ERIK ERIKSON:Anatomy and Destiny, Ego Psychology, Goal of Psychotherapy

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Personality Psychology PSY 405

Lesson 13

ERIK ERIKSON

He developed a theory based on:

1- Social rather than sexual relationships,

2-which covers the entire life span of an individual.

Example

The focus is the individual's

1- Social Relationships such as that of peers, friends, colleagues etc.

2- Entire Life Span- such as from birth till retirement and beyond.

Concepts of Theory

1-Anatomy and Destiny

2-Ego Psychology

3-Eight stages of Human Development

4-Goal of Psychotherapy

1-Anatomy and Destiny

1-According to Erickson biology or genetics is one strong determinant of personality but culture is another

important determinant

2-Thus biologically determined differences between the two sexes can be explained as result of social

expectations or cultural expectations.

2- Ego Psychology

The ego according to Erikson is in the service of the Id but in this process of serving id, it develops its own

functions. It is Ego's job to organize one's life and to assure continuous harmony with one's physical and

social environment, since Erikson stressed the autonomy and role of ego, we call his theory as ego

psychology.

His entire theory is a description of how the ego gains or looses strength in the developmental process.

According to Freud Id is in conflict with the Ego where as according to Erikson ego is in the service of the

Id but in this process of serving id, it develops its own functions.

Ego's job to organize one's life and to assure continuous harmony with one's physical and social

environment.

For Freud, the real job of the ego is to find realistic ways to satisfy all the impulses of the id while not

offending or developing a conflict with super ego. So for Freud, ego is the master control and its tries to

establish a balance between id and super ego. The ego according to Erikson is in the service of the Id but in

this process of serving id, it develops its own functions. It is Ego's job to organize one's life and to assure

continuous harmony with one's physical and social environment, since Erikson stressed the autonomy and

role of ego, we call his theory as ego psychology. His entire theory is a description of how the ego gains or

looses strength in the developmental process. He has given the descriptions of eight developmental stages,

through which, all individuals pass and what happens to the ego during each of these stages is important.

3-Eight stages of Human Development

According to Erikson, every individual passes through eight stages of development and sequence of the

eight stages is genetically determined and it is unchangeable. This is labeled as epigenetic principle.

Epigenetic Principle

Personality Psychology PSY 405

This Epigenetic Principle states that a sequence of growth is genetically determined and that each stage,

once developed, gives rise to the next.

Each stage of development is characterized by crisis which can have a positive or a negative resolution.

A positive resolution strengthen the ego makes it stronger and helps the individual in the adaptation

process.

On the other hand a negative resolution weakens the ego and hinders or inhibits the adaptation process.

In positive resolution of the crises we see a healthy individual with a strong Ego which helps in

adaptation and adjustment to all situations.

In negative resolution of crises we see an individual who is maladjusted.

Identity is the sense of who you are and where you are going in life. The emergence of identity is the

end of childhood and beginning of adulthood.

Identity crisis is the crises in fifth stage of development where an individual gains either positive or

negative identity.

Positive identity means a person if fully aware of who he is and what his goals in life are certainly

not contrary to goals of society.

All behaviors of children which are rewarded

Negative identity is an identity that is contrary to the goals of society.

Those entire thing that child is warned not to become.

Stages of Development

1-Basic Trust versus basic mistrust (from birth to one year).

2-Autonomy versus shame and doubt (from one to three years).

3-Initiative versus Guilt (four to five years).

4-Industry versus inferiority (six to eleven years).

5-Identity versus role confusions (From twelve to twenty years).

6-Intimacy versus isolation (from twenty to twenty four years).

7-Generativity versus stagnation (from twenty five to sixty five).

8- Ego integrity versus despair (sixty five to death).

4-Goal of Psychotherapy

According to Erikson, the patient's ego should be strengthen to such a level at which it can cope with

life's problems. Rehabilitation can be more effective and economical if the clinician focuses on

patient's life plan and advice him to strengthen the elements of his ego identity.

Evaluation

1-It is a psychosocial theory.

2-For Erikson, it is Ego's job to organize one's life and to assure continuous harmony with one's

physical and social environment, since Erikson stressed the autonomy of ego; we call his theory as

ego psychology.

3-For Erikson, the conscious does not neglect the unconscious and it takes into account the social

experience as well.

4-For Erikson, healthy people successfully pass through the eight stages of development and

acquire hope, will, competence, fidelity, love, care and wisdom.

5-For Erikson, religion is something that people need and human use religion to make the events of

their lives more understandable and less threatening.

Personality Psychology PSY 405

Application

His theory had made important contributions to the areas of

1-Psychotherapy

2- Education

3-Child rearing and development

4- One application of his theory is study of major historical figures which is labeled as

psychohistory.

He analyzed historical figures such as Adolph Hitler, Martin Luther, and Mahatma Gandhi and tried to

study these historical figures through the great events of history.

Biographical Sketch

Eric Erikson was born of Danish parents in Germany in 1902. Erikson's personal feelings of not belonging

to his family were related to the fact that both his mother and step father were Jewish. In school he was

referred to as a Jew. So we can say that even as a boy, he was working on his concept on identity crisis.

The year 1927, is the turning point in his life. He was first hired as an artist, then as a teacher and finally,

Anna Freud if he would like to be trained as a child analyst. Erikson accepted her offer. Erikson was

impressed by her and in 1964 he dedicated his book Insight and Responsibility to her. In 1939, Erikson

came in contact with anthropologist like Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead. From then he become aware

about personality development and began developing his personal theory of personality. Erikson made

several contributions to Psychology; one application of his theory of development to study of major

historical figures is labeled as psychohistory. He analyzed historical figures such as Adolf Hitler, Martin

Luther, and Mahatma Gandhi and tried to study these historical figures through the great events of history.

Erikson summarized his research on 10 to 12 years old boys and girls in California, the children were asked

by Erikson to construct on the table an exciting scene out of an imaginary moving picture. The children

were allowed to use various toys, figures and various shaped blocks. One fifty children constructed 450

scenes and only six or seven scenes with toys and dolls were given names of actress or actresses, rest of the

scenes were created by imagination. Secondly, there were common themes and elements in the scenes

created by boys which differed markedly from the scenes created by the girls. For example, girls created

static and peaceful scenes whereas, boys created scenes with animals and dangerous men. The scenes

created by boys had high walls, high towers and cannons. This tendency surprised Erikson and made him

very easy, for Erikson biology was never the only factor that determined how a person perceives and acts

upon the world, social factors are also very important. So, according to Erikson, the biologically

determined differences of behavior between the two genders can better be explained as a result of social

and cultural expectations.

Another important point in his theory is that males are neither better than females nor vice versa. The only

important difference between males and females is that both compliment each other or there are cultures

such as ours where the male role has been glorified which the female finds very unfortunate.

1-Anatomy and Destiny

1- 1-According to Erickson biology or genetics is one strong determinant of personality but culture is

another important determinant

2- 2-Thus biologically determined differences between the two sexes can be explained as result of

social expectations or cultural expectations.

2- Ego Psychology

For Freud, the real job of the ego is to find realistic ways to satisfy all the impulses of the id while not

offending or developing a conflict with super ego. So for Freud, ego is the master control and its tries to

establish a balance between id and super ego. The ego according to Erikson is in the service of the Id but in

this process of serving id, it develops its own functions. It is Ego's job to organize one's life and to assure

continuous harmony with one's physical and social environment, since Erikson stressed the autonomy and

role of ego, we call his theory as ego psychology. His entire theory is a description of how the ego gains or

Personality Psychology PSY 405

looses strength in the developmental process. He has given the descriptions of eight developmental stages,

through which, all individuals pass and what happens to the ego during each of these stages is important.

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