Erickson life cycle. Age periodization according to E

At the first stage of development (oral-sensory), corresponding to infancy, there is trust or distrust of the world. With the progressive development of personality, the child "chooses" a trusting relationship. It manifests itself in light feeding, deep sleep, no tension of internal organs, normal bowel function. A child who trusts the world that surrounds him, without much anxiety and anger, endures the disappearance of his mother from his field of vision: he is sure that she will return, that all his needs will be satisfied. The baby receives from the mother not only milk and the care he needs, the "nourishment" of the world of forms, colors, sounds, caresses, smiles is also connected with her. Maternal love and tenderness determines the "quantity" of faith and hope taken from the child's first life experience.

At this time, the child, as it were, "absorbs" the image of the mother (there is a mechanism of introjection). This is the first step in the formation of the identity of a developing personality.

The second stage (musculo-anal) corresponds to an early age. The possibilities of the child sharply increase, he begins to walk and defend his independence. But the growing feeling independence should not undermine the previously established trust in the world. Parents help to keep it, limiting the desires that appear in the child to demand, appropriate, destroy when he tests his strength.

The demands and limitations of the parents at the same time create the basis for negative feelings. shame and doubt. The child feels the "eyes of the world" watching him with condemnation, strives to make the world not look at him or wants to become invisible himself. But this is impossible, and the "inner eyes of the world" appear in the child - shame for his mistakes, awkwardness, dirty hands, etc. If adults make too severe demands, often blame and punish the child, he has a fear of "losing face", constant alertness, stiffness, and lack of communication. If the child's desire for independence is not suppressed, a correlation is established between the ability to cooperate with other people and insist on one's own, between freedom of expression and its reasonable restriction.

At the third stage (locomotor-genital), coinciding with preschool age, the child actively learns the world around him, models in the game the relations of adults that have developed in production and in other areas of life, quickly and eagerly learns everything, acquiring new tasks and responsibilities. Added to independence initiative.

When the child's behavior becomes aggressive, the initiative is limited, feelings of guilt and anxiety appear; thus, new internal instances are laid - conscience and moral responsibility for one's actions, thoughts and desires. Adults should not overload the conscience of the child. Excessive disapproval, punishments for minor offenses and mistakes cause a constant feeling of guilt, fear of punishment for secret thoughts, vindictiveness. Initiative slows down, develops passivity.

At this age stage, gender identity and the child masters a certain form of male or female behavior.

Junior school age - prepubertal, i.e. pre-puberty child. At this time, the fourth stage (latent) is unfolding, associated with the upbringing of industriousness in children, the need to master new knowledge and skills. The school becomes for them a "culture in itself", with its own specific goals, achievements and disappointments. Comprehension of the basics of work and social experience enables the child to gain the recognition of others and acquire a sense of competence. If the achievements are small, he acutely experiences his ineptitude, inability, disadvantageous position among his peers and feels doomed to be mediocre. Instead of a sense of competence, there is a sense of inferiority.

The period of primary schooling is also the beginning professional identification feelings of connection with representatives of certain professions.

Adolescence and youth constitute the fifth stage of personality development, the period of the deepest crisis. Childhood is coming to an end, and this long stage of the life path, ending, leads to the formation identity. It combines and transforms all the child's previous identifications; new ones are added to them, since the matured, outwardly changed child is included in new social groups and acquires other ideas about himself. The holistic identity of the individual, trust in the world, independence, initiative and competence allow the young man to solve the main task that society sets for him - the task of self-determination of the choice of a life path.

In early maturity, at the sixth stage, an adult faces a problem closeness(intimacy). It is at this time that true sexuality manifests itself. But a person is ready for intimacy with another, not only sexually, but also socially. After a period of searching and asserting his own identity, he is ready to "merge" it with the identity of the one he loves. A close relationship with a friend or loved one requires loyalty, self-sacrifice and moral strength. The desire for them should not be drowned out by the fear of losing one's "I".

The third decade of life is the time of creating a family. It brings love, understood by E. Erickson in the erotic, romantic and moral sense. In marriage, love is manifested in care, respect and responsibility for a life partner.

The inability to love, to establish close trusting relationships with other people, the preference for superficial contacts leads to isolation, a feeling of loneliness.

Maturity, or average age, - the seventh stage of personality development, unusually long. Decisive here is "man's attitude to the products of his labor and to his offspring", concern for the future of mankind. Man strives for productivity and creativity, to the realization of one's ability to pass something on to the next generation - one's own experience, ideas, created works of art, etc.

The desire to contribute to the life of future generations is natural, at this age it is realized, first of all, in relations with children. E. Erickson emphasizes the dependence of the older generation in the family on the younger.

A mature person needs to be needed.

If productivity is not achieved, if there is no need to take care of other people, deeds or ideas, and indifference, self-centeredness appears. Anyone who indulges himself like a child comes to stagnation, impoverishment of his personal life.

The last stage late maturity, becomes integrative: at this time "the fruits of the seven previous stages ripen." A person takes the life path he has traveled for granted and acquires the integrity of the individual.

Only now is wisdom emerging. A look into the past makes it possible to say: "I am satisfied." Children and creative achievements are perceived as an extension of oneself, and the fear of death disappears.

People who are dissatisfied with the life they have lived and consider it a chain of mistakes and unrealized opportunities do not feel the integrity of their "I". The impossibility of changing something in the past, starting to live again is annoying, one's own shortcomings and failures seem to be the result of unfavorable circumstances, and approaching the last frontier of life causes despair.

In social psychology, a person is both a cognizer of something (that is, a subject) and a cognizable by someone (that is, an object). Because such a psychology is aimed at studying the person himself and at studying his interaction with the outside world, objects and people.

Here, a person is considered both on his own and "in context" with the environment - people. “According to E. Erickson, each stage of development is characterized by the expectations of society, which the individual may or may not justify, and then he is either included in society or rejected by it. This idea of ​​E. Erickson formed the basis for his allocation of steps, stages of the life path. Each stage of the life cycle is characterized by a specific task that is put forward by society. However, the solution of the problem, according to E. Erickson, depends both on the already achieved level of human development, and on the general spiritual atmosphere of the society in which this individual lives.

The development theory of E. Erickson covers the entire life space of the individual (from infancy to old age). Erickson emphasizes the historical conditions in which the self (ego) of the child is formed. The development of the self is inevitably and closely related to the changing features of social prescriptions, the cultural aspect and the value system.

I am an autonomous system interacting with reality through perception, thinking, attention and memory. Paying special attention to the adaptive functions of the ego, Erickson believed that a person, interacting with the environment in the process of his development, becomes more and more competent.

Erickson saw his task as drawing attention to the ability of a person to overcome life's difficulties of a psychosocial nature. His theory puts at the forefront the qualities of the Self, that is, its virtues, which are revealed in different periods of development.

To understand Erickson's concept of organization and development of the personality, there is an optimistic proposition that every personal and social crisis is a kind of challenge, leading the individual to personal growth and overcoming life's obstacles. Knowing how a person coped with each of life's significant problems, or how inadequate resolution of early problems made it impossible for him to cope with later problems, constitutes, according to Erickson, the only key to understanding his life.

The stages of personality development are predetermined, and the order of their passage is unchanged. Erickson divided human life into eight separate stages of psychosocial development of the ego (as they say, into "eight ages of man"). Each psychosocial stage is accompanied by a crisis - a turning point in the life of the individual, which occurs as a result of reaching a certain level of psychological maturity and social requirements for the individual at this stage.

Each psychosocial crisis, when viewed from the point of view of evaluation, contains both positive and negative components. If the conflict is resolved satisfactorily (that is, at the previous stage, the Self was enriched with new positive qualities), then now the Self absorbs a new positive component (for example, basic trust and independence), and this guarantees a healthy development of the personality in the future.

On the contrary, if the conflict remains unresolved or receives an unsatisfactory resolution, the developing self is thereby harmed and a negative component is built into it (for example, basal distrust, shame and doubt). Although theoretically predictable and well-defined conflicts arise along the path of personality development, it does not follow from this that successes and failures in the previous stages are necessarily the same. The qualities that the ego acquires at each stage do not reduce its susceptibility to new internal conflicts or changing conditions (Erikson, 1964).

Erickson emphasizes that life is a continuous change of all its aspects, and that the successful solution of a problem at one stage does not guarantee a person from the emergence of new problems at other stages of life or the emergence of new solutions for old, seemingly already solved problems.

The task is that each individual individually adequately resolve each crisis, and then, he will have the opportunity to approach the next stage with a more adaptive and mature personality.

EIGHT STAGES OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT ACCORDING TO E. ERICKSON.

Stage 1. Infancy.

Trust or distrust. (1st year of life).

At this stage, the maturation of sensory systems takes place. That is, vision, hearing, smell, taste, tactile sensitivity develop. The child explores the world. At this stage, as at all subsequent ones, there are two ways of development: positive and negative.

The Subject of Development Conflict: Can I Trust the World?

Positive pole: The child gets everything he wants and needs. All the needs of the child are quickly met. The child experiences the greatest trust and affection from his mother, and it is better that during this period he can communicate with her as much as he needs - this forms his trust in the world in general, an absolutely necessary quality for a full happy life. Gradually, other significant people appear in the child's life: father, grandmother, grandfather, nanny, etc.
As a result, the world is a cozy place where people can be trusted.

The child develops the ability to form warm, deep, emotional relationships with his environment.

If a small child could speak, he would say:

“I am loved”, “I feel cared for”, “I am safe”, “The world is a cozy place that you can trust”.

Negative pole: The focus of the mother's attention is not on the child, but on mechanistic care for him and educational measures, his own career, disagreements with relatives, anxiety of a diverse nature, etc.
A lack of support, distrust, suspicion, fear of the world and people, inconsistency, pessimism are formed.

Therapeutic View: Observe those people who seek to interact through the intellect rather than through the senses. These are usually those who come to therapy and talk about emptiness, who rarely realize that they have no contact with their own bodies, who present fear as the main factor in isolation and self-absorption, who feel like a frightened child in the adult world, who are afraid of their own. own impulses and who finds a strong need to control themselves and others.

A favorable resolution of this conflict is hope.

Stage 2. Early childhood.

Autonomy or shame and doubt. (1 - 3 years).

The second stage of personality development, according to E. Erickson, consists in the formation and upholding by the child of his autonomy and independence. It starts from the moment the child begins to walk. At this stage, the child masters various movements, learns not only to walk, but also to climb, open and close, hold on, throw, push, etc. Children enjoy and are proud of their new abilities and strive to do everything themselves (for example, wash, dress and eat). We observe in them a great desire to explore and manipulate objects, as well as an attitude towards their parents:
"I myself." "I am what I can."

The subject of developmental conflict: Can I control my own body and behavior?

Positive pole: The child develops independence, autonomy, develops a feeling that he owns his body, his aspirations, largely owns his environment; the foundations of free self-expression and cooperation are being laid; self-control skills are developed without compromising their self-esteem; will.
Parents give the child the opportunity to do what he is able to do, do not limit his activity, encourage the child.

At the same time, parents should unobtrusively, but clearly limit the child in those areas of life that are dangerous for the children themselves and others. The child does not receive complete freedom, his freedom is limited within reason.

“Mom, look how great it turns out. I own my body. I can control myself."

Negative Pole: Parents limit the actions of the child, parents are impatient, they rush to do for the child what he himself is capable of, parents shame the child for inadvertent misconduct (broken cups); or vice versa, when parents expect their children to do what they themselves are not yet able to do.

The child is fixed indecision and uncertainty in their abilities; doubt; dependence on others; a sense of shame in front of others is fixed; the foundations of stiffness of behavior, low sociability, constant alertness are laid. Statements of this kind: “I am ashamed to express my desires”, “I am not good enough”, “I have to control everything that I do very carefully”, “I will not succeed”, “I am somehow not like that”, "I'm not like that."

Therapeutic View: Observe those people who do not feel themselves, deny their needs, have difficulty expressing their feelings, have a great fear of abandonment, show caring behavior, burdening others.

Due to their insecurity, a person often limits and withdraws himself, not allowing himself to do something significant and enjoy it. And because of the constant feeling of shame for an adult state, many events with negative emotions accumulate, which contribute to depression, dependence, and hopelessness.

The favorable resolution of this conflict is will.

Stage 3. Playing age.

Initiative is guilt. (36 years).

Children aged 4-5 take their exploratory activity outside of their own bodies. They learn how the world works and how you can influence it. The world for them consists of both real and imaginary people and things. The crisis of development is how to satisfy one's own desires as widely as possible without experiencing guilt.

This is a period of time when conscience appears. In behavior, the child is guided by his own understanding of what is good and what is bad.

The subject of developmental conflict: Can I become independent from my parents and explore my limits?

Positive pole: Children who are given the initiative in choosing a motor activity, who run, wrestle, romp, ride a bicycle, sled, skate at will - develop and consolidate entrepreneurship. It is also reinforced by the willingness of parents to answer the child's questions (intellectual enterprise) and not interfere with his fantasies and start games.

Negative Pole: If the parents show the child that his motor activity is harmful and undesirable, that his questions are intrusive, and his games are stupid, he begins to feel guilty and carries this feeling of guilt into later stages of life.

Remarks of parents: “You can’t, you’re still small”, “Don’t touch!”, “Don’t you dare!”, “Don’t go where you shouldn’t!”, “You still won’t succeed, let me alone”, “Look, how mom got upset because of you”, etc.

Therapeutic perspective: “In dysfunctional families, it is very important for a child to develop a healthy sense of conscience or a healthy sense of guilt. They cannot feel that they can live the way they want to; instead, they develop a poisonous sense of guilt… It tells you that you are responsible for other people's feelings and behaviors” (Bradshaw, 1990).

Watch who exhibits rigid, pedantic behavior, who is unable to come up with and compose tasks, who is afraid to try new things, who lacks a sense of determination and purpose in their lives. The social dimension of this stage, says Erickson, develops between entrepreneurialism at one extreme and guilt on the other. How parents react to the child's undertakings at this stage largely depends on which of these qualities will prevail in his character.

Favorable resolution of this conflict is the goal.

Stage 4. School age.

Hard work is an inferiority complex. (6 - 12 years).

Between the ages of 6 and 12, children develop numerous skills and abilities at school, at home and among their peers. According to Erickson's theory, the sense of "I" is greatly enriched with a realistic increase in the child's competence in various areas. It is becoming increasingly important to compare yourself with your peers.

The subject of developmental conflict: Am I capable?

Positive pole: When children are encouraged to make anything, build huts and aircraft models, cook, cook and needlework, when they are allowed to complete the work they have begun, praise and reward for the results, then the child develops skill and ability for technical creativity, as if from outside parents as well as teachers.

Negative pole: Parents who see their children's work activity as just "pampering" and "dirty", contribute to the development of a sense of inferiority in them. At school, a child who is not very smart can be especially traumatized by school, even if his diligence is encouraged at home. If he learns the educational material more slowly than his peers, and cannot compete with them, then the continuous backlog in the class develops a sense of inferiority in him.
During this period, negative evaluation of oneself in comparison with others causes especially strong harm.

Therapeutic View: Pay attention to people who are intolerant or fearful of making mistakes, lack social skills, or feel uncomfortable in social situations. These people are overly competitive, struggle with procrastination, exhibit feelings of inferiority, are overly critical of others, and are constantly dissatisfied with themselves.

Favorable resolution of this conflict - confidence, competence.

Stage 5. Youth.

Ego identity or role confusion. (12 - 19 years).

The transition from childhood to adulthood causes both physiological and psychological changes. Psychological changes manifest as an internal struggle between the desire for independence, on the one hand, and the desire to remain dependent on those people who care about you, the desire to be free from responsibility for being an adult, on the other. Parents or other significant people become "enemies" or "idols".

A teenager (boy, girl) is constantly faced with questions: Who is he and who will he become? Is he a child or an adult? How does his ethnicity, race, and religion affect people's attitudes towards him? What will be his true identity, his true identity as an adult? Such questions often cause the adolescent to become morbidly concerned about what others think of him and what he should think of himself.

Faced with such confusion about their status, a teenager is always looking for confidence, security, striving to be like other teenagers in their age group. He develops stereotyped behaviors and ideals and often joins various factions or clans. Groups of "peers" are very important for the restoration of self-identity. The destruction of strictness in dress and behavior is inherent in this period. This is an attempt to assert structure in chaos and to ensure identity during the absence of self-identity.

This is the second major attempt at developing autonomy, and it requires challenging parental and societal norms.

The important task of getting out of the family and the moral assessments of others can be very difficult. Oversubordination, lack of opposition, or overt opposition can lead to low self-esteem and negative identity. Another developmental task involves social responsibility and sexual maturity.

The subject of developmental conflict: Who am I?

Positive Pole: If a young person successfully copes with this task - psychosocial identification, then he will have a sense of who he is, where he is and where he is going.

Negative Pole: The opposite is true for the distrustful, shy, insecure, guilt-ridden, inferiority-conscious teenager. If, due to an unsuccessful childhood or a difficult life, a teenager cannot solve the problem of identification and define his “I”, then he begins to show symptoms of role confusion and uncertainty in understanding who he is and what environment he belongs to.

Therapeutic View: Look for people who show excessive agreement or rigidity, conformity to family, ethnic, cultural and social norms, who show "identity disorder" - "I don't know who I am!", who show dependency on of his family of origin, who constantly challenges people with authority, who needs to protest or obey, and who stands out from others because his life style is unique and / or non-conformist.

This confusion is often seen in juvenile delinquents. Girls who show promiscuity in adolescence very often have a fragmented idea of ​​their personality and do not correlate their promiscuity with either their intellectual level or their value system. In some cases, young people tend to "negative identification", that is, they identify their "I" with an image that is opposite to that which parents and friends would like to see.

Therefore, preparation for comprehensive psychosocial identification in adolescence should begin, in fact, from the moment of birth. But sometimes it is better to identify with a "hippie", with a "juvenile delinquent", even with a "drug addict" than not to find your "I" at all (1).

However, someone who does not acquire a clear idea of ​​​​his personality in adolescence is not yet doomed to remain restless for the rest of his life. And the one who recognized his "I" as a teenager will certainly encounter facts on his life path that contradict or even threaten his idea of ​​himself.

Favorable resolution of this conflict is fidelity.

Stage 6. Early maturity.

Intimacy is isolation. (20 - 25 years).

The sixth stage of the life cycle is the beginning of maturity - in other words, the period of courtship and the early years of family life. In Erickson's description, intimacy is understood as the intimate feeling we have for spouses, friends, siblings, parents, or other relatives. However, he also speaks of his own intimacy, that is, the ability to "merge your identity with the identity of another person without fear that you lose something in yourself" (Evans, 1967, p. 48).

It is this aspect of intimacy that Erickson sees as a necessary condition for a lasting marriage. In other words, in order to be in a truly intimate relationship with another person, it is necessary that by this time the individual has a certain awareness of who he is and what he is.

Subject of developmental conflict: Can I have an intimate relationship?

Positive pole: This is love. In addition to its romantic and erotic meaning, Erickson sees love as the ability to commit oneself to another and remain faithful to this relationship, even if it requires concessions and self-denial. This type of love is manifested in a relationship of mutual care, respect and responsibility for another person.
The social institution associated with this stage is ethics. According to Erickson, a moral sense arises when we realize the value of long-term friendships and social obligations, as well as cherish such relationships, even if they require personal sacrifice.

Negative Pole: Failure to establish calm, trusting personal relationships and/or excessive self-preoccupation leads to feelings of loneliness, social vacuum and isolation. Self-absorbed people may have very formal personal interactions and make superficial contacts without being truly involved in relationships because the increased demands and risks associated with intimacy pose a threat to them.

Intimacy is hindered by the conditions of an urbanized, mobile, impersonal technological society. Erickson cites examples of anti-social or psychopathic personality types (i.e., people with no moral sense) found in extreme isolation, who manipulate and exploit other people without any remorse.

Therapeutic View: Look for those who are afraid or unwilling to have intimate relationships and who repeat their mistakes in relationship building.

The favorable resolution of this conflict is love.

Stage 7. Medium maturity.

Productivity is inertia and stagnation. (26 - 64 years).

The seventh stage is a mature age, that is, already the period when the children have become teenagers, and the parents have firmly associated themselves with a certain occupation. At this stage, a new parameter of personality appears with universal humanity at one end of the scale and self-absorption at the other.

Erickson calls universal humanity the ability of a person to be interested in the fate of people outside the family circle, to think about the life of future generations, the forms of the future society and the structure of the future world. Such an interest in new generations is not necessarily associated with the presence of their own children - it can exist for everyone who actively cares for young people and for making life and work easier for people in the future. Thus, productivity appears as the concern of the older generation for those who will replace them - about how to help them establish themselves in life and choose the right direction.

The Subject of Developmental Conflict: What does my life mean by today? What am I going to do with the rest of my life?

Positive pole: An important point of this stage is creative self-realization, as well as concern for the future well-being of mankind.

Negative pole: Whoever has not developed this sense of belonging to humanity, focuses on himself and his main concern is the satisfaction of his needs and his own comfort. Difficulties in "productivity" may include: obsessive desire for pseudo-intimacy, over-identification with the child, the desire to protest as a way to resolve stagnation, unwillingness to let go of one's own children, impoverishment of one's personal life, self-absorption.

Therapeutic Perspective: Pay attention to people who have issues related to success, identity, values, death, and who may be in a marital crisis.

Favorable resolution of this conflict is caring.

Stage 8. Late maturity.

Ego-integration (integrity) - despair (hopelessness).
(After 64 years and before the end of the life cycle).

The last psychosocial stage completes a person's life path. This is the time when people look back and reconsider their life decisions, remember their achievements and failures. In almost all cultures, this period is marked by a deeper age-related change in all body functions, when a person has additional needs: one has to adapt to the fact that physical strength decreases and health deteriorates; solitude appears, on the one hand, on the other hand, the appearance of grandchildren and new responsibilities, feelings of loss of loved ones, as well as awareness of the continuity of generations.

At this time, the focus of a person's attention shifts to his past experience, rather than to planning for the future. According to Erickson, this last phase of maturity is characterized not so much by a new psychosocial crisis as by the summation, integration and evaluation of all past stages of ego development.

Here the circle closes: wisdom and acceptance of adult life and infantile trust in the world are deeply similar and are called by Erickson one term - integrity (integrity, completeness, purity), i.e., feelings of completeness of the life path, implementation of plans and goals, completeness and integrity .

Erickson believes that only in old age comes true maturity and a useful sense of the "Wisdom of the past years." And at the same time, he notes: “The wisdom of old age is aware of the relativity of all knowledge acquired by a person throughout his life in one historical period. Wisdom is the realization of the absolute significance of life itself in the face of death itself” (Erikson, 1982, p. 61).

The subject of developmental conflict: Am I satisfied with my life?

Did my life have meaning?

Positive Pole: Healthy self-development culminates in wholeness. This implies accepting yourself and your role in life at the deepest level and understanding your own personal dignity, wisdom. The main work in life is over, it is time for reflection and fun with the grandchildren. A healthy decision is expressed in the acceptance of one's own life and destiny, where a person can say to himself: "I am satisfied."

The inevitability of death no longer frightens, since such people see the continuation of themselves either in descendants or in creative achievements. There remains interest in life, openness to people, willingness to help children in raising grandchildren, participation in recreational physical education programs, politics, art, etc., in order to maintain the integrity of one's "I".

Negative pole: To whom the life lived seems to be a chain of missed opportunities and unfortunate blunders, he realizes that it is too late to start all over again and the lost cannot be returned. Such a person is overcome by despair, a feeling of hopelessness, a person feels that he has been abandoned, no one needs him, life has failed, hatred for the world and people arises, complete closeness, anger, fear of death. Lack of completion and dissatisfaction with the life lived.

Erickson distinguishes two prevailing types of mood in irritated and resentful older people: regret that life cannot be lived again and denial of one's own shortcomings and defects through projection (attributing to others one's feelings, emotions, thoughts, feelings, problems, etc.) to the outside world. Referring to cases of severe psychopathology, Erickson suggests that feelings of bitterness and regret may eventually lead the elderly person to senile dementia, depression, hypochondria, intense anger and paranoia.

Therapeutic view: watch people who are afraid of death, those who talk about the hopelessness of their own lives and who do not want to be forgotten.

The favorable resolution of this conflict is wisdom.

Conclusion

In Erickson's concept one can see crises of transition from one stage to another. For example, in adolescence, “two mechanisms of identity formation are observed: a) projecting outward vague ideas about one’s ideality (“create an idol for oneself”); b) negativism in relation to “alien”, emphasizing “one's own” (fear of impersonality, strengthening one's dissimilarity).

The consequence of this is the strengthening of the general tendency to join "negative" groups with the hope of standing out, declaring himself, showing what he can be, what suits him. "The second" peak "occurs at the eighth stage - maturity (or old age): only here does the final configuration of identity take place in connection with a person's rethinking of his life path."

Sometimes there is a crisis of this age when a person retires. If he does not have a family or does not have caring relatives - children and grandchildren, then such a person is visited by a feeling of uselessness. He feels himself unnecessary to the world, something already served and forgotten. At this moment, the main thing is that his family is next to him and supports him.

And I want to complete this topic with the words of Eric Erickson: "...healthy children will not be afraid of life if the old people around them are wise enough not to be afraid of death ...".

Epilogue

Everything that you have read above is just a small fraction of what you could read on the example of the theory of personality development according to E. Erickson and see another look, passed through your own prism of perception, where my main task was to convey to readers, and in particular - parents who embark on the path of having children and become such - about full responsibility not only for their lives, their choices, but also for WHAT you carry and HOW you pass on to your future generation.

Used Books

1. L. Hjell, D. Ziegler “Theories of personality. Fundamentals, research and application”. 3rd international edition. "Peter", 2003
2. S. Klininger “Theories of personality. knowledge of man." 3rd of. "Peter", 2003
3. G. A. Andreeva "Psychology of social cognition". Aspect Press. M., 2000
4. Yu. N. Kulyutkin “Personality. Inner peace and self-realization. Ideas, concepts, views”. "Tuscarora". St. Petersburg, 1996
5. L. F. Obukhova "Children's (age) psychology". Textbook. M., "Russian Pedagogical Agency". 1996
6. Erikson E. Identity: youth and crisis / transl. from English; total ed. and foreword. A. V. Tolstykh. - M.: Progress, b.g. (1996).
7. E. Elkind. Erik Erikson and the eight stages of human life. [Trans. With. English] - M.: Kogito-center, 1996.
8. Internet - materials.

Erik Erikson - a follower of 3. Freud, who expanded psychoanalytic theory. He was able to go beyond it by beginning to consider the development of the child in a wider system of social relations.

The features of the formation of a personality depend on the economic and cultural level of development of the society in which the child grows up, on what historical stage of this development he found. A child living in New York in the middle of the 20th century does not develop in the same way as a small Indian from a reservation, where the old cultural traditions have been preserved in their entirety and time, as it were, has stopped.

The values ​​and norms of society are passed on to children in the process of education. Children belonging to communities of almost the same level of socio-economic development acquire different personality traits due to different cultural traditions associated with the main type of activity and adopted parenting styles. In different Indian reservations, E. Erickson observed two tribes - the Sioux, former buffalo hunters, and the Yurok, fishermen and acorn gatherers. In the Sioux tribe, children are not swaddled tightly, breast-fed for a long time, they do not strictly monitor neatness, and in general there is little restriction on their freedom of action. Children are guided by the historically established ideal of their tribe - a strong and courageous hunter on the endless prairies - and acquire such traits as initiative, determination, courage, generosity in relations with fellow tribesmen and cruelty towards enemies. In the Yurok tribe, on the contrary, children are weaned early, swaddled tightly, taught early to neatness, restrained in communicating with them. They grow up silent, suspicious, stingy, prone to hoarding.

Personal development in its content is determined by what society expects from a person, what values ​​and ideals it offers him, what tasks he sets for him at different age stages. But the sequence of stages in the development of a child depends on the biological principle. The child, maturing, necessarily goes through a series of successive stages. At each stage, he acquires a certain quality (personal neoplasm), which is fixed in the structure of the personality and persists in subsequent periods of life.

Until the age of 17-20, there is a slow, gradual formation of the main nuclear formation - the identity of the individual. The personality develops through inclusion in various social communities (nation, social class, professional group, etc.) and experiencing its inextricable connection with them. Identity - psychosocial identity - allows a person to accept himself in all the richness of his relations with the outside world and determines his system of values, ideals, life plans, needs, social roles with appropriate forms of behavior. Identity is a condition of mental health: if it does not develop, a person does not find himself, his place in society, turns out to be "lost".

Identity is formed in adolescence, it is a characteristic of a fairly mature personality. Until that time, the child must go through a series of identifications - identifying himself with parents, boys or girls (gender identification), etc. This process is determined by the upbringing of the child, since from his very birth, parents, and then the wider social environment, introduce him to of their social community, group, convey to the child the worldview peculiar to it.

Another important moment for the development of personality is crisis. Crises are inherent in all age stages, these are "turning points", moments of choice between progress and regression. Each personal quality that manifests itself at a certain age contains a person's deep attitude to the world and to himself. This attitude can be positive, associated with the progressive development of the personality, and negative, causing negative shifts in development, its regression. A child and then an adult have to choose one of two polar attitudes - trust or distrust in the world, initiative or passivity, competence or inferiority, etc. When the choice is made and the corresponding quality of the personality, say positive, is fixed, the opposite pole of the attitude continues to openly exist and can manifest itself much later, when an adult faces a serious life failure.

The sequence of appearance of these polar personality neoplasms is reflected in Table. 6.1.

Table 6.1. Stages of personality development according to E. Erickson

At the first stage of development (oral-sensory), corresponding to infancy, there is a trust or distrust in the world. With the progressive development of personality, the child "chooses" a trusting relationship. It manifests itself in light feeding, deep sleep, relaxation of internal organs, normal bowel function. A child who trusts the world that surrounds him, without much anxiety and anger, endures the disappearance of his mother from his field of vision: he is sure that she will return, that all his needs will be satisfied. The baby receives from the mother not only milk and the care he needs, the "nourishment" of the world of forms, colors, sounds, caresses, smiles is also connected with her. Maternal love and tenderness determines the "quantity" of faith and hope taken from the child's first life experience.

At this time, the child, as it were, "absorbs" the image of the mother (there is a mechanism of introjection). This is the first step in the formation of the identity of a developing personality.

The second stage (musculo-anal) corresponds to an early age. The possibilities of the child sharply increase, he begins to walk and defend his independence. But the growing sense of self-reliance should not undermine the trust in the world that has developed before. Parents help to keep it, limiting the desires that appear in the child to demand, appropriate, destroy when he tests his strength.

The demands and limitations of the parents at the same time create the basis for negative feelings of shame and doubt. The child feels the "eyes of the world" watching him with condemnation, strives to make the world not look at him or wants to become invisible himself. But this is impossible, and the child develops "inner eyes of the world" - shame for his mistakes, awkwardness, dirty hands, etc. If adults make too harsh demands, often blame and punish the child, he develops a fear of "losing face", constant alertness, stiffness, unsociableness. If the child's desire for independence is not suppressed, a correlation is established between the ability to cooperate with other people and insist on one's own, between freedom of expression and its reasonable restriction.

At the third stage (locomotor-genital), coinciding with preschool age, the child actively learns the world around him, models in the game the relationships of adults that have developed in production and in other areas of life, quickly and eagerly learns everything, acquiring new tasks and responsibilities. Initiative is added to independence.

When the child's behavior becomes aggressive, the initiative is limited, feelings of guilt and anxiety appear; thus, new internal instances are laid - conscience and moral responsibility for one's actions, thoughts and desires. Adults should not overload the conscience of the child. Excessive disapproval, punishment for minor offenses and mistakes cause a constant feeling of guilt, fear of punishment for secret thoughts, revenge. Initiative is inhibited, passivity develops.

At this age stage, gender identification occurs and the child masters a certain form of behavior, male or female.

The younger school age is prepubertal, i.e., preceding the child's puberty. At this time, the fourth stage (latent) is unfolding, associated with the upbringing of industriousness in children, the need to master new knowledge and skills. The school becomes for them a "culture in itself", with its own specific goals, achievements and disappointments. Comprehension of the basics of work and social experience enables the child to gain the recognition of others and acquire a sense of competence. If the achievements are small, he acutely experiences his ineptitude, inability, disadvantageous position among his peers and feels doomed to be mediocre. Instead of a sense of competence, there is a sense of inferiority.

The period of primary schooling is also the beginning of professional identification, the feeling of one's connection with representatives of certain professions.

Adolescence and youth constitute the fifth stage of personality development, the period of the deepest crisis. Childhood is coming to an end, and this long stage of the life path, ending, leads to the formation of identity. It combines and transforms all the child's previous identifications; new ones are added to them, since the matured, outwardly changed child is included in new social groups and acquires other ideas about himself. The holistic identity of the individual, trust in the world, independence, initiative and competence allow the young man to solve the main task that society sets for him - the task of self-determination, the choice of a life path.

When it is not possible to realize oneself and one's place in the world, there is a diffuseness of identity. It is associated with an infantile desire not to enter adulthood for as long as possible, with a vague, persistent state of anxiety, a feeling of isolation and emptiness. The diffuseness of identity can manifest itself in a hostile rejection of social roles that are desirable for the family and the inner circle of a young man (male or female, national, professional, class, etc.), in contempt for everything domestic and overestimation of the foreign, in the desire to "become nothing" ( if this is the only way to assert yourself).

In early adulthood, in the sixth stage, the adult is faced with the problem of intimacy. It is at this time that true sexuality manifests itself. But a person is ready for intimacy with another, not only sexually, but also socially. After a period of searching and asserting his own identity, he is ready to "merge" it with the identity of the one he loves. A close relationship with a friend or loved one requires loyalty, self-sacrifice and moral strength. The desire for them should not be drowned out by the fear of losing one's "I".

The third decade of life is the time of creating a family. It brings love, understood by E. Erickson in the erotic, romantic and moral sense. In marriage, love is manifested in care, respect and responsibility for a life partner.

The inability to love, to establish close trusting relationships with other people, the preference for superficial contacts leads to isolation, a feeling of loneliness. Maturity, or middle age, is the seventh stage of personality development, an unusually long one. Decisive here is "man's attitude to the products of his labor and to his offspring", concern for the future of mankind. A person strives for productivity and creativity, for the realization of his abilities to pass something on to the next generation - his own experience, ideas, created works of art, etc.

The desire to contribute to the life of future generations is natural, at this age it is realized, first of all, in relations with children. E. Erickson emphasizes the dependence of the older generation in the family on the younger. A mature person needs to be needed.

If productivity is not achieved, if there is no need to take care of other people, deeds or ideas, indifference, self-centeredness appears. Anyone who indulges himself like a child comes to stagnation, impoverishment of his personal life.

The last stage, late maturity, becomes integrative: at this time "the fruits of the seven preceding stages ripen." A person accepts the life path he has traveled for granted and acquires the integrity of the personality.

Only now is wisdom emerging. A look into the past makes it possible to say: "I am satisfied." Children and creative achievements are perceived as an extension of oneself, and the fear of death disappears.

People who are dissatisfied with the life they have lived and consider it a chain of mistakes and unrealized opportunities do not feel the integrity of their "I". The inability to change something in the past, to start living again is annoying, one's own shortcomings and failures seem to be the result of unfavorable circumstances, and approaching the last frontier of life causes despair.

In his views on development, E. Erickson adhered to the so-called epigenetic principle: the genetic predetermination of the stages that a person necessarily goes through in his personal development from birth to the end of his days. These are the stages:

Early infancy (from birth to 1 year).

at the first stage in the first case, these are: trust in people, mutual love, affection, mutual recognition of parents and the child, satisfaction of children's craving for communication and other vital needs. In the second case, these are: distrust of people as a result of the mother's mistreatment of the child, ignoring, neglecting him, deprivation of love; too early or abrupt weaning of the child from the breast, his emotional isolation.

Late infancy (1 to 3 years).

At the second stage it is: independence, self-confidence; the child sees himself as an independent, separate person, but still dependent on his parents. On the other hand, self-doubt and an exaggerated sense of shame; the child feels unfit, doubts his abilities, experiences deprivation, deficiencies in the development of elementary motor skills, such as walking; his speech is poorly developed, there is a strong desire to hide his inferiority from the people around him.

Early childhood (about 3-5 years).

At the third stage, these are: curiosity and activity, vivid imagination and interested study of the world around, imitation of adults, inclusion in sex-role behavior. On the other hand, passivity and indifference to people, lethargy, lack of initiative, an infantile feeling of envy of other children, depression and evasiveness, and the absence of signs of gender-role behavior.

Middle childhood (from 5 to 11 years).

At the fourth stage, these are: industriousness, a pronounced sense of duty and the desire to achieve success, the development of cognitive and communication skills, setting yourself and solving real problems; the focus of the game and fantasy on the best prospects, the active assimilation of instrumental and objective actions, the focus on the task. On the other hand, a sense of inferiority, underdeveloped work skills, avoidance of difficult tasks, situations of competition with other people; an acute sense of one's own inferiority, doomed to remain mediocre all one's life; a feeling of a temporary “calm before the storm”, or a period of puberty, conformity, slavish behavior, a sense of the futility of the efforts made in solving various problems.

Puberty, adolescence and adolescence (from 11 to 20 years).

At the fifth stage, these are: life self-determination; development of a time perspective - plans for the future; self-determination in questions: what to be? and who to be?; active search for oneself and experimentation in different roles; teaching; a clear sexual polarization in the forms of interpersonal behavior; the formation of a worldview; taking on leadership in peer groups and subordinating to them when necessary. On the other hand, there is a confusion of roles; displacement and confusion of time perspectives: the appearance of thoughts not only about the future and present, but also about the past; concentration of mental strength on self-knowledge, a strongly expressed desire to understand oneself to the detriment of the development of relations with the outside world and people; half-role fixation; loss of labor activity; mixing forms of gender-role behavior, roles in leadership; confusion in moral and ideological attitudes.

Early adulthood (from 20 to 45 years).

At the sixth stage, these are: proximity to people; the desire for contacts with people, the desire and ability to devote oneself to people; the birth and upbringing of children; love and work; satisfaction with personal life. On the other hand, isolation from people; avoidance of people, especially close, intimate relationships with them; character difficulties, promiscuous relationships and unpredictable behavior; non-recognition, isolation and the first symptoms of deviations in the psyche, mental disorders arising under the influence of threatening forces that allegedly exist and operate in the world.

Average adulthood (from 40-45 to 60 years).

At the seventh stage it is: creativity; productive and creative work on oneself and with other people; a mature, full and varied life; satisfaction with family relationships and a sense of pride in their children; education and upbringing of the next generation. On the other hand - stagnation; selfishness and egocentrism; unproductiveness at work; early disability; self-forgiveness and exceptional self-care.

Late adulthood (over 60 years).

In the eighth stage it is: the fullness of life; constant thoughts about the past, its calm, balanced assessment; acceptance of the lived life as it is; feeling of completeness and usefulness of the life lived; the ability to come to terms with the inevitable; understanding that death is not terrible. On the other hand, despair; the feeling that life has been lived in vain, that there is too little time left, that it runs too fast; awareness of the meaninglessness of one's existence, loss of faith in oneself and in other people; the desire to live life anew, the desire to get more out of it than was received; a feeling of lack of order in the world, the presence of an unkind unreasonable beginning in it; fear of approaching death.

At each stage of development, E. Erickson identifies normal and abnormal lines of development. So,

The most significant contribution of E. Erickson to the theory of personal development consists in identifying and describing eight life psychological crises that inevitably occur in every person:

1. Crisis of trust - mistrust (during the first year of life).

2. Autonomy as opposed to doubt and shame (around 2-3 years of age).

3. The emergence of initiative as opposed to guilt (approximately from 3 to 6 years).

4. Diligence as opposed to an inferiority complex (ages 7 to 12).

5. Personal self-determination as opposed to individual dullness and conformity (from 12 to 18 years).

6. Intimacy and sociability as opposed to personal psychological isolation (about 20 years).

7. Concern about raising a new generation as opposed to “immersion in yourself” (between 30 and 60 years).

8. Satisfaction with life lived as opposed to despair (over 60).

The formation of personality in the concept of E. Erickson is understood as a change of stages, at each of which there is a qualitative transformation of the inner world of a person and a radical change in his relationship with other people. As a result of this, he, as a person, acquires something new, characteristic of this particular stage of development and remaining with him (at least in the form of noticeable traces) throughout his life.

The age of a person, like a person as a whole, is the interpenetration of nature and history, biological and social, the convergence of which is expressed in a separate phase of human life and in genetic relationships between phases. Therefore, age-related changes in certain properties of a person are both ontogenetic and biographical; these changes can be used to judge not only individual psychosomatic and socio-psychological shifts, but also their dynamic relationships. In this sense, the age factor, which is mentioned in many studies, is the sum of heterogeneous influences of growth, general somatic, sexual and neuropsychic maturation and other phenomena of organic development, which converges in conditions of education with cultural development as the development of social experience, historically established knowledge and rules. activities.

Erik Erikson was a follower of Freud. He was able to expand psychoanalytic theory and go beyond it by beginning to consider the development of the child in a wider system of social relations.

In the process of education, the values ​​and norms of society are transmitted to children. In societies of the same level of socio-economic development, children acquire dissimilar personality traits through different cultural traditions associated with the main type of occupation and the adopted style of education. E. Erikson watched two tribes in the Indian reservations of the Sioux tribe, who hunted buffalo, and Yurok, who were engaged in fishing and collecting acorns. In the Sioux tribe, children were not swaddled tightly, breast-fed for a long time, they were not careful and did not limit their freedom of action at all. Children, guided by the ideal of a strong and courageous hunter familiar to the tribe, acquired the traits of initiative, determination, courage, generosity towards fellow tribesmen and rigidity towards enemies. In the Yurok tribe, on the contrary, children were weaned early from breast milk, swaddled tightly, taught early to accuracy, were restrained in dealing with them. The children grew up silent, suspicious, stingy and prone to hoarding.

According to E. Erikson, the development of a personality in its content is determined by what society expects from a person, what values ​​and ideals it offers, what tasks it sets for him at different age stages. At the same time, the sequence of stages of a child's development depends on the "biological principle". A child goes through a series of stages in the process of maturation. On each of them, it acquires a certain quality (personal neoplasm), which is fixed in the structure of the personality and persists in subsequent periods of life.

Until the age of 17, there is a slow, gradual development of the central education - the identity of the individual. Identity - psychosocial identity - allows a person to accept himself in all the richness of his relations with the outside world and determines his system of values, ideals, life plans, needs, social roles with appropriate forms of behavior. The personality develops through inclusion in various social communities (nation, social class, professional group, etc.) and experiencing its inextricable connection with them. Identity is a condition of mental health: if it does not develop, a person does not find himself, his place in society, turns out to be "lost".

Until adolescence, when the identity is finally formed, the child goes through a series of identifications - identifying himself with his parents, boys or girls (gender identification) and the like.

An important point in periodization by E. Erickson is the presence of crises - "turning points", moments of choice between progress and regress. Each personality trait that appears at a certain age contains a person's deep attitude to the world and to himself. This attitude can be positive, associated with the progressive development of the personality, and negative, causing negative shifts in development, regression. A child and an adult have to choose one of two polar relationships - trust or distrust in the world, initiative or passivity, competence or inferiority, and so on. When the choice is made and the positive quality is fixed, the opposite pole of the relationship continues to openly exist and can manifest itself much later, when an adult faces serious life failures (Table 3.1).

Table 3.1

First stage of development (oral - sensory)

At the first stage of development (oral-sensory), which corresponds to the period of the baby, there is a trust or distrust in the world. For the progressive development of personality, the child "chooses" a trusting relationship. It manifests itself in light feeding, deep sleep, relaxed internal organs, normal bowel function. A mother's love and tenderness determine the "quantity" of faith and hope brought out of a child's first life experience.

During this period, the child "absorbs" the image of the mother and this is the first stage in the formation of a person's identity.

Second stage (musculo-anal)

The second stage (musculo-anal) corresponds to early childhood. During this period, the child's capabilities sharply increase, he begins to walk and defend his independence. A sense of independence grows, but it is not guilty of destroying her trust in the world. Parents help her to keep, limiting the child's desire to demand, appropriate, destroy when he tests his strength.

The demands and limitations of the parents at the same time create the basis for negative feelings of shame and doubt. The child feels that the "eyes of the world" are watching her with condemnation and tries to make the world not look at her or wants to become invisible. But this is impossible, and the child develops "internal axes of the world" - shame for his mistakes, awkwardness, dirty hands, and the like. If adults set too stringent requirements, the child develops a fear of "losing face", constant alertness, stiffness, and lack of communication. If the child's desire for independence is not suppressed, a correlation is established between the ability to cooperate with other people and insist on one's own, between freedom of expression and its reasonable restriction.

Third stage (locomotor-genital)

The third stage (locomotor-genital) coincides with preschool age. The child actively learns about the world around him, models in the game the relations of adults in everyday life, at work, in other areas of life, quickly learns everything, acquiring new rights and obligations. Initiative is added to independence. In the case of aggressive behavior, the initiative is limited, feelings of guilt and anxiety appear. New internal instances are laid - conscience and moral responsibility for one's actions, thoughts and desires. Excessive disapproval, punishment for minor deeds and mistakes cause a constant feeling of guilt, fear of punishment for secret thoughts, revenge. Initiative is inhibited, passivity develops.

At this stage, gender identification occurs and the child masters a certain form of behavior that is characteristic of a man or woman.

Fourth stage (latent)

The fourth stage (latent) corresponds to the primary school age - the prepubertal period. It is connected with the upbringing of industriousness in children, the need to master new knowledge and skills. Mastering the basics of work and social experience enables the child to gain recognition from others and gain a sense of competence. If there are minor achievements, she experiences her ineptitude, inability, disadvantageous position among her peers and feels like mediocrity. Instead of a sense of competence, there is a sense of inferiority.

During this period, professional identification also appears, a sense of one's own connection with representatives of certain professions.

Fifth stage of development

The fifth stage of personality development refers to adolescence and youth. This is a period of deep crisis. Childhood ends and identity is formed. It combines all the previous identifications of the child, new ones are added to them, since the child, as he grows up, is included in new social groups and acquires other ideas about himself. The task of self-determination, the choice of a life path is solved in adolescence due to the integral identity of the individual, trust in the world, independence, initiative and competence.

In case of an unsuccessful attempt to realize oneself and one's place in the world, identity diffuseness arises. It manifests itself in the desire not to enter adulthood for as long as possible, in a stable state of anxiety, heard isolation and emptiness, as well as in a hostile rejection of social roles that are desirable for the family and the inner circle of a young man (male or female, national, professional, class, etc.). .p), in disregard for the domestic and overestimation of the foreign, etc.

Sixth stage of development

Early maturity (the sixth stage) is associated with the emergence of the problem of intimacy. During this period, true sexuality manifests itself. Close relationships with friends or loved ones require loyalty, self-sacrifice and moral strength. The desire for close relationships is innocently drowned out by the fear of losing one's "I".

This is the period of creating a family, which is accompanied by love. The latter is understood by E. Erikson in the erotic, romantic and moral senses. In marriage, love is manifested in care, respect and responsibility for a life partner. The inability to love, to establish close trusting relationships with other people, the predominance of superficial contacts leads to isolation, a feeling of loneliness.

Seventh stage of personality development

The seventh stage of personality development - maturity or middle age - is extremely long. The attitude of a person to the products of his labor and to his children, concern for the future of mankind becomes leading. A person strives for productivity and creativity, for the realization of his abilities to pass something on to the next generation - his own experience, ideas, works of art, and the like.

The desire to make a contribution to the life of future generations is natural and it is realized, first of all, in relations with children. A mature person has a need to be needed by others.

If productivity is not achieved, if there is no need to take care of other people, indifference appears, self-centeredness, personal life depreciates.

Last stage

The last stage is late maturity, which is integrative: the fruits of all seven previous stages appear. A person understands the life path she has passed and acquires the integrity of the personality. Only now comes wisdom. Children and creative achievements are perceived as an extension of oneself and the fear of death disappears.

Some people do not feel the integrity of their own "I", they are dissatisfied with the life they have lived, they consider it a chain of mistakes and unrealized opportunities. The inability to change something in the past, to start life anew is annoying, one's own shortcomings and failures seem to be the result of unfavorable circumstances, and approaching the last frontier of life causes despair.