Erik Erikson theory of development essay

Erik Erikson theory of development essay 8 main stages of Eriksons theory Erik Erikson is a talented psychologist that created his theory about human development. He separated the entire life on eight phases and defined the main characteristics that affect peoples behavior on each stage. According to the theory, we can explain why people do what they do, and how they interact with environment. As Erikson said, each person goes through these 8 phases during their life cycle. Stage of infancy (0 â€" 18 months old) On this phase, babies interact with the environment through touches and visual contact. If parents care of baby properly, she or he will definitely feel trust, confidence and optimism. Without feeling of trust, a child may experience such feelings as insecurity, worthlessness and fear. Stage of toddler (18 months â€" 3 years old) On this phase, the child learns to build their self-esteem as well as interact with the world and learn new skills. Children of the age two can be stubborn, angry and naughty, trying to show their personality to parents and other children. Its important for parents to remember that children of this age are vulnerable, so they may feel shame if they are unable to learn some skills. Stage of preschooler (3 â€" 5 years old) Children of this age like to copy adult people and play toys, experimenting with new roles. These kids explore the world very active and use the question “why?” quite often. They want adults to explain all things they dont know. They try to identify their social roles and at this age, its very important for kids to have good relationship with their parents. Stage of schoolchildren (6 â€" 12 years old) On this phase, kids continue to learn new skills; they interact with world as well as communicate with friends. This is a period of high social development, and if children have negative feelings during communication with classmates, they may get serious problems with their self-esteem. The relationships of this period are mostly connected with friends and school. Of course, parents are still very important, but they are not as close as it was earlier. Stage of teenagers (12-18 years old) This is a very complicated phase for both teenager and their parents. On this stage, teenagers develop a very strong devotion to their ideals, such as actors, singers, and friends. They have to search for their own identity and try to develop a sense of high morality. Those teenagers who were unsuccessful on this stage, feel very confused. Stage of young adults (18 â€" 35 years old) This is a period when people are looking for a partner and relationship to make a new family. People seek for communication with others: their partners and friends. If their needs were not satisfied on this stage, they could find themselves isolated from others. Stage of middle-aged adults (35 â€" 65 years old) The most important things of this period are work and career, but people need to feel a connection with family. On this stage there may be significant changes, such as changing career, losing work, adult children leave the house, etc. People need communication with family, co-workers, social communities (gym, church, etc.) Stage of late adults (65 years old to death) Erikson supposed that older adults are able to look back at their life and to think about their success and fails. Some people can feel desperate on this level because they had a lot of bad experience during the life. They could feel afraid of death because they still didnt find the sense and purpose of their life, and it may seem to them they lived the whole life wrong. Other people who were more successful, feel satisfied with the life they lived and they talk about the death as the logical end of their long and productive way. The Eriks wife, Joan M. Erikson had added a 9th period in this theory. She said that old age in 80-90 may give new reevaluations, requirements, and even some difficulties in your life. A woman was 93 years old when she was writing about the nine stage.