Erik Erikson
Erik Erikson (1902 - 1994) was a german psychoanalyst made contributions to social and emotional development through his work. Erikson studied psychoanalysis at the Vienna psychoanalytic Society, and later taught at Harvard Medical School in the United States. Erikson wrote many books focusing on the stages of development. These books included Childhood and Society, the Life Cycle Completed, and Gandhi's Truth. Erikson's greatest contributions to psychosocial development was the concept of identity crisis, and the eight conflicts children experience. Erik Erikson proposed eight stages of psychosocial development. Each of these stages had their own conflict within. These stages happened in childhood and adolescence, and adulthood. Childhood and adolescence included trust vs. mistrust (infancy), autonomy vs. shame and doubt( toddler), initiative vs. guilt (preschool), industry vs, inferiority (elementary), identity vs. role confusion (adolescence ). Adulthood encompassed intimacy vs. isolation (young adulthood), generativity vs. stagnation (middle age) and integrity vs. despair (retirement). According to Erikson, these eight stages need to meet their conflict successfully in order for development to occur. Erikson’s theory relates closely with the concept of attachment. Attachment occurs in both early childhood as well as middle childhood and adolescence. Attachment is further defined as a deep and emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space. The most known study of attachment however, came from Mary Ainsworth. Ainsworth made important the security and awareness of an individual's attachment. In her strange situation study, Ainsworth assessed the types of attachment in different scenarios including when the parent was present, and when the parent was absent. This study defined the identifiable types of attachment, which like Eriksons stages, fell into separate categories. Secure attachment presents that children are confident their needs will be met. Insecure-avoidant attachment represents children who are independent, insecure- resistant attachment children have ambivalent behavior to the attached figure. Lastly disorganized and disoriented attachment represents children who are reliant on this figure. Erikson's eight stages of development as well as attachment are best related to social and emotional development. Social development is the gaining of skills and attitudes that allows someone to interact with society. Erikson's stages of identity vs. confusion, intimacy versus isolation, generativity vs. stagnation are part of social development based on the outcome of a successful stage. In each stage a social factor is met, for instance in intimacy vs. inferiority a sense of competence will be met, generativity vs. stagnation allows the successful social interactions of a family life and so on. Emotional development, or the awareness and control of feelings and their reactions in a given situation is described best through attachment and the trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, and integrity vs. despair stages of Erikson's theory. Attachment presents emotions in infants 6-12 months with contentment and distress, middle childhood with hidden feelings, and so on. Emotional development depends on factors that are more than Erikson's eight stages, and attachment theory. Other characteristics that affect emotional development are: gender, temperament, personality, and even culture. |
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