Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Overview

• Growth takes place according to the epigenetic principle

– One component part arises out of another

– Has its own time of ascendancy

– Does not entirely replace earlier components

• There is an interaction of opposites at every stage of life

– Conflict between a syntonic (harmonious) element and a dystonic (disruptive) element

• Conflict between the dystonic and syntonic element produces a basic strength

Overview

• Lack of basic strength at any one stage results in core pathology for that stage

• Events in earlier stages are not causal– Ego identity and personality are shaped by a

multiplicity of conflicts and events (past, present, and anticipated)

• Personality development is characterized by an identity crisis– Identity crisis not a catastrophic event but an

opportunity for either adaptive or maladaptive adjustment

• Has eight stages in total

Stage 4 – School Age

• Covers development from about age 6 to about age 12 or 13

• Social world of children expanding beyond family to include peers, teachers and other adult models

• The desire to know of school age children become strong and is tied to their basic striving for competence

• Children strive industriously to read and write or learn skills required by their culture in normal development

Stage 4 – School Age

Industry vs. Inferiority

• Syntonic quality – Industry

– Industriousness, willingness to remain busy with something and finish a job

• Dystonic quality – Inferiority

– Feeling of inadequacy

Stage 4 – School Age

• Acquire sense of industry if children learn to do things well

• Acquire sense of inferiority if work is insufficient to accomplish their goals

• Earlier inadequacies can also contribute to children’s feelings of inferiority (eg. Too much guilt or too little purpose during play age development

Basic Strength of School Age

• Competence: the confidence to use one’s physical and cognitive abilities to solve the problems that accompany school age.

• Lack of basic strength (inferiority > industry) will result in inertia

– Children are likely to give up and regress to an earlier stage of development

The End!