1. Erik Erikson
Development through choices
Image: Creative Commons via Wikipedia

2. Agenda
• Background • Impact
– Biography – Identity
– Timeline – Choices
• Contributions – Adolescent psychological
– Writing research
– Theories
– Studies

3. Background: Biography
• Erik Homburger Erikson • Born June 15, 1902 in
(1902-1994) Frankfurt am Main,
• Heavy influence on our Germany by Danish
psychological parents.
understanding of the • Married in 1930, to
young. Joan MowatSerson,
• Some identity crises of who studied education,
his own may have arts and crafts, and
sparked his interest in writing.
study
(Boeree, 2006)

4. Background: Timeline
• Went to the United States to escape Nazis
• Harvard Medical School (1934-1935)
• Yale School of Medicine (1936-1939)
• University of California at Berkeley (1939-1951)
• Austen Riggs Center, Stockbridge, Mass. (1951-1960)
• Visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh School
of Medicine (1951-1960)
• After US citizenship, took the name Erikson, possibly to
self determine identity.
• Studied Hitler, Luther, Gandhi,
(Boeree, 2006)

5. Contributions: Written Works
• Childhood and Society (1950)
• Young Man Luther. A Study in Psychoanalysis and History
(1958)
• Insight and Responsibility (1964) A collection of 6 essays
• Identity: Youth and Crisis (1968)
• Gandhi's Truth: On the Origin of Militant Nonviolence
(1969)
• Adulthood (edited book, 1978)
• Vital Involvement in Old Age (with J.M. Erikson and H.
Kivnick, 1986)
• The Life Cycle Completed (with J.M. Erikson, 1987)
(Friedman, 2000)

6. Contributions: Theories
(concept of self)
• Main task of the adolescent is achieve a state
of Identity
• Identity is a state towards which one strives
• When various aspects of self-concept are in
agreement
• In choosing an identity, we repudiate (give up)
other choices
(Thies& Travers, 2005)

7. Contributions: Theories
• In democratic society, where many choices exist,
society plays a role in development
• In adolescence, (a time-out or moratorium) we
experiment with many choices, searching for those
that suit us, without considering responsibility for any
particular one
• Indecision is essential to the moratorium to avoid
identity crisis (Erikson)
• Adolescent tolerance of the ambiguity of indecision,
and avoiding making too quick a choice of identity
leads to a better sense of self, and a stronger
development.
(Thies& Travers, 2005)

8. Defining Identity:
• “A sense of individual identity”
• “A striving for a continuity of personal
character”
• “A criterion for the silent doings of ego
synthesis”
• “A maintenance of an inner solidarity with a
group’s ideals and identity”
(Erikson, 1959)

9. Stage (age)
I (0-1)infant
Life Cycle and Virtues
Psychosocial crisis
Psychosocial
Significant relations modalities
to get, to give in
Maladaptations &
Psychosocial virtues malignancies
sensory distortion --
trust vs mistrust mother return hope, faith withdrawal
II (2-3) -- autonomy vs shame impulsivity --
toddler and doubt parents to hold on, to let go will, determination compulsion
III (3-6) -- ruthlessness --
preschooler initiative vs guilt family to go after, to play purpose, courage inhibition
to complete, to
IV (7-12 or so) -- industry vs neighborhood and make things narrow virtuosity --
school-age child inferiority school together competence inertia
V (12-18 or so) -- ego-identity vs role- peer groups, role to be oneself, to fanaticism --
adolescence confusion models share oneself fidelity, loyalty repudiation
to lose and find promiscuity --
VI (the 20’s) -- oneself in another love exclusivity
young adult intimacy vs isolation partners, friends
VII (late 20’s to generativity vs self- household, to make be, to take overextension --
50’s) -- middle adult absorption workmates care of care rejectivity
to be, through
VIII (50’s and mankind or “my having been, to face presumption --
beyond) -- old adult integrity vs despair kind” not being wisdom despair
Chart adapted from Erikson's 1959 Identity and the Life Cycle (Erikson, 1959)

10. Impact: Identity
• Fully developed sense of the stage approach
to development
• Great tools with which to apply theoretical
analysis to psychological case studies and
social situations
(Boeree, 2006)

11. Impact: Choices
• By the concept of repudiation of choices we
can see how Identity is defined.
• We can apply the theory in situations where
an individual seems stuck between stages, or
searching to move to earlier or later stages
out of sequence.
• If choices have not been fully made, a return
to those stages may be predicted.
(Thies& Travers, 2005)

12. References
• Boeree, C. G. (2006). Erik Erikson. Retrieved June 10,
2009, from
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/erikson.html.
• Erikson, E. H. (1994). Insight and responsibility (p. 256).
W. W. Norton & Company.
• Erikson, E. H. (1980). Identity and the life cycle (p. 191).
W. W. Norton & Company.
• Friedman, L. J. (2000). Identity's Architect (p. 592).
Harvard University Press.
• Thies, K. M., & Travers, J. F. (2005). Handbook of
human development for health care professionals (p.
503). Jones & Bartlett Publishers.