ERIK ERIKSON’S EIGHT STAGES OF

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

 PRESENTED BY:
o AMNA LATIF
o MUNIZA SIDDIQUI
o REESHA KHALID
o LAIBA TAHIR
INTRODUCTION :
 Erik Homburger Erikson,
was a German-born American developmental
psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on
psychosocial development of human development.
 Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development is
one of the best-known theories of personality in
psychology.
 Erik Erikson first published his eight stage theory of
human development in 1950 book,
“Childhood and society”. The stages were included in
the chapter entitled
‘The eight Ages of Man’.
Erik Homburger Erikson :
 Born : 15 June 1902, Germany.
 Died :12 May 1994 (aged 91) U.S
 Fields : Developmental psychologist
 Known for :
Theory of social development.
 Influenced by :
Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud
 Psychosocial :
‘psycho’ relating to the mind, brain,
personality, etc
‘social’ which means the external
relationships and environment.
Erikson's stages of psychosocial
development :

 Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, as

articulated by Erik Erikson, in collaboration with
Joan Erikson,
is a comprehensive psychoanalytic theory that
identifies a series of eight stages, in which a healthy
developing individual should pass through from
infancy to late adulthood.
What is it..... ?
 His theory is a basis for broad and complex
discussion and analysis of personality and
behaviour.
 Explains 8 stages that a healthy human should
pass through during childhood all the way
through adulthood.
 In each stage, a person should find a new
challenges & hopefully succeed through them.
 Each stage involves a ‘psychosocial crisis’ of two
opposing emotional forces.
 If a stage is managed well, we carry away a
certain virtue or psychosocial strength which will
help us through the rest of the stages of life.
 Definitions :
 Two dispositions :

1. SYNTONIC :
For the first listed “positive” disposition in
each crisis.
2. DYSTONIC :
For the second listed “negative”
disposition.
 If both disposition are not managed well , we
may develop MALADAPTATION &
MALIGNANCY.

 MALADAPTATION :
Involves too much of the positive and
too little of the negative , such as a person who
trust too much.
 MALIGNANCY :
It involves too little of the positive and
too much of the negative aspects of the task,
such as a person who can’t trust others.
 VIRTUE :
behaviour showing high moral standards.

 Virtues are being carried if a stage is

manage well.
 STAGE 1

MALADAPTATION:
TRUST VS. MALIGNANCY :
Sensory adjustment. MISTRUST Withdrawal.

VIRTUE :
Hope
 Firm belief in
reliability, truth,
TRUST ability, or
strength of
someone or
something
TRUST
VS.
MISTRUST

State of being
MISTRUST suspicious;
Lack of trust.
 1. TRUST VS. MISTRUST :
 INFANT STAGE (birth – 18 months)
 Trust developed through consistent
love and support.
 GOAL : To develop trust without
completely eliminating the capacity for
mistrust.
 VIRTUE : Hope
 MALADAPTATION :
Overlying trust, sensory
maladjustment.
 MALIGNANCY :
Withdrawal characterized by
depression, psychosis etc.
 STAGE 2

AUTONOMY VS.
MALIGNANCY :
MALADAPTATION:
Impulsiveness.
SHAME AND Compulsiveness.

DOUBT

VIRTUE :
Will
 Independence
AUTONOMY

AUTONOMY
VS. - Shame -A painful
SHAME & feeling of humiliation
DOUBT or distress caused by
the consciousness of
SHAME & wrong or foolish
DOUBT behaviour.
- Doubt- feeling of
uncertainty or lack of
conviction.
2. AUTONOMY VS. SHAME & DOUBT :
 TODDLER STAGE (18 months – 3 years )
 Independence fostered by support and
encouragement.
 GOAL : To achieve autonomy while
minimizing shame and doubt.
 VIRTUE : Will Power
 MALADAPTATION :
Impulsiveness, sort of shameless
wilfulness ( to jump into things without
proper consideration of skills.)
 MALIGNANCY :
Compulsiveness, a person feels as if
their entire being rides on everything they
do, and so everything must be do
perfectly.
 STAGE 3

MALADAPTATION:
INITIATIVE MALIGNANCY :
Inhibition.
Ruthlessness.
VS. GUILT

VIRTUE :
Courage.
 A positive
INITIATIVE response to the
world’s
challenges etc.

INITIATIVE VS.
GUILT
unhappy
feeling that you
GUILT have because
you have done
something
wrong
 3. INITIATIVE VS. GUILT :
 EARLY CHILDHOOD STAGE
(3 years – 5 years )
 Developed by exploring and
accepting challenges.
 GOAL : To learn initiative without
too much guilt.
 VIRTUE : Courage.
 MALADAPTATION :
Ruthlessness, to be heartless or
unfeeling or be ‘without mercy’
 MALIGNANCY :
Inhibition, too much guilt.
 STAGE 4

MALADAPTATION: INDUSTRY VS. MALIGNANCY :

Narrow virtuosity
INFERIORITY Inertia

VIRTUE :
Competency
 INDUSTRY Mastery

INDUSTRY
VS.
INFERIORITY

INFERIORITY Competence
 4. INDUSTRY VS. INFERIORITY :
 SCHOOL AGE STAGE (6 years – 12 years )
 Mastery comes from success and
recognition.
 GOAL : Must learn the feeling of success,
whether it is in school, academic, play ground
or social.
 VIRTUE : Competency.
 MALADAPTATION :
Narrow virtuosity, a person who is
extremely skilled at something.
 MALIGNANCY :
Inertia, a tendency to do nothing or to
remain unchanged.
 STAGE 5

MALADAPTATION: IDENTITY VS. ROLE MALIGNANCY :

Fanaticism
CONFUSION Repudiation

VIRTUE :
Fidelity
 Knowing who
you are and
IDENTITY how you fit
into the rest of
the society.
IDENTITY VS.
ROLE OF
CONFUSION
individual's
ROLE OF failure to
CONFUSION establish a
sense of
identity.
5. IDENTITY VS. ROLE CONFUSION :

 ADOLESCENCE ( Puberty – 18 years )

 Exploration of different paths to
attain a healthy identity.
 GOAL : To achieve Ego identity and
avoid role confusion.
 VIRTUE : Fidelity (faithfulness)
 MALADAPTATION :
Fanaticism (Fanatic believes that his
way is the only way)
 MALIGNANCY :
Repudiation ( state of rejection.)
 STAGE 6

INTIMACY VS. MALIGNANCY :

MALADAPTATION:
Exclusion
Promiscuity
ISOLATION

VIRTUE :
Love
 Ability to be
close to others,
as a lover, a
INTIMACY friend and a
particular
participant of
society.
INTIMACY VS.
ISOLATION

the condition
ISOLATION of being
alone.
 6. INTIMACY VS. ISOLATION :
 EARLY ADULTHOOD : ( 18 – 30 Years )
 Independence fostered by support and
encouragement.
 GOAL : To achieve some degree of intimacy, as
opposed remaining in isolation.
 VIRTUE : Love

 MALADAPTATION :

Promiscuity, tendency to become intimate too

freely,
Too easy.
 MALIGNANCY :

Exclusion, tendency to isolate oneself from love,

friendship, and community and to develop a certain
hatefullness in compensation of one’s loneliness.
 STAGE 7

GENERATIVITY VS. MALIGNANCY :

MALADAPTATION:
Rejectivity.
Overextension. STAGNATION.

VIRTUE :
Caring
 An extension of
GENERATVITY love into the
future.

GENERATIVITY
VS.
STAGNATION

Self
STAGNATION absorption,
caring for no
one.
7. GENERATIVITY VS. STAGNATION :
 MIDDLE ADULTHOOD STAGE (40 – 65
years )
 Transmitting something positive to the
next generation.
 GOAL : To cultivate the proper balance of
generativity and stagnation.
 VIRTUE : Caring
 MALADAPTATION :
Overextension, try to be generative that
they no longer allow time for themselves, for
rest and relaxation.
 MALIGNANCY :
Rejectivity, too little generativity no
longer participating in or contributing to
society.
 STAGE 8

MALADAPTATION:
INTEGRITY VS. MALIGNANCY :
Disdain.
Presumption
DESPAIR

VIRTUE :
Wisdom
 Coming to terms
with your life,
INTEGRITY and thereby
coming to terms
with the end of
life.
INTEGRITY
VS.
DESPAIR

The complete
DESPAIR loss or the
absence of
hope.
 8. INTEGRITY VS. DESPAIR :
 LATE ADULTHOOD STAGE ( around
60 and onward)
 Life review and retrospective
evaluation of one’s part.
 GOAL : To develop ego integrity
with a minimal amount of despair.
 VIRTUE : Wisdom
 MALADAPTATION :
Presumption, something that is
accepted as true but is not certain to
be true.
 MALIGNANCY :
Disdain, a contempt of life, one’s
own, or any more.
THANK YOU....!