Psychological development according to E. H. Erikson

Erik Homburger Erikson distinguishes the so-called eight ages of man in the mental development of man. In each of them, the individual must solve a developmental task.

first age

  • first year of life
  • corresponds to the oral period in Freud
  • the child's task is to gain a sense of confidence in life and to defend against feelings of insecurity

Second age

  • 2nd-3rd year of life
  • corresponds to the anal stage in Freud
  • the task is to manage the contradiction between one's feelings of autonomy (independence) and the feelings of shame that result from dependence on the environment and their demands

Third age

  • preschool age
  • corresponds to the phallic period in Freud
  • the task is to resolve the conflict between self-initiative and feelings of guilt over intended and actual goals
  • a conscience begins to develop

Forth age

  • until the beginning of adolescence (up to the age of 13)
  • corresponds to the period of latency in Freud
  • the task is to acquire a sense of self-effort in school work and to defend against feelings of inferiority

Fifth age

  • adolescence
  • corresponds to the genital period in Freud
  • the task is to find one's own identity and fight against feelings of insecurity about one's own role among people

Sixth age

  • young adulthood (under 30)
  • a person is willing to give up his own identity and let it merge with the identity of another person (intimacy); the danger is the feeling of isolation, i.e. the tendency to avoid intimate relationships

Seventh age

  • middle adulthood (up to 45 years)
  • the task is to give birth and raise the next generation, to take care of someone; to gain a sense of generativity and combat feelings of stagnation and personal impoverishment

Eighth age

  • late adulthood and old age
  • the task is to achieve personal integrity, a kind of life wisdom in which individuals accept their own life path as something that had to be the way it was; lack of integration manifests itself in the fear of death and feelings of despair that there is little time left to start another life

References

  • ŠVINGALOVÁ, D. Kapitoly z psychologie : III. díl - Vývojová psychologie. 1. vydání. Liberec. 2001. 51 s. ISBN 80-7083-571-0.