Eight Stages of Development According to Erik Erikson

1. INFANCY: TRUST vs. MISTRUST (Birth-18 Months)
The first ―task of the infant is to develop ―the cornerstone of a healthy personality, a basic
sense of trust---in self and in environment. This comes from a feeling if inner goodness derived
from ―the mutual regulation of his receptive capacities with the maternal techniques of
provision‘—a quality of care that transmits a sense of trustworthiness and meaning. The danger,
most acute in the second half of the first year, is that discontinuities in care may increase a
natural sense of loss, as the child gradually recognizes one‘s separateness from one‘s mother, to
a basic sense of mistrust that may last through life.
II. EARLY CHILDHOOD: AUTONOMY vs. SHAME AND DOUBT (18 Months-3 years)
With muscular maturation the child experiments with holding on and letting go and begins to
attach enormous value to autonomous will. The danger here is the development of a deep sense
of shame and doubt if one is deprived of the opportunity to learn to develop the will while
learning ―duty, and therefore, learns to expect defeat in any battle of wills with those who are
bigger and stronger.
III. PLAY AGE: INITIATIVE vs. GUILT (3-5 years)
In this stage the child‘s imagination is greatly expanded because of the increased ability to move
around freely and to communicate. It is an age of intrusive activity, avid curiosity, and
consuming fantasies which lead to feelings of guilt and anxiety: It is also the stage of the
establishment of conscience. If this tendency to feel guilty is ―overburdened by all-to-eager
adults, the child may develop a deep-seated conviction that he is essentially bad, with a resultant
stifling of initiative or a conversion of moralism to vindictiveness.
IV. SCHOOL AGE: INDUSTRY vs. INFERIORITY (6-12 years)
The long period of sexual latency before puberty is the age when the child wants to learn how to
do and make things with others. In learning to accept instruction and to win recognition by
producing ―things, one opens the way for the capacity of work enjoyment. The danger in this
period is the development of a sense of inadequacy and inferiority in a child who does not
receive recognition for efforts.
V. ADOLESCENCE: IDENTITY vs. ROLE CONFUSION (12-20 years)
The physiological revolution that comes with puberty—rapid body growth and sexual maturity
forces the young person to question ―all sameness and continuities relied on earlier‘ and to
―reflect many of the earlier battles‖. The development task is to integrate childhood
identifications ―with the basic biological drives, native endowment, and the opportunities
offered in social roles. The danger is that identity diffusion, temporarily unavoidable in this period of physical .and psychological upheaval; may result in a permanent inability to ―take
hold or, because of youth‘s tendency to total commitment, in the fixation in the young person of
a negative identity, a devoted attempt to become what parents, class, or community do not want
him to be.
VI. YOUNG ADULTHOOD: INTIMACY vs. IS0LATION (18-25 years)
Only as a young person begins to feel more secure in their identity, is one able to establish
intimacy with self (with inner life) and with others, both in friendship and eventually in a love-
based mutually satisfying sexual relationship with a member of the opposite sex. A person who
cannot-enter wholly into an intimate relationship because of the fear of losing identity may
develop a deep sense of isolation.
VII. ADULTHOOD: GENERATIVITY vs. STAGNATION (25-65 years)
Out of the intimacies of adulthood grow generativity—the mature person‘s interest in
establishing and guiding the next generation. The lack of this results in self-absorption and
frequently in a ―pervading sense of stagnation and interpersonal impoverishment.
VIII. MATURITY: INTEGRITY vs. DESPAIR (65 years-death)
The person who has achieved a satisfying intimacy with other human beings and who has
adapted to the triumphs and disappointments of generative activities as parent and co-worker,
reaches the end of life with a certain ego integrity---an acceptance of one‘s own responsibility
for what one‘s life is and was and of its place in the flow of history. Without this ̳accrued ego
integration‘ there is despair, usually marked by a display of displeasure and distrust.