Developmental stages by Erikson

Erikson's stages of psychosocial development as articulated by Erik Erikson explain eight stages through which a healthily developing human should pass from infancy to lateadulthood. In each stage the person confronts, and hopefully masters, new challenges.

Each stage builds on the successful completion of earlier stages. The challenges of stages not successfully completed may be expected to reappear as problems in the future.

However, mastery of a stage is not required to advance to the next stage. Erikson's stage theory characterizes an individual advancing through the eight life stages as a function of negotiating his or her biological forces and sociocultural forces. Each stage is characterized by a psycho social crisis of these two conflicting forces .If an individual does indeed successfully reconcile these forces ,he or she emerges from the stage with the corresponding virtue. For example, if an infant enters into the toddler stage (autonomy vs. shame & doubt) with more trust than mistrust, he or she carries the virtue of hope into the remaining life stages.

The Stages

1.      Hopes: Trust vs. Mistrust (Oral-sensory, Birth-2 years)

2.      Will: Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt (Muscular-Anal, 2-4 years)

3.      Purpose: Initiative vs. Guilt (Locomotor-Genital, Preschool, 4-5 years)

4.      Competence: Industry vs. Inferiority (Latency, 5-12 years)

5.      Fidelity: Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence, 13-19 years)

6.      Love: Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young adulthood, 20-24, or 20-40 years)

7.      Care: Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle adulthood, 25-64, or 40-64 years)

8.      Wisdom: Ego Integrity vs. Despair (Late adulthood, 65-death)