THEORIES OF THE PERSONALITY ○ During childhood,the ego is weak, pliable,

POST-FREUDIAN THEORY- PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT and fragile; but by adolescence it should

BY ERIK ERIKSON begin to take form and gain strength.
BIOGRAPHY: ○ Throughout our life, it unifies personality
● He never knew his biological father. and guards against indivisibility.
● Speaks mostly German despite speaking English (as ○ He defined the ego as a person’s ability to
he immigrated to America during the rise of unify experiences and actions in an adaptive
fascism in Germany)being his main language for 60 manner.
years and at his house, he has a flag of Denmark. ASPECTS OF EGO:
● He has no formal training of Psychoanalysis. ● BODY EGO- refers to experiences with our body; a
● Undergone psychoanalysis with Anna Freud.(Sigmund way of seeing our physical self as different for
Freud’s daughter) other people.
● Had a child with Down Syndrome, told his other ● EGO IDEAL- represents the image we have of
children that he died. Only the eldest knew about ourselves in comparison with an established ideal;
it. When the child died at the age of 20, the it is responsible for our being satisfied or
other two children of Erikson arranged the burial dissatisfied not only with our physical self but
of the sibling they never knew existed. with our entire personal identity.
● EGO IDENTITY- is the image we have of ourselves in
OVERVIEW OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: the variety of social roles we play.
● Erikson was famous for the coining the term of ● Rapid changes in these aspects happen during
IDENTITY CRISIS. adolescence.
● Post-Freudian Theory was extended Freud’s SOCIETY’S INFLUENCE:
Psychosexual development. ● To him the ego exists as potential at birth, but
● He suggested that at each age, a specific it must emerge from within a cultural environment.
psychosocial struggle contributes to the formation ● Different societies, with their variations in
of the personality. child-rearing practices, tend to shape
● Erikson places more importance in social and personalities that fit needs and values of their
historical influences. culture.
BASIC ASSUMPTIONS: ● Philippine’s way of child-rearing is very
● EGO - in contrast with Freud’s concept of Ego different with the west therefore the ego develops
(being a diplomat with no power of its own). in a certain way that is different with the West.
Erikson’s conception of Ego is more powerful. It ● Erikson argued that historically all tribes or
is positive force that creates a self-identity or nations, including the US, have developed what he
a send of “I” called a pseudospecies: that is, an illusion
○ EGO helps us adapt to the various conflicts perpetrated and perpetuated by a particular
and crises of life and keeps us from losing society that it is somehow chosen to be the human
our individuality to the leveling forces of species.
society.
EPIGENETIC PRINCIPLE: ●During each stage, but especially from
● Epigenetic development implies a step-by-step adolescence forward, personality development is
growth of fetal organs. The embryo does not begin characterized by an identity crisis, which he
as a completely formed little person, waiting to called “a turning point, a crucial period of
merely expand its structure and form. increased vulnerability and heightened potential”
● Rather, it develops or should develop, according STAGES OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT:
to a predetermined rate and in a fixed sequence. INFANCY (0-1 YEAR) – PARALLEL TO ORAL AGE (TRUSTtvsMISTRUST)
● If the eyes, liver, or other organ do not develop ORAL SENSORY– expanded form of oral stage of
during the critical period for their development, Freud;whereas Freud said that children are focused only
then they will never attain proper maturity. in the mouth, Erikson said that all sensory organs also
● In similar fashion, the ego follows the path of “take in” the world
epigenetic developmen, with each stage developing ● They can take in air through lungs and can
at its proper time. receive sensory data without having to manipulate
● One stage emerges from and is built upon a others (biological)
previous stage, but it does not replace that ● Infants not only must get, but they also must get
earlier stage. someone else to give, This early training in
● This implies that failure/success on each stage interpersonal relations help them learn to
will contribute greatly on the next stage of eventually become givers (social)
development, BASIC TRUST (SYNTONIC) VS MISTRUST (DYSTONIC) - Infant’s
STAGE OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: most significant interpersonal relations are with their
● Assumptions of Psychosocial Development. primary caregiver, ordinally their mother.
○ Growth takes place according to the ○ If they realize that thei mother will provide
epigenetic principle. food regularly, then they begin to learn basic
○ In every stage of life there is an trust.
interaction of opposites- that is, a conflict ○ In contrast, they learn basic mistrust if they
between a syntonic (harmonious) element and a find no correspondence between they oral
dystonic (discruptive) element. sensory needs and their environment
○ At each stage, the conflict between the ● HOPE (BASIC STRENGTH)- By having both painful and
dystonic and syntonic elements produces an pleasurable experiences, infants learn to expect
ego quality or ego strength, which Erikson that future distresses will meet with
referred to as a basic strength. satisfactory outcomes.
○ Too little basic strength at any one stage ● WITHDRAWAL (CORE PATHOLOGY)- With little to
results in a core pathology for that stage. hope for, they will retreat from the outside
● Although Erikson referred to his 8 stages as world and begin the journey toward serious
psychosocial stages, he never lost sight of the psychological disturbance.
biological aspect of human development. EARLY CHILDHOOD (2-4 Y/O) – ANAL STAGE
● Events in earlier stages do not cause later (AUTONOMYvs SHAME&DOUBT)
personality development.Ego identity is shaped by ● ANAL-ERETHRAL-MUSCULAR MODE– Erikson took a
a multiplicity of conflicts and events- past, broader view, To him young children receive
present, and anticipated. pleasure not only from mastering the sphicter
 muscle but also from mastering other body function ● Erikson contended that, in addition to identifying
such as urinating,walking,throwing,holding,and so with their parents, preschool age children are
on. developing locomotion,language skills,
● At this time, children learn to control their curiosity,imagination, and the ability to set
body, especially in relation to cleanliness and goals.
mobility. Early childhood is more than a time of ● OEDIPUS COMPLEX— is a drama played out in the
toilet training; it is also a time of learning to child’s imagination and includes the budding
walk, run, hug parents, and hold on to toys and understanding of such basic concepts as
other objects. reproduction, growth,future, and death
● AUTONOMY (SYNTONIC) VS SHAME & DOUBT (DYSTONIC)- ○ Unless sexual interest is provoked by cultural
○ AUTONOMY- self-expression sex play or by adult sexual abuse, the Oedipus
○ SHAME– is a feeling of self-consciousness of compLex produces no harmful effects on later
being looked at and exposed. personality development.
○ DOUBT- on the other hand, is the feeling of not ● The interest that play-age children have in
being certain, the feeling that something genital activity is accompanied by their
remains hidden and cannot be seen. increasing facility at locomotion.They can now
● As children stubbornly express their anal- move with ease,running,jumping and climbing with
urethral-muscular mode, they are likely to find a no conscious effort and their play shows both
culture that attempts to inhibit some of their initiative and imagination.
self-expression. ● INITIATIVE (SYNTONIC) vs GUILT (DYSTONIC)—- although
○ The “ nakakahiya” attitude of child-rearing in they begin to adopt initiative in their selection
the Philippines. and pursuit of goals, many goals, such as marrying
● WILL (BASIC STRENGTH)- This step is the beginning their mother or father or leaving home, must be
of free will and willpower (only a either repressed or delayed. The consequence of
beginning.Mature willpower and a significant these taboo and inhibited goals is guilt.
measure of free will are reserved for later stages ● PURPOSE (BASIC STRENGTH)- children now play with a
of development, but they originate in the purpose, competing at games in order to win or to
rudimentary will that emerge during early be in top.
childhood. ○ Play age is also the stage in which children
● COMPULSION (CORE PATHOLOGY) —- Too little will are developing a conscience and beginning to
and too much complusivity carry forward into the attach labels such as right and wrong to their
play age as lack of purpose and into the school behavior. This youthful conscience becomes the
age as lack of confidence. “cornerstone of morality”.
● INHIBITION (CORE PATHOLOGY) - if guilt is the
PLAY AGE (3-5 Y/O) – PHALLIC STAGE dominant element , children may become
(INITIATIVEvsGUILT) compulsively moralistic or overly inhibited.
● GENITAL-LOCOMOTOR MODE— Erikson believed that SCHOOL AGE (12-13 Y/O) – LATENCY STAGE
the Oedipus complex is one of the several (INDUSTRYvsINFERIORITY)
important developments during the play age.
 ● At this age, the social world of children is period, a person must gain a firm sense of ego
expanding beyond family to include peers, identity.
teachers, and other adult models. ● He saw adolescence as a period od social latency,
● LATENCY- Sexual latency is important because it just as he saw school age as time of sexual
allows children to divert their energies to latency.
learning the technology of their culture and the ● Adolescence is an adaptive phase of personality
strategies of their social interaction. development, a period of trial and error.
○ As children work and play to acquire these ● PUBERTY- defined as genital maturation,plays a
essentials, they begin to form a picture of relatively minor role in Erikson’s concept of
themselves as competent or incompetent. adolescence.
○ These self images are the origin of ego ○ Puberty is important psychologically because
identity- that feeling of “I” or “ME-ness” it triggers expectations of adult roles yet
that evolves more fully during adolescence. ahead-roles that are essentially social and
● INDUSTRY (SYNTONIC) vs INFERIORITY (DYSTONIC)- can be filed only through a struggle to attain
although school age is a period of little sexual ego identity.
development, it is a time of tremendous social ● IDENTITY (SYNTONIC)vsIDENTITY CONFUSION (DYSTONIC)-
growth. the search for ego identity reaches a climax
○ INDUSTRY- a syntonic quality, means during adolescence as young people strive to find
industriousness, a willingness to remain busy out who they are and who they are not.
with something and to finish a job. ● In this research, young people draw from a variety
○ INFERIORITY– feelings of inadequacy if their of earlier self-images that have been accepted or
work is insufficient to accomplish their rejected.
goals. ● Thus, the seeds of identity begin to sprout during
● COMPETENCE (BASIC STRENGTH)- the confidence to infancy and continue to grow through childhood,
use one’s physical and cognitive abilities to the play age, and the school age.
solve the problems that accompany school age. ● SOURCE OF IDENTITY-
Competence lays the foundation for “co-operation ○ Adolescents’ affirmation or repudiation of
participation in productive adult life” childhood identification-What they truly want
● INERTIA (CORE PATHOLOGY)- if the struggle between themselves.
industry and inferiority favors either inferiority ○ Their historical and social context,which
or an overabundance of industry, children are encourages conformity to certain standards-
likely to give up and regress to an earlier stage What society demands them to be.
of development. They may become preoccupied with ● Identity is defined both positively and
infantile genital and Oedipal fantasies and spend negatively, as adolescents are deciding what they
most of their time in nonproductive play. want to become and what they believe while also
ADOLESCENCE (14-18 Y/O) –(IDENTITYvs ROLE CONFUSION) discovering what they do not wish to be and what
they do not believe.
● ADOLESCENCE- the period from puberty to young
● Identity confusion is a syndrome of problems that
adulthood, is one of the most crucial
includes a divided self-image, an inability to
developmental stages because by the end of this
establish intimacy, a sense of time urgency, a
 lack of concentration on required tasks, and a ● For some people, this stage is a relatively short
rejection of family community standards. time, lasting perhaps only a few years. For
○ Although identity confusion is a necessary others, young adulthood may continue for several
part of our search for identity, too much decades.
confusion can lead to pathological adjustment ● GENITALITY– Much of the sexual activity during
in the form of regression to earlier stages of adolescence is an expression of one’s search for
development. identity and is basically self-serving
○ We may postpone the responsibilities of ○ True genitality can develop only during young
adulthood and drift aimlessly from one job to adulthood when it is distinguished by mutual
another, from one sec partner to another, or trust and a stable sharing of sexual
from one ideology to another. satisfactions with a loved person.
○ Conversely, if we develop the proper ratio of ● INTIMACY (SYNTONIC)vs ISOLATION (DYSTONIC)-
identity to identity confusion, we will have ○ INTIMACY- the ability to fuse one’s identity
(1) faith in some sort of ideological with that of another person without fear of
principle, (2) the ability to freely decide how losing it.
we should behave, (3) trust in our peers and ■ Because intimacy can be achieved only after
adults who give us advice regarding goals and people have formed a stable ego, the
aspirations and (4) confidence in our choice of infatuations often found in young adolescents
an eventual occupation. are not true intimacy
● FIDELITY (BASIC STRENGTH)-faith in one’s ideology. ■ People who are unsure of their identity may
○ After establishing their internal standards of either shy away from psychosocial intimacy or
conduct,adolescents are no longer in need of desperately seek intimacy through meaningless
parental guidance but have confidence in their sexual encounters.
own religious, political, and social ■ MATURE INTIMACY- involves
ideologies. sacrifice,compromise, and commitment within a
● ROLE REPUDIATION (CORE PATHOLOGY)- blocks one’s relationship of two equals.
ability to synthesize various self-images and ● ISOLATION- the incapacity to take chances with
values into a workable identity. Role repudiation one’s identity by sharing true intimacy
can take the form of either diffidence or ○ Again, some degree of isolation is essential
defiance. before one can acquire mature love.
○ DIFFIDENCE- an extreme lack of self-trait or ○ Too much togetherness can diminish a person’s
self-confidence and is expressed as shyness or sense of ego identity, which leads that person
hesitancy to express oneself. to a psychosocial regression and an inability
○ DEFIANCE- defiant adolescents stubbornly hold to face the next developmental stage.
to socially unacceptable beliefs and practices ● LOVE (BASIC STRENGTH)- Erikson defined love as
simply because these beliefs and practices are mature devotion that overcomes basic differences
unacceptable. between men and women.
YOUNG/EARLY ADULTHOOD (19-39 Y/O) (INTIMACYvs ISOLATION)
 ○ Mature love means commitment,sexual things and ideas that contribute to the
passion,cooperation,competition,and building of a better world.
friendship. ○ People have a need not only to learn but also
○ Although love includes intimacy, it also to instruct. This need extends beyond one’s
contains some degree of isolation,because each own children to an altruistic concern for
partner is permitted to retain a separate other young people.
identity. ○ Generativity grows out of earlier syntonic
● EXCLUSIVELY (CORE PATHOLOGY)- qualities such as intimacy and identity. As
○ Some exclusivity, however, is necessary for noted earlier, intimacy calls for the ability
intimacy, that is, a person must be able to to fuse one’s ego to that of another person
exclude certain people, activities, and ideas without fear of losing it.
in order to develop a strong sense of ● SELF-ABSORPTION OR STAGNATION– the generational
identity. cycle of productivity and creativity is crippled
○ Exclusivity becomes pathological when it when people become too absorbed in themselves, too
blocks one’s ability to cooperate,compete, or self-indulgent.
compromise— all prerequisite ingredients for ○ Some elements of stagnation and self-
intimacy and love. absorption, however, are necessary. Creative
ADULTHOOD(31-60Y/O) – (GENERATIVITYvsSTAGNATION) people must, at times, remain in a dormant
● ADULTHOOD- that time when people begin to take stage and be absorbed with themselves in order
their place in society and assume responsibility to eventually generate new growth.
for whatever society produces. ● CARE (BASIC STRENGTH)- a widening commitment to
● PROCREATIVITY- refers to more than genital take care of the persons, the products, and the
contact with an intimate partner. It includes ideas one has learned to care for.
assuming responsibility for the care of offspring ○ One must have hope, will, purpose,
that result from that sexual contact. competence, fidelity,and love in order to take
○ Ideally, procreation should follow from the care of that which one cares for. Care is not
mature intimacy and love established during a duty or obligation but a natural desire
the preceding stage. emerging from the conflict between
○ Obviously, people are physically capable of generativity and stagnation or self-
producing offspring before they are absorption.
psychologically ready to care for the welfare ● REJECTIVITY (CORE PATHOLOGY)- the unwillingness to
of these children. take care of certain person/groups
● GENERATIVITY(SYNTONIC)vs STAGNATION(DYSTONIC)- ○ Rejectivity is manifested as self-
○ GENERATIVITY- the generation of new beings as centeredness,provincialism, or
well as new products and new ideas. pseudospeciation: that is, the belief that
○ Generativity, which is concerned with other groups of people are inferior to one’s
establishing and guiding the next generation, own.
includes the procreation of children, the ○ It is responsible for much of human hatred,
production of work, and the creation of new destruction,atrocities,and wars
OLD AGE(60Y/O-DEATH) – (INTEGRITY vsDESPAIR)
 ● one may infer that it means to take pleasure in a ● From this conflict emerges a basic strength, or
variety of different physical sensations— ego quality. Each basic strength has an underlying
sights,sounds,tastes,odors,embraces,and perhaps antipathy that becomes the core pathology of that
genital stimulation. stage.
○ Men become more nurturant and more acceptant ● Humans have an ever-increasing radius of
of the pleasures of nonsexual significant relations, beginning with the maternal
relationships,including those with their person in infancy and ending with an
grandchildren and great-grandchildren. identification with all humanity during old age.
○ Women become more interested and involved in CRITIQUE OF ERIKSON:
politics, finance, and world affairs. ➢ Generated a lot of research in Human Development
○ A generalized sensual attitude, however, is ➢ Average in Falsifiability (unlike Freudian
dependent on one’s ability to hold things Theories)
together, that is, to maintain integrity in ➢ Only organized knowledge in a developmental
the face of despair. perspective
● Despair literally means to be without hope; the ➢ Guide to action is too general (no therapy even)
last dystonic quality of the life cycle, is in the ➢ Focused more on old age
opposite corner from hope, a person’s first basic ➢ Internally consistent
strength. ➢ Moderate parsimony
○ Once hope is lost, despair follows and life CONCEPT OF HUMANITY:
caesar to have meaning. ➢ Free will and Determinism- MIDDLE
● WISDOM (BASIC STRENGTH)- Erikson defined wisdom as ➢ Pessimism and Optimism- OPTIMISM
“informed and detached concern with life itself in ➢ Causality vs Teleology- N/A
the face of death itself” ➢ Conscious and Unconscious-MIXED
○ Wisdom draws from and contributes to the ➢ Social influence and Biology- SOCIAL INFLUENCE
traditional knowledge passed from generation ➢ Similarities and Difference- MORE ON DIFFERENCE
to generation. In old age, people are (per culture/society)
concerned with ultimate issues, including
nonexistence.
● DISDAIN (CORE PATHOLOGY)- a reaction to feeling
(and seeing others) in an increasing state of
being finished, confused, helpless. “ Disdain is a
continuation of rejectivity, the core pathology of
adulthood.

SUMMARY OF LIFE CYCLE:

● The psychosocial crisis is stimulated by a
conflict between the predominating syntonic
element and its antithetical dystonic element.