Erikson’s Eight Stages

By: Anna Merrill

EED 212 Professor Judy Carpenter

Due: 09/04/2016
 Erikson’s eight stages of psychological development is a great tool for anyone to see how

the way they acted in the past will affect the way they may act in the future. The first stage is

“trust vs. mistrust”, and it occurs in infancy. Infants will develop trust when their needs are met

as soon as possible, which develops hope later in life. The opposite occurs when their needs

aren’t being taken care of, and they will develop fear. “Autonomy vs. shame and doubt”, is when

the one to three year-old child either has the decisiveness or the dependency on others to make

choices. Thirdly, “Initiative vs. guilt”, is the stage where a child of three to five either feels

comfortable enough manipulate their environment, such as fearlessly taking out toys to play

with, or remain as a guiltful follower. A child’s peers will gain more importance in the “industry

vs. inferiority stage,” to the point where the peers may actually push the child to feel more proud

of reaching achievements, or they feel inferior for not developing the skill that they feel society

has demanded of them, and occurs from five to around eleven years old. As the child grows into

a teenager, they will enter the “identity vs. role confusion”, where they will find out who they

truly are and want to be, or they will have some trouble finding out where they fit into society.

The next step, “intimacy vs. isolation”, starts in the late teens and ends at around 40 years old.

This is when people start to develop close relationships with others or they will fear intimacy and

commitment, which causes them to go into isolation. As one matures, they get into a phase

where they will either want to help others, and establish their lives or they will feel unproductive

in the “generativity vs. stagnation.” Lastly, “ego integrity vs. despair” is when people either feel

satisfied with our lives or we don’t, resulting in either feeling successful or unproductive.
 1. Identify and pick 8 out of the 8 stages of development and explain how these stages

either impacted you positively or negatively

My own life is a perfect example as to how Erikson’s eight stages work and their affect

on a person’s life.

As a little reminder, “trust vs. mistrust” is the very first stage, where babies learn whether

or not they can trust the world though the love of their caregivers. I’m very lucky because I was

born to two very loving and caring people. They took care of every need that I had when I was

an infant by not only taking care of me when I cried, but finding out why I was crying, and

solving the problem. My parents also took me places and played with me as much as they

possibly could. I wasn’t forced to be constantly be in my crib, and only having my basic needs

met when they felt like taking care me. The best example of what happens to the children who

develop mistrust is a longitudinal study started in the late ‘90s that had followed the lives of

Romanian children who barely has any contact with caregivers. Later in life, these children

would have social impairments such as clinginess, lying, etc. In my current life, I feel that the

world is an essentially good place, and I can trust that my environment and the people around it

are inherently good and not out to get me.

a. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

Autonomy vs. shame and doubt can be better known to parents and early childhood

educators as the “me do” stage! Children in this part of life are between the ages of one and
three, and tend to like to make decisions for themselves to gain some independence in their

worlds. I remember when my brother was around two or three, he ALWAYS wanted to wear one

certain clothing item: a little sheriff vest he acquired from my aunt. Everyday he would dress

himself and the vest was a staple (along with telling us to put our hands up…). I also remember

his shoes were on the wrong feet because he wanted to put them on all by himself. When

children are allowed to complete tasks that are age-appropriate on their own or with little help,

they flourish because they feel more independent and secure in their survival skills. Children

who aren’t given this opportunity and are overly-controlled or even have everyone do things for

them develop into doubtful people, and lack confidence in their abilities. These kids end up

depending on everybody for everything.

b. Initiative vs. Guilt

As children develop into the “initiative vs. guilt”stage, from three to five, they should

start to manipulate their environment, meaning that they should feel confident enough to indulge

in exploring the world. In doing this, they will end up feeling able to lead others and make

decisions. While I was still a kid, I was almost always allowed to play with whatever was

available to me, whether it be a cardboard box, crayons and paper, or toys. Everything was fair

game, so long as it was child-friendly. My parents have also always had an open door policy, so

if I ever asked any questions, they would answer it as honestly as possible. Now I am more than

capable of leading a group, as well as learn from group leaders. As for children who are shamed

and guilted for their choices, they turn into people who have their creativity stifled because they
may believe that their ideas aren’t good enough. These kids may also turn into adults who are

slow to warm up to others.

c. Industry vs. Inferiority

“Industry vs. inferiority” is a stage that kind of changed my life for me. It is at this point

where peers and academics gain a stronger presence in a child’s life. When a child successfully

completes this stage, they will feel competent and proud of their accomplishments. On the

contrary, children who are repressed for some reason or another, they will again doubt their

abilities and their competence. As a kid, I not only had one or two friends who had strong

personalities, but I also have A.D.D. I had so much trouble in school, that I have blocked my

memories of the fights and tears that I would have over doing my homework from five to around

eight years old. Not only that, but I did have a first-grade teacher make a comment to my parents

on my report card that I “always talked, and never sit still”. I was five or six and undiagnosable

at that point. It wasn’t until I was around nine before my mom had to walk up to the school

psychiatrist and say that I felt stupid (per my own words during the fights that I don’t remember),

when my school finally realized I needed help. In the end, I started the sixth grade as an average

student, who was blessed with amazingly supportive parents and teachers who helped end that

grade with As and Bs. I was finally able to feel proud of myself! As for those friends, I felt

constantly kept in the dark around them, and was shy up until around the age of eighteen, when I

was forced out of my shell.

d. Identity vs. Role Confusion

back by a few years. This next part is called “identity vs. role confusion”, A.K.A.: the teenage

years. Teenagers are people who are trying to find their place in the world, so this may mean

trying on a series of hats and growing into their bodies. This is also the spot where teens find a

group of friends that they feel that they can relate to. If they are pressured into a certain area or

type of person, they may rebel and be plain unhappy. As for me, I was able to eventually find an

excellent group of friends that accepted me for who I am, just as I accept them all for who they

are. It took changing high schools and having some natural distance between an old friend with

an overpowering personality to find them, but they are people who I would still talk to. Another

contributing factor to finding myself was taking a gap year to study in Europe, which forced me

to be more vocal and take ownership of my thoughts and my actions. I became less shy and

found out which people needed a stronger presence in my life and which ones didn’t.

e. Effects of Identity Vs. Role Confusion

The aforementioned stage probably has the biggest lifelong impact on people and their

futures. The first thing is that you are what you believe yourself to be. If you believe that you are

an outsider, loner, well-liked, etc. then you are. Your belief of this may come from how your

family, friends, and others treat you. If they treat you with kindness and respect, then you will

feel successful and well identified, and vice-versa. Another contributing factor is that you will

find out how much peer pressure you can take since many teenagers are faced with the pressures

of sex, drugs, alcohol, etc. when they are not ready/mature enough for the possible

consequences. As a teenager, I found that I had a lot of strength not only because I had the
knowledge of the consequences and the fear of losing control of myself, but the people I was

with weren’t the type to push anyone to do anything that they didn’t want to do. Finally, you may

find that the people who did form strong relationships in high school stay friends for many years

after graduation.

f. Intimacy vs. Isolation

Eighteen to around forty is reserved for “intimacy vs. isolation”, and is called young

adulthood, because this is where people learn how to build close relationships with others. When

these adults are successful, they feel fulfilled and safe with these friends, lovers, etc. When they

aren’t successful, they may become withdrawn and isolated from others. I am currently going

through this and I am forever learning here. While I have close relationships, they are mostly

back on the east coast, and it’s been a little tough trying to make close relationships here in

Arizona. I used to think that it was because the people here live a west coast way of life, but I

think it may be because I have been holding grudges against major friends, family members, and

potential lovers that I may be stopping myself from making those close relationships. Because of

my recent revelation, I am trying to let more people in, rather than being afraid of if they hurt me

and leave.

2. Opinion on how stages affect development

Ultimately, the good and the bad consequences of completing each stage affect the

development into an adult from as early as infancy. When a person is successful in going through

each stage, they may have collected all of the positive attributes that Erikson believed they could

achieve which are: hopeful because of the care from infancy, willful because of autonomy,
purposeful because of taking initiative, competent per industry, fidelity since they can form

relationships, loving from fostering those relationships, caring because of generativity, and

finally wise from their experiences. The opposite occurs when they neglected from birth, overly

controlled into childhood, shamed from playing in their environment, incapable from outside

treatment, go through an identity crisis from the inability to connect to others, unloved from that

inability, isolated because of the inability to care about people, and finally guiltful for not doing

more with their lives. In the end they may be depressed and unhappy with how they lived their

lives.