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Lesson 15: Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Theory
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ERIK ERIKSON'S PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY
- Psycho - relating to the mind, brain and personality
- Social - external relationships and environment
Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory describes how people grow and develop throughout their entire lifespan. The word psycho refers to the inner aspects of a person, such as the mind, brain, and personality, while social refers to the outside influences of relationships, culture, and environment. Erikson believed that at each stage of life, individuals face a psychosocial conflict or challenge that must be resolved. Successfully resolving these challenges helps a person build a healthy personality and stronger social relationships, while failure can create difficulties that may affect later stages. His theory is made up of eight stages, beginning with infancy and continuing into late adulthood, each with its own unique developmental task. Later will discuss the eight stages.
Epigenetic Principle
- Explains that we develop through a predetermined unfolding of our personalities in eight stages.
- Erikson's theory delved into how personality was formed and believed that the earlier stages served as a foundation for later stages.
- It highlighted the influence of one's environment, particularly on how earlier experiences gradually build upon the next and result into one's personality.
The Epigenetic Principle in Erikson’s theory means that human development unfolds in a predetermined sequence of stages, where each stage builds on the outcomes of the previous one.
Erik Erikson believed that personality growth follows an ordered, step‑by‑step pattern across the lifespan. This idea is called the epigenetic principle. According to this principle, development is like a blueprint: each stage of life has its own psychosocial crisis (such as trust vs. mistrust in infancy or identity vs. role confusion in adolescence) that must be addressed. These stages are not random; they occur in a fixed sequence, and the way a person resolves earlier challenges influences how they handle later ones. For example, if a child develops trust in infancy, they are better prepared to build autonomy in early childhood.
At the same time, Erikson emphasized that while the stages are universal and sequential, the environment and social context play a major role in how each crisis is resolved. This means that culture, family, and personal experiences can strengthen or weaken the outcomes of each stage. The principle highlights that growth is both biologically guided and socially shaped, making development a lifelong process where earlier successes or struggles echo into later life.
In short, the epigenetic principle explains why Erikson’s eight stages must be understood as a linked chain of development, where each link depends on the strength of the ones before it.
Psychosocial Crisis
- Each stage involves a psychosocial crisis of two opposing emotional forces (contrary dispositions)
- Each crisis stage relates to a corresponding life stage and its inherent challenges.
Syntonic - positive disposition in each crisis (e.g. Trust)
Dystonic - negative disposition (e.g. Mistrust)
If a stage is managed well, we carry away a certain VIRTUE or PSYCHOSOCIAL STRENGTH.
Malignancy - involves too little of the positive and too much of the negative aspect of the task
Ex. A person who can't trust others
Maladaptation - is not quite as bad; involves too much of the positive and too little of the negative
Ex. A person who trusts too much
Erik Erikson's Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development
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Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Theory Quiz: click here
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