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2024THD Presentation 3

Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development outlines eight stages from birth to late adulthood, each characterized by a specific conflict that must be resolved for healthy psychological development. The theory emphasizes the interplay between psychological and social factors, suggesting that educators should consider their own developmental stages and the diverse backgrounds of their students. Educational implications include fostering active exploration of psychosocial challenges and recognizing individual variations in coping abilities.
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
8 views27 pages

2024THD Presentation 3

Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development outlines eight stages from birth to late adulthood, each characterized by a specific conflict that must be resolved for healthy psychological development. The theory emphasizes the interplay between psychological and social factors, suggesting that educators should consider their own developmental stages and the diverse backgrounds of their students. Educational implications include fostering active exploration of psychosocial challenges and recognizing individual variations in coping abilities.
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ERIK ERIKSON’S THEORY OF

PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
•Rationale of the theory
•Trust vs mistrust (Birth to 12-18 months)
•Autonomy vs shame/doubt (18 months to 3 years)
•Initiative vs guilt (3 to 6 years)
•Industry vs inferiority (6 to 12 years)
•Identity vs role confusion (Adolescence)
•Intimacy vs isolation (Young adulthood)
•Generativity vs stagnation (Middle adulthood)
•Ego integrity vs despair (Late adulthood)
•Educational implications of Erikson’s theory
Rationale of the theory
•According to Erikson, the interaction between
psychological factors (i.e. thinking, feeling, problem
solving, relating to others) and social factors (i.e.
social relations, family relations, economic issues,
political issues, childrearing issues) influence
psychosocial development.
•This implies that development takes place in a
•This means that development progresses through out
life from conception to death and that as long as they
are alive human beings develop when they are infants,
toddlers, in early childhood, in middle to late childhood,
in adolescence, in young adulthood, in middle adulthood
and in late adulthood.
•All human beings are in the process of development.
Rationale of the theory continued
•In education, Erikson’s theory implies that teachers
should relate teaching not only to the development
stages of their students but they should also relate
teaching and learning to their own development.
•Their own developmental stages interact with
developmental stages of their students.
•Their own ways of thinking, feeling and relating to
others interacts with the students’ ways of thinking,
Rationale of the theory continued
•In interacting with parents, fellow teachers and other
members of the community, teachers should
understand that these stakeholders are at different
levels of development. They should take this into
account during the interaction.
•According to Erikson, psychosocial development
takes place in the form of resolving crises or
challenges or development tensions between two
•The resolution of the crises are organized into stages.
•At each stage, the crises can be resolved either
positively or negatively.
•The positive or negative resolutions of the crises have
implications on what abilities are acquired at each
stage.
Trust vs mistrust stage (Birth to 12-18 months)

•In infancy, children acquire the ability to trust when


they are lovingly and consistently cared for by their
parents or caregivers. This happens when parents or
other adults give predictable and responsive care, love,
food, shelter, protection, health services (e.g. taking
children to the clinic or hospital, having child
immunized, etc.) and nurturance. Out of this the child
learns hope for a better future and that the world is safe
•Infants learn mistrust when they experience care that
is unloving, non-accepting, unresponsive, hostile,
abusive, unpredictable, negligent (e.g. given inadequate
food, living in poor housing, not attended to when sick,
etc.)
Autonomy vs shame/doubt (18 months to 3 years)

•When a child at this stage is encouraged to do what


she can cope with, he or she will experience a sense
of autonomy (a sense of control over his or her life).
This creates a sense of belief in the child and the will
to do things and learn.
•Children in this stage experience shame and doubt if
they are constantly reprimanded and prevented from
Initiative vs guilt (3 to 6 years)

•In this stage the child can explore the world


vigorously as he or she is able to run, climb, etc.
•Children will learn to take initiative (be inventive,
imaginative, creative), taking steps to do things and
try things out if they are provided with an environment
in which they can safely and freely explore. In this
environment, the children will acquire the sense of
•In this stage, when children are not allowed to do
things on their own and their activities are
interrupted or interfered with by adults, they learn
the sense of guilt, the feeling that whatever they
wish to do is wrong.
Industry vs inferiority (6 to 12 years)
•In this stage children begin to acquire skills that
required in the adult world. For instance, they go to
school and learn how to read, write, participate in
organized games and sports such as football, netball,
basket ball.
•They learn to make friends and be part of the peer
group, learn to deal with teachers, etc. They learn to
take up responsibilities in the home- doing dishes,
•They develop a sense of industry (i.e. doing hard
and productive work) when they succeed at doing
tasks they engage in. This develops a sense of
competence in them.
•They learn a sense of inferiority (i.e. a feeling of
being inadequate and less worthy than others) if they
experience more failure than success.
•To avoid developing the sense of inferiority, every
child or learner in school should be enabled to
Identity vs role confusion (Adolescence)
•In this stage, adolescents struggle with the challenge
of who they are and what their place in the world is.
•To find themselves, adolescence strive for freedom and
independence from parents and adults and associate
themselves more frequently with friends.
•Adolescents also establish special interests,
competencies, work ethics, sexual identity, and self-
When adolescents do all these things, they are
searching for their identity which is both at the
individual and social (i.e. involving values, beliefs and
social practices) levels.
•During this stage, some adolescents may be certain of
who they are and develop the sense of fidelity- belief in
themselves
•Other adolescents may be confused about who they are
and what they are supposed to do in life. They would
Types of identity during adolescence
Identity achieved
•Strong sense of commitment to life choices after
free consideration of alternatives.
Identity foreclosure
•Acceptance of parental life choices without
consideration of options
Identity diffusion
•Un-centredness; confusion about who one is and
what one wants
Moratorium
•Identity crisis; suspension of choices because of
struggle; not being able to be committed to a
particular sense of identity.
Intimacy vs isolation (Young adulthood)

•The main challenge in this stage is to establish close


and committed relationships with others
•The core challenge is to establish trusting mutuality
with another person to the extent that one wants to
share his or her life with the other person. Getting to
this point is the challenge. Becoming intimate with
another person is the challenge. Becoming empathetic.
•The young person can move out of this stage after
being able to be intimate with another person-usually
from the opposite sex.
•Another young person may come out of this stage as
an isolate- not learning how to form intimate bonds
with another person.
Generativity vs stagnation (Middle adulthood)

•Generativity means establishing, nurturing, and


guiding the next generation.
•Generativity also means being productive in work,
community and society.
•For others, this stage is one for self-absorption
•The tension between generativity and self-absorption
may be resolved by the development of either the
sense of care or the sense of stagnation.
•To avoid stagnation (i.e. standing still or declining),
adults should engage in activities that promote the
welfare of others, being helpful, sharing one’s
expertise, etc.
Ego integrity vs despair (Late adulthood)
In the final stage of life adults may experience:
EITHER
•Satisfaction, acceptance of the way life has been lived
OR
•Despair about what has happened, what they have done
or not done and their inability to start again.
A resolution of these opposites may lead to the
attainment of wisdom and connection to the wider
community- the understanding that life has been
lived with integrity (i.e. with a sense of wholeness
or completeness)
Educational implications of Erikson’s theory
The role of psychosocial interaction and of the
social context
•Teachers should realize that learning and
understanding of subject matter, issues and the solving
of problems emanate from the interaction amongst
learners’ and teachers’ conceptions of their senses of
trust, autonomy, purpose, competence, identity,
mutuality, care and wisdom.
•These abilities, skills and competencies interact with
the social context when learning in school or in the
community. For instance, learning in the rural area
will be different from learning in an urban informal
settlement or in an urban suburb. Growing up in the
rural area would produce different human beings from
those who grow up in the urban area.
Active involvement
•Because, according to Erikson, people are active in
their own psychosocial development, teachers should
create opportunities for learners to actively explore
and re-explore the psychosocial challenges they
confront and those they have confronted in the past.

•Learning should be about resolving conflicts, tensions,


and solving psychosocial problems.
Individual variation
•Although people may be experiencing the same
challenges, they bring to the challenges different
abilities of dealing with them. For instance some
learners may confront learning tasks with a sense of
competence and others may face the same tasks with
fear and a sense of inferiority.

•The teacher should recognize diversity and individual


Interdependence of developmental domains
•Whereas Piaget’s and Vygotsk’s theories focus on
cognitive development, Erikson’s theory combines
domains of development as it incorporates emotional,
social, physical, cognitive, moral and spiritual
development.
•Because of this, Erikson’s theory of psychosocial
development requires the teacher to see his or her
students holistically and take into account,
The life-span development perspective
•According to Erikson, psychosocial development
takes place through out life.
•In education, this is one of the basis of life-long
learning. This means that people of all ages can
grow and learn new ways of understanding and of
wellbeing.
END!!!

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