Erikson's Eight Stages of Development and Post-Freudian Theory

Introduction

The theories of psychologists Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson have long been used to interpret and analyze human characteristics and behavior. Present-day psychology research continues to utilize Erikson's theories in attempts to analyze and explain human development. Erikson's theory of personality development followed and expanded upon the post-Freudian tradition, organizing human development into eight sequential stages. Each stage builds upon behaviors learned or acquired in the previous one. Erikson's eight stages are: (1) trust vs. mistrust, (2) autonomy vs. shame and doubt, (3) initiative vs. guilt, (4) industry vs. inferiority, (5) identity vs. role confusion, (6) intimacy vs. isolation, (7) generativity vs. self-absorption, and (8) integrity vs. despair.

Similar to Erikson's theory, Freud's theory is also a clinical theory, though it is considerably more complex than the work that followed it. According to Freud, the unconscious is the source of our motivations — whether simple desires for food or sex, neurotic compulsions, or the drive behind artistic and scientific achievement. Under Freudian principles, people are often driven to deny or resist becoming conscious of these motives, and those motives are often available only in disguised form. In other words, Freud saw all human behavior as motivated by drives or instincts, which in turn are the neurological representations of physical needs. This paper presents Erikson's theory of personality across his eight stages of human development — a framework that followed and was based in part on Freudian theory.

Freud's Theory of Personality

According to Freud, personality is mostly established by the age of five, during which early experiences play a large role in personality development and continue to influence behavior later in life. A review of the literature indicates that Freud's theory of personality development is one of the best known, but also one of the most controversial. Freud held that personality developed through a series of childhood stages during which the pleasure-seeking energies of the id become focused on certain erogenous zones. This psychosexual energy, or libido, was described as the driving force behind behavior (Wagner, 2007). If the stages are completed successfully, the result is a healthy personality. If certain issues are not resolved at the appropriate stage, fixation — a persistent focus on an earlier psychosexual stage — occurs, and the individual remains "stuck" in that stage (Wagner, 2007). For example, a person fixated at the oral stage may become over-dependent on others and may seek oral stimulation through smoking, drinking, or eating (Wagner, 2007).

Freud's theory became widely controversial due to open, unanswered questions that were difficult to test scientifically. His theory was also problematic for subsequent researchers because it focused almost entirely on male development, with little attention given to female psychosexual development. The researchers who followed Freud — among them Erik Erikson — based their theories on his work and ideas, but looked past these controversies. For instance, concepts such as the libido are impossible to measure and therefore impossible to test empirically. Research studies following Freud's work tend to discredit his theory on these grounds. Erikson based his theory on Freud's, but took into account that Freud's predictions were often too vague: the length of time between proposed cause and effect was too long to confidently assume a relationship between the two variables. Furthermore, Freud's theory rested on case studies rather than empirical research, and he based his conclusions on the recollections of adult patients — not on direct observation and study of children (Wagner, 2007). Erikson, by contrast, conducted thousands of studies involving actual children, seeking to overcome the many criticisms of Freud's untestable theory through systematic, observable case studies.

Erikson's Theory of Personality

Erikson's work followed and extended Freud's, and his theory has been labeled "post-Freudian" — a framework of eight stages of human development. Even in his early work, Erikson was fascinated by children, their patterns of thought, and the reasons behind their actions. He studied thousands of children throughout his career in an attempt to explain the development of personality and human characteristics. One of the central elements of Erikson's psychosocial stage theory is the development of ego identity — the conscious sense of self that individuals develop through social interaction (Erikson, 1950). According to Erikson, ego identity is constantly changing due to new experiences and information acquired in daily interactions with others. Beyond ego identity, Erikson also believed that a sense of competence motivates behavior and action (Erikson, 1950).

Similar to Freud's theory, Erikson outlined developmental stages through which each individual passes, stages that shape long-term characteristics. Each stage is concerned with becoming competent in a particular area of life; if the stage is navigated well, the person will feel a sense of mastery. If it is managed poorly, the person will emerge with a sense of inadequacy (Erikson, 1950). Erikson's stages were based on the idea that each individual experiences a conflict at some point that serves as a turning point in development — centered on either successfully developing a psychological quality or failing to do so.

Erikson's socialization process was formulated through wide-ranging experience in psychotherapy, including extensive work with children and adolescents from diverse backgrounds — upper, middle, and lower social classes alike. All of his case studies were documented analyses of children's behavior and thoughts, and the compilation of that work produced his stages of development. Erikson regarded each stage as a psychosocial crisis that arises and demands resolution before the next stage can be satisfactorily negotiated. Successful learning and resolution of each crisis is necessary if the child is to manage subsequent ones.

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