Erik Homberger Erikson (1902-1994) hypothesized that one’s personality develops in over time in a series of stages; his theory considers the effect of social interaction and social experiences over one’s lifetime, whereas Freud believed that the personality is only significantly developed during childhood and adolescence. A core element of Erikson’s theory of personality development is his concept that a person’s ego identity, which is his or her conscious sense of himself or herself, is constantly in flux due to fresh experiences and new information the person culls from daily interactions with others. Erikson’s perspecitive differs from Freud’s in that Freud did not emphasize the impact of cultural and social influences upon personality development to the degree that Erickson’s does and places much greater emphasis on biological impusles and needs and the satisfaction of them during childhood and adolescence.
Erikson posited that our sense of understanding of our own competence in various key areas directs our behaviors and actions, and that each stage of development of our personalities is focused upon becoming proficient in a specific area. If a stage of development is well-handled a person will develop competence in the particular ego strength or ego quality that is the focus of that particular stage of development. If a stage of development is handled poorly, a person will emerge from the stage of development with a sense of inadequacy in the focus area of the stage of development.
During each stage of psychosocial development a person experiences a conflict or crisis within himself or herself which serves as a turning point in his or her development and will either succeed or fail to develop a new area of proficiency. Erikson’s stages of personality development include the following:
1. Trust vs. Mistrust, emphasis placed upon the child reciving proper care and developing dependency or paranoia, ages birth to approximately one year (corresponding roughly to Freud’s oral stage of development);
2. Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt, emphasis placed upon the child’s developing his/her own will with failure leading to obsessiveness or avoidance/impulsivity), occurring during ages two and three (corresponding roughly to Freud’s anal stage of development);
3. Initiative vs. Guilt, occurring during ages four and five, emphasis on the child developing a sense of purpose with failure leading to narcissism or antisocial traits (corresponding roughly to Freud’s phallic stage of development);
4. Industry vs. Inferiority, lasting from approximately age six to puberty, emphasis area of social and acdademic competency with failure leading to a sense of helplessness (corresponding roughly to Freud’s latency stage of development);
5. Identity vs. Identity Confusion, lasting through adolescence, emphasis upon fidelity with failure leading to fanatic tendencies or identity diffusuion (corresponding to Freud’s genital stage of development);
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation, occurring during young adulthood, emphasis upon love with failure leading to promiscuity or lonelieness/failure to bond;
7. Generativity vs. Stagnation, occurring from approximately age 40 to approximately age 65, emphasis placed upon care/cargiving, with failure leading to overextension rejectivity; and,
8. Integrity vs. Despair, lasting from approximately age 65 through the end of life, emphasis placed upon achiving a sense of integrity, with failure leading to despair.
Erikson developed his theory of personality development and identity in part because of his own experiences. His father, who was Danish, abandoned his family before Erikson’s birth. Erickson’s mother, who was Jewish, later married Dr. Theodore Homberger, who Erikson believed was his biological father for some time. When Erikson was eventually told that Homberger was not his biological father, Erikson experienced his own crisis of identity; in addition, he was teased by other youngsters in his Jewish temple school because of his Nordic features.
Erikson studied at Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, taught at Harvard Medical School, University of California at Berkeley, Austin Riggs Center, Yale, San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute and the Center for Advanced Studies of the Behavioral Sciences. He maintained a private practice in child psychoanalysis and authored several books, including “Gandhi’s Truth,” which was awarded a Pulitzer Prize.
