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Erik Erikson

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Erikson’s Stages of Personal and Social Development.

As people grow, they face a string of psychosocial crises that shape personality, according to Erik Erikson. Each crisis focuses on a particular aspect of personality and involves the person’s relationship with other people.

STAGE I: TRUST VERSUS MISTRUST ( BIRTH TO 18 MONTHS) The goal of in-fancy is to develop a basic trust in the world. Erikson ( 1968, p. 96) defined basic trust as “ an essential trustfulness of others as well as a fundamental sense of one’s own trust-worthiness.” The mother, or maternal figure, is usually the first important person in the child’s world. She is the one who must satisfy the infant’s need for food and affection. If the mother is inconsistent or rejecting, she becomes a source of frustration for the infant rather than a source of pleasure ( Cummings, Braungart- Rieker, & Du Rocher- Schudlich, 2003; Thompson, Easterbrooks, & Padilla- Walker, 2003). The mother’s behavior creates in the infant a sense of mistrust for his or her world that may persist throughout child-hood and into adulthood.

STAGE II: AUTONOMY VERSUS DOUBT ( 18 MONTHS TO 3 YEARS) By the age of 2, most babies can walk and have learned enough about language to communicate with other people. Children in the “ terrible twos” no longer want to depend totally on others. Instead, they strive toward autonomy, the ability to do things for themselves. The child’s desires for power and independence often clash with the wishes of the parent. Erikson believes that children at this stage have the dual desire to hold on and to let go. Parents who are flexible enough to permit their children to explore freely and do things for themselves, while at the same time providing an ever- present guiding hand, encourage-age the establishment of a sense of autonomy. Parents who are overly restrictive and harsh give their children a

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