Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development and identity crises

Erik Erikson

Psychologist Erik Erikson is well-known for his theory of psychosocial development, which depends upon the successful resolution of various identity crises, which occur in stages throughout the lifetime. Because the resolution of these crises depended, not only on the individual, but also on the individual's social environment, Erikson's personality theory was innovative in that it suggested that personality development was a psycho-social process, not simply a psychological process. Erikson's "developmental progression -- from trust to autonomy, initiative, industry, identity, intimacy, generativity, and integrity -- was conceived as the sequential reorganization of ego and character structures. Each phase was the potential root of later health and pathology" (Erikson Institute, 2014).

When one examines Erikson's early life, the idea that psychosocial development would be the result of series of identity crises seems to directly reflect his own personal experience. Erikson experienced several identity issues when he was a child. He believed that his mother's second husband was his biological father, and, then, later, that he was his mother's first husband's child. However, in reality, he was the product of an extramarital affair, and his mother was actually a single mother for a period of time. Therefore, Erikson never knew his biological father. From a traditional Freudian perspective, not knowing his father would have been sufficient to suggest developmental challenges. In fact, "While this may seem like merely an interesting anecdote about his heritage, the mystery over Erikson's biological parentage served as one of the key forces behind his later interest in identity formation" (Cherry, 2014).

Furthermore, Erikson faced some additional identity struggles that may have helped contribute to his theories. His mother was a Jewish woman, but his biological father appears to have been a non-Jewish man. "His interest in identity was further developed based upon his own experiences in school. At his Jewish temple school he was teased for being a tall, blue-eyed, and blonde Nordic-looking boy who stood out among the rest of the kids. At grammar school, he was rejected because of his Jewish background. These early experiences helped fuel his interest in identity formation and continued to influence his work throughout his life" (Cherry, 2014).

However, Erikson almost did not make his contributions to psychology. In what appears to be a classic rejection of his adopted father-figure, the pediatrician who had cured him of a childhood illness and later married his mother, Erikson refused to become a physician like his stepfather. Instead, he became an artist, and then a tutor. It was through these informal roles that he first met Freud, and became introduced to Freud's ideas of development. What was interesting about Erikson's stages of development, particularly trust vs. mistrust, is that he felt that they were not resolved at the end of each stage, but would arise again at successive stages (Erikson, 1966). In fact, one of the most interesting contributions that Erikson suggested was that, while stages were dominated by a basic conflict, the successful resolution of those conflicts might depend, in many ways, upon whether the prior conflict had been successfully resolved (Erikson, 1984). What this seems to suggest is that Erikson believed that early childhood experiences had the power to impact people throughout their lifetimes. Despite that belief, he was not fatalistic; he did not believe that early conflicts and uncertainty would prevent people from successfully resolving conflicts in later life. Instead, he believed that people would be given additional opportunities to resolve root conflicts. This certainly seems to reflect his own experience with father figures, as his stepfather played a father role that allowed him to eventually develop the trust that should have developed in the relationship with his own father.