Erickon's Psychosocial Stages of Development (Till adolescence)

Stage: Trust vs. Mistrust
Age: 0 – 11/2
Development: Child develops basic trust in other and self when parents provide consistent, adequate, and nurturing care, allowing the child to realize that it can depend on others and that the world can be a safe place. Thus the child develops hope and confidence.

If the nurturing and caring environment is not provided, the child develops basic mistrust which can result in: depression, withdrawal and perhaps paranoia.

Stage: Autonomy vs. Shame
Age: 11/2 - 3
Development: Child develops autonomy if parents guide the child gradually, praising and accepting its attempts to be independent. Resulting in the sense of will which helps the child to accomplish and build self-esteem as well as learning self-control as the child grows up.

Child can experience extreme shame and doubt if parents are too harsh or demanding, which may result in the child feeling defeated. Thus while growing up they try to regain control and power. This could produce obsessive behaviour: e.g. if the child follows all rules exactly it will never be ashamed again.

However, if the child is given neither limits nor guidance, the child may fail to gain the sense of shame. Some shame is good as it will aid is in questioning the outcome of our actions. However, it could also result in Avoidance – never allowing yourself to be close to others in order to ensure that you will never feel ashamed.

Stage: Initiative vs. Guilt
Age: 3-5
Development: During this stage the child becomes curious about people and models its parents. The child also attempts to possess the opposite sex parent and experiences rivalry towards the parent of the same sex (corresponding to Freud’s Oedipal Complex) however this only develops in very severe cases.

When the parents are understanding and supportive of the child’s effort to show
Initiative to develop a purpose and sets milestones to reach a goal.

However, if the parents punish, inhibit and degrade the child for its attempts to show initiative the child is more likely to develop a sense of guilt. If in excess it can lead to inhibition.

On the other hand, too much purpose and no guilt may lead to the child being ruthless; they may achieve the goal without caring who they step on while doing so. The child may become constricted or antisocial

Stage: Industry vs. Inferiority
Age: 5 – 12 (puberty)
Development: At this point the child becomes absorbed in activities such as school and is required to tame imagination, impulses, and please others. If the significant adult’s support the child’s effort’s the child develops a sense of competence develops

If the child is not supported, feelings such as inferiority are likely to develop. Excess sense of inferiority or helplessness may occur, which results in the child becoming an “underachievers”.

However, too much competency may lead to the child becoming an adult too fast, resulting in the development of a Shallow person

Stage: Identity vs. Role Confusion
Age: 12 – 20 (adolescence)
Development: At this point the young adult tries to develop his/her identity and ‘ideas of strengths, weaknesses, goals, occupations, sexual identity, and gender roles’. They go through an identity crisis and friends are used to provide reflection.
If the identity crisis is resolved, fidelity – ‘the ability to sustain loyalties freely pledged in spite of the inevitable contradictions of value systems’ is developed, this allows them to be friends with very different people.
If the crisis isn’t resolved, identity diffusion – ‘sense of self is unstable and threatened’ is developed. This may lead them to cults or hate groups and too much identity may lead them to show fanaticism

Bibliography:
Niolon, Richard. "Erickon's Psychosocial Stages of Development." Psychpage. Resources for students and teachers. 7 Apr 2008
http://www.psychpage.com/learning/library/person/erikson.html.
Glassman, William E., and Marilyn Hadad. Approaches to Psychology. 4th ed. New York: Open Univesity Press, 2004.
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