

Erikson suggests that two identities are involved: the sexual and the occupational.

Identity crisis is normal during this stage.

Identity crisis: developmental turning point, associated primarily with adolescence, where choices need to be made in various areas of life such as career, mate, and ideology to live by. 

It is a moratorium: time of exploration during adolescence filled with role confusion as they actively consider life goals and alternatives in their attempts to arrive at decisions. 

All of which is experienced during the identity crisis.

Role confusion: concern for who they are and what they will become.

ego strength:

fidelity: a sense of loyalty and commitment. According to Erikson, fidelity involves being able to commit oneself to others, on the basis of accepting others, even when there may be ideological differences.

The ability to sustain loyalties to friends and coworkers freely pledged in spite of the inevitable contradictions of value systems.

Crisis not resolved = negative identity:

scornful and hostile toward roles offered, loyalties to those who are destructive to themselves.

Erikson believed pressuring someone into an identity can result in rebellion in the form of establishing a negative identity, and in addition to this feeling of unhappiness.

Young adulthood: Intimacy versus isolation, 6^th stage, ages 20 – 24.

During this stage, the major conflict centers on forming intimate, loving relationships as we begin to share ourselves more intimately with others. We explore relationships leading toward longer-term commitments with someone other than a family member.

Intimacy: the ability to establish close relationships with others, to abide by commitments with significant compromises and sacrifices necessary.

Successful completion of this stage can result in happy relationships and a sense of commitment, safety, and care within a relationship.

Without a healthy capacity for intimacy comes a sense of isolation: the inability to take chances with one’s identity by showing true intimacy. Involves a fear of commitment which leads to loneliness, and sometimes depression.

With successful completion comes the

Ego strength:  Love

Middle adulthood: Generativity versus stagnation, 7^th stage, ages 25 – 64.

Generativity: Psychologically, generativity refers to "making your mark" on the world through creating or nurturing things that will outlast an individual.  It’s the process of establishing and/or enhancing a creative and productive career and of being concerned with ensuring the well-being of the next generation. 

During middle-age, individuals experience a need to create or nurture things that will outlast them, often having mentees, or creating positive changes that will benefit other people.

Stagnation: lack of productivity, boredom, and interpersonal impoverishment.

Ego Strength: Care

We give back to society through raising our children, being productive at work, and becoming involved in community activities and organizations. Through generativity we develop a sense of being a part of the bigger picture.

Success leads to feelings of usefulness and accomplishment, while failure results in shallow involvement in the world.

By failing to find a way to contribute, we become stagnant and feel unproductive. These individuals may feel disconnected or uninvolved with their community and with society as a whole.

Late adulthood:  Ego Integrity versus despair: the final stage, 65 to death.

It is during this time that we contemplate our accomplishments and can develop integrity if we see ourselves as leading a successful life.

Intense reflection, reminiscence, and recollections. 

Ego integrity: in the elderly, feeling their lives had positive meaning and have been worth living. 

Despair: negative outcome involving fear of death, see lives as failures, unable to rectify mistakes do to lack of time remaining.

Erik Erikson believed if we see our lives as unproductive, feel guilt about our past, or feel that we did not accomplish our life goals, we become dissatisfied with life and develop despair, often leading to depression and hopelessness.

Ego strength: Wisdom

Wisdom: detached concern with life itself in the face of death, life is put into perspective, with acceptance and a deeper insight into one’s own and other’s motives and behavior and having empathy, sympathy and compassion for others.

Wisdom enables a person to look back on their life with a sense of closure and completeness and accept death without fear.

Wise people are not characterized by a continuous state of ego integrity, but they experience both ego integrity and despair. Thus, late life is characterized by both integrity and despair as alternating states that need to be balanced.

Positive Evaluation

By extending the notion of personality development across the lifespan, Erikson outlines a more realistic perspective of personality development.

Based on Erikson’s ideas, psychology has reconceptualized the way the later periods of life are viewed. Middle and late adulthood are no longer viewed as irrelevant, because of  Erikson, they are now considered active and significant times of personal growth.

Research indicates many people find that they can relate to his theories about various stages of the life cycle through their own experiences.

One of the strengths of Erikson's theory is its ability to tie together important psychosocial development across the entire lifespan.

Negative Evaluation:

Erikson is rather vague about the causes of development. What kinds of experiences must people have to successfully resolve various psychosocial conflicts and move from one stage to another? The theory does not have a universal mechanism for crisis resolution.

Another point of criticism is that this theory covers only a few aspects of human development, such as individual’s basic attitude towards other people and towards life. It does not deal with other developmental aspects such as cognitive and emotional development.

Erikson’s thinking was shaped by his own varied experiences. Erikson built his theory largely on ethical principles and not necessarily on scientific data.  

Criticisms of Erikson’s theory focus on ambiguous terminology, incomplete descriptions of the psychosocial stages, and poorly supported claims of male-female personality differences based on biological factors 

Research and support

Refining and extending Erik Erikson’s work, James Marcia developed four Identity Statuses of psychological identity development, primarily focusing on adolescent development.

The main idea is that one’s sense of identity is determined largely by the choices and commitments made regarding certain personal and social traits.

Marcia’s theory of identity achievement argues that two distinct parts form an adolescent’s identity: crisis (a time when one’s values and choices are being reevaluated) and commitment.

Erikson had suggested that the normal conflict occurring in adolescence is the opposition between identity and confusion, where as, Marcia….

elaborated by suggesting this stage consists neither of identity resolution nor identity confusion, rather the extent to which one has both explored and committed to an identity in a variety of life domains including politics, occupation, religion, intimate relationships, friendships, and gender roles. 

Marcia proposed four stages, or Identity Statuses, of psychological identity development:

Marcia proposed four stages, or Identity Statuses, of psychological identity development:

1.Identity diffusion: lack firm commitments and are not actively in crisis.

2.Foreclosure: never experienced crisis but made firm commitments to goals, beliefs and values.

3.Moratorium: state of crisis and actively considering alternatives in attempt to make decisions.

4. Identity achievement: undergone a period of crisis and as a result, developed firm commitments

Jean Phinney developed a model of Ethnic Identity based on Erikson’s theory of development, following Marcia’s ego-identity theory

Ethnic identity: a sense of belonging and commitment to a group because the individual shares a common heritage, knowledge, attitudes, and values with other members.

Bicultural identity: positive attitudes toward their own ethnic group and toward the majority group.

Jacob Orlofsky used three major criteria for assessing a person's level of intimacy as suggested by Erikson:

1.Does the person have close relationships with male and female friends?

2.Does he or she have an enduring heterosexual relationship?

3.Are the person's close relationships deep or superficial? (Depth includes openness, affection, respect, loyalty, a capacity to accept and resolve differences, and mutuality.)

Based on these criteria, Orlofsky  identified 6 relationships, or intimacy statuses:

1.Intimate individuals: deep relationships with male and female friends and involved in enduring, committed heterosexual relationships.

2. Preintimate individuals: close emotional ties but ambivalent about committing to enduring love relationships

3. Stereotyped individuals: have many relationships, but superficial, lack closeness and commitment.

4. Pseudointimate individuals: like above, relationships lack depth yet still in enduring heterosexual commitments.

5. Isolated individuals: withdrawn from social situations and relationships with peers.

6. Merger individuals: committed themselves to enduring relationships but become absorbed in their relationships at the expense of their own  autonomy and sense of self.  Enmeshment.

Assessment Techniques:

Egalitarian and personal with patients

Disciplined subjectivity: sought to analyze and understand the patient’s problems through empathy as well as by examining the historical events that affected the patient’s life.

Transference, free association, and dream analysis, though interpreted them in psychosocial terms, not sexual. 

Play-therapy techniques

Erikson was a pioneer in the use of psychohistorical analysis to…

increase our understanding of the lives of important historical figures. Erikson developed the procedure because he was interested in building a bridge between psychoanalysis and history.

Psychohistorical analysis: technique for analyzing the lives of historical figures on the basis of Erikson’s theory of ego development.