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Psychosocial Development Theory

Psychosocial development theory proposes that people pass through eight stages of development over their lifespan, with each stage presenting a crisis that influences personality. Erik Erikson expanded on Freud's psychosexual stages and proposed that social and environmental factors shape identity and development at each stage. The stages are characterized by opposing emotional forces that must be resolved for healthy development. Successful resolution of crises leads to basic virtues that help with later stages. While the theory provides a framework for understanding lifespan development, it has been criticized for not accounting for cultural differences and experiences like single parenthood.

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188 views2 pages

Psychosocial Development Theory

Psychosocial development theory proposes that people pass through eight stages of development over their lifespan, with each stage presenting a crisis that influences personality. Erik Erikson expanded on Freud's psychosexual stages and proposed that social and environmental factors shape identity and development at each stage. The stages are characterized by opposing emotional forces that must be resolved for healthy development. Successful resolution of crises leads to basic virtues that help with later stages. While the theory provides a framework for understanding lifespan development, it has been criticized for not accounting for cultural differences and experiences like single parenthood.

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sher bagto
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Psychosocial Development Theory?

Psychosocial development theory is an expansion of Sigmund Freud’s original five stages of development. Erikson formulated the
eight-stage life cycle theory in 1959 on the supposition that the environment plays a critical role in self-awareness, adjustment,
human development and identity.

Erik Erikson’s 8 stages of Psychosocial Development

Erikson asserts in his psychosocial theory that ego identity is reached by facing goals and challenges throughout eight stages of
development over the entire life cycle. Each of the psychosocial stages is distinguished by two opposing emotional forces,
known as contrary dispositions, that result in a crisis that needs to be resolved. Each crisis must be mastered as swiftly as
possible, otherwise, a person’s psychology is in jeopardy. However, a successful resolution of the conflict results in a healthy
personality and the attainment of a basic virtue. The ego uses these character strengths to resolve subsequent crises.
Assumptions of psychosocial development theory

Although Erikson built his psychosocial development theory upon many years of field research and study, the theory
maintains a foundation in a few assumptions.
Social expectations in each stage are the same across all cultures.
Parental influence exists throughout the stages of childhood and adolescence.
Humans develop similarly across the eight stages.
Applications of psychosocial development theory
Psychosocial development theory can be utilized in the analysis of a client’s symptomatic behavior in relation to past
traumatic experiences and conflicts with current developmental tasks.
Social workers can use Erikson’s “maturation timetable” to identify individual challenges and to determine what support and
services would be best for addressing the challenges.

Strengths and weaknesses of psychosocial development theory

Strengths Weaknesses
Ability to connect important psychosocial development Erikson himself concedes the theory falls short of explaining
across a person’s lifespan. This approach provides a how and why development occurs.
pragmatic perspective on personality development. Erikson does not clarify how the outcome of one psychosocial
It demonstrates middle and late adulthood are active and stage influences one’s personality in a later stage.
significant periods of personal growth, while other theories The theory does not provide a universal method for crisis
deem both stages irrelevant. resolution.
People can relate to the various stages through their own The theory is dated, as it does not address the influence of
experiences. single-parent households on a child.
Unlike Freud’s psychoanalysis approach, that psychosocial
development theory was built upon, Erikson offers a wider
and more comprehensive view of humanity.

How Does Psychosocial Development Theory Apply to Social Work?

This provides social work professionals with a group of signals that help determine how successfully clients handle crises and
progress along with a “maturation timetable.”
The eight stages in Erikson’s psychosocial development theory provide a stepping-stone for movement toward proper growth
that social workers can apply to distinguish individual difficulties and, in turn, provide the appropriate support and services for
tackling these challenges.
Criticism of Psychosocial Development Theory
Erikson lacks academic credentials.
The theory fails to detail what type of experiences are necessary to resolve the conflicts in each stage.
Erikson employed an ambiguous style of writing and used a variety of terms such as identity development, identity
consolidation and identity foreclosure to define identity without offering an explanation for their use. This practice may leave
readers or followers confused.
Psychosocial development theory focused on crises and asserted the completion of one crisis was necessary for the next crisis
in development.
Social explanations used may not translate to other cultures besides the U.S. middle-class.
Erikson does not accurately address the experience of women, as evidenced in the Generativity vs. Stagnation stage. Women
are more likely to move away from child-bearing and refocus on the self.

Reference:
https://www.onlinemswprograms.com/social-work/theories/psychosocial-development-theory/

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