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Erikson’s Stage Theory of Psychosocial Development

Parents are not the only people who interact with children; each stage of development requires a new level of social interaction. Starting with kindergarten, frequent peer interactions become more complex and structured and lead to friendships. Peer interactions help children develop social skills such as cooperation, empathy, and self-regulation. Erik Erikson was an influential theorist partly because he examined development across the life span in a social context, rather than just during childhood, recognizing that we continue to grow beyond our teenage years, and our growth is influenced by others. His stage theory of psychosocial development identifies eight stages during which we face an important issue or crisis. How we resolve each crisis shapes our personality and affects our relationships with others.

“So that you don’t get authoritarian and authoritative parenting mixed up, remember authoritarian is like totalitarian (that we learned about in social studies). Both authoritarians and totalitarians exercise complete control and authority over people’s lives.”—Shereen, AP student

• Stage One, Infants (newborn to 1 year old) face the crisis of trust vs. mistrust. Parents must provide a safe, consistent, and loving environment for children to leave this stage healthily with a strong trust that others care and will always be there for them. Mistrust, based on inconsistent, cold, or abusive situations, prevents children from leaving this stage ready to form lasting and close relationships in the future.

• Stage Two, Toddlers (2 years old) face the crisis of autonomy vs. shame and doubt. The nickname “terrible twos” comes from children’s needs to develop self-control and do things for themselves, which can often result in spills, falls, wetting, and other accidents. Children who are encouraged to try new skills develop autonomy, while those who are ridiculed or overprotected may doubt their abilities and feel ashamed of their actions.

• Stage Three, children (3–5 years of age) face the crisis of initiative vs. guilt. Children need to learn to make plans and carry out tasks through play, asking questions, making choices, and using their imaginations to develop initiative. If they are severely criticized, discouraged from asking questions, not permitted to make choices, or prevented from playing, children feel guilty.

• Stage Four, school-aged children (6–12 years of age) face the crisis of industry vs. inferiority. Children need to be positively reinforced for productive activities, such as achieving in the classroom, on the sports field, or artistically or musically, in order to develop a healthy self-concept and a sense of industry. If children’s efforts are considered inadequate, feelings of social or mental inferiority in this stage can carry over to a poor self-concept in the future.

• Stage Five, The crisis of stage five for adolescents (about 12–20 years of age), is identity vs. role confusion. Answering the question “Who am I?” is the major task, which involves building a consistent identity, a unified sense of self. Failure of teens to achieve a sense of identity results in role confusion and uncertainty about who they are and where they are going.

• Stage Six, Young adults (about 21–40 years of age) face the crisis of intimacy vs. isolation. Intimacy involves deeply caring about others and sharing meaningful experiences with them, especially a life partner. Without intimacy, people feel alone and uncared for in life; they experience isolation.

• Stage Seven, middle adulthood (about 40–65 years of age), the crisis is generativity vs. stagnation. During this period, adults need to express their caring about the next and future generations by guiding or mentoring others, or producing creative work that enriches the lives of others. People who fail to achieve generativity can become stagnant and preoccupied with their own needs and comforts.

• Stage Eight, late adulthood (about