Erik Erikson Believed That Individual Development Takes Place In A

Erik Erikson believed that individual development takes place in a social context. He believed that development is a lifelong process. His theory contains eight stages of development that occur at different points in an individual’s life. At each stage, the individual has, what he coined as, a developmental crisis. Developmental crises are issues in the stage that must be dealt with in order to move on to the next stage. Each stage offers an outcome as to what will happen if the crisis is not resolved. Incomplete development of one stage can effect later development. Erikson’s developmental model can be used to determine when it is appropriate for an individual to learn how to use computers. The model can also help determine what computer skills are appropriate for each stage. Erikson’s first stage of development is trust versus mistrust. This stage occurs from birth until about one year. During the first year of life infants rely on others for their basic needs. Infants must learn to re... [to view the full essay now, purchase below]

. a. Erikson: Psychosocial Development Erikson’s theory is of importance as he described psychological growth from infancy through old age. Erikson describes the passage from childhood to adulthood in a sequence of eight stages, each presenting a different emotional conflict that needs to be successfully resolved before an individual can progress to the next stage (Westen, 1996:565). Erikson’s theory also portrays people as playing an active role in their own psychological development through their attempts to understand, organise, and integrate their everyday experiences. 31

Finally, this theory places significance in the value that people place on cultural goals, aspirations, expectations, requirements, and opportunities in personal growth. People working in South Africa need to consider these, when working with children from various cultures and of differing economic status. The stages of psychosocial development proposed by Erikson are as follows (in Westen, 1996:565): • Trust versus Mistrust (Birth to One Year) • Autonomy Versus Shame and Doubt (Two to Three Years; Preschool) • Initiative versus Guilt (Four to Five Years; Preschool to Grade 0) • Industry versus Inferiority (Six to Eleven Years; Foundation to Intermediate Phase) • Identity versus Role Confusion (Twelve to Eighteen Years; Senior to Further Education and Training) • Intimacy versus Isolation (Young Adulthood) • Generativity versus Stagnation (Middle Age) • Integrity versus Despair (Old Age) It is important to keep in mind that certain types of behaviour and relationships may be of special significance at different age levels. For the purpose of this study, the researcher will focus on the development of “identity versus role confusion” as the age of the participants falls within this stage. Williams (2001:114) quotes Pipher’s (1994) description of adolescents: Adolescents are travelers, far from home with no native home with no native land, neither children nor adults. They are jet setters who fly from one country to another with amazing speed. Sometimes they are four years old, an hour later they are twenty-five. They don’t really fit anywhere. There’s a yearning for place, a search for solid ground. 32

This description provides a good explanation of how adolescents are often viewed, as well as how they are often seen. They seem to be constantly searching for a “place” to fit in, hence, according to Erikson this is a time when they are in a constant battle between “identity” and “role confusion”. Westen (1996:566) defines identity as “a stable sense of knowing who one is and what one’s values and ideals are”, whilst “identity confusion” occurs when “the individual fails to develop a coherent and enduring sense of self and has difficulty committing to roles, values, people, or occupational choices”. Individuals will

work through this stage at their own pace and in their own way, the achievement of “identity” at this stage enabling adolescents to know who they are and where they are going. Throughout the study, the researcher will respect each girl’s search for identity and the level of development she may be on. Secondly, as adolescents develop physically and emotionally, they also experience important changes in their thinking. The girls will be at a specific level of cognitive development, perhaps corresponding to one of Piaget’s levels of cognitive development (Westen, 1996:508). . 39