School Derived From Psychoanalysis
stage was.
ERIK ERIKSON
1902 1994
Erik Erikson was born
Germany in 1902 and
died in 1994.
Erikson drew on much
freudian psychology,
but he added to
Sigmund Freuds
theory of infantile
sexuality by
concentrating on
childrens development beyond puberty.
Erikson concluded that human personality is
determined not only by childhood experiences,
but also by those of adulthood.
Epigenetic principle
Eriksons formulations were based on the
concept of epigenesis,a term borrowed from
embryology.
This principle says that we develop through a
predetermined unfolding of our personalities in
eight stages.
Our progress through each stage is in part
determined by our success, or lack of success,
in all the previous stages.
Each stage involves certain developmental
tasks that are psychosocial in nature.
The various tasks are referred to by two terms.
For example, the infant's task is called "trust-
mistrust."
Each stage has a certain optimal time as well.
It is no use trying to rush children into
adulthood, as is so common among people who
are obsessed with success.
The stages are sequential but they are NOT
HIERARCHICAL
Each new stage emerges according to the
predetermined biological plan irrespective of
how successful the resolution of the previous
However, the unhealthy resolution of a stage
negatively affects the resolution of all
subsequent stages.
in
he
of The first stage
The first stage, infancy or the oral-sensory
stage, is from birth to about 1 year.
Trust versus mistrust is the first crisis infants
must face.
The task is to develop trust without
completely eliminating the capacity for
mistrust.
Stage two
The second stage is the anal-muscular stage
of early childhood, from about 1 to 3 years old.
The crisis is autonomy versus shame and doubt
The task is to achieve a degree of autonomy
while minimizing shame and doubt
Stage three
Stage three is the genital-locomotor stage
or play age, from 3 to 5 years old.
The crisis is initiative versus guilt
The task confronting every child is to learn
initiative without too much guilt.
Stage three is the genital-locomotor stage
or play age, from 3 to 5 years old.
The crisis is initiative versus guilt
The task confronting every child is to learn
initiative without too much guilt.
Stage four
Stage four is the latency stage, or the school-
age child from about 6 to 11 years old.
The task is to develop a capacity for industry
while avoiding an excessive sense of
inferiority.
Children must dedicate themselves to
education and to learning the social skills their
society requires of them
Stage five
Stage five is adolescence, from 11 to 21 years
old.
The task during adolescence is to achieve ego
identity and avoid role diffusion.
Ego identity means knowing who you are and
how you fit in to the rest of society.
It was adolescence that interested Erikson first
and most, and the patterns he saw here were
the bases for his thinking about all the other
stages.
Stage six
Stage six is from 21 to 40 years old.
The ages in the adult stages are much fuzzier
than in the childhood stages, and people may
differ dramatically.
Tasks are to love and to work
The task is to achieve some degree of
intimacy, as opposed to remaining in
isolation
Stage seven
The seventh stage is that of middle
adulthood, is from 40 to 65 years old.
The task here is to cultivate the proper balance
of generativity and stagnation.
Generativity is an extension of love into the
future. It is a concern for the next generation
and all future generations.
Stagnation, on the other hand, is self-
absorption, caring for no-one.
GOAL
 Erikson discussed four dimensions of the
psychoanalysts job.
The 1st dimension is patients desire to be
cured and the analysts desire to cure.
The 2nd dimension Erikson called objectivity-
participation.
3rd dimension runs along the axis of
knowledge-participation.
The 4th dimension is tolerance-indignation.