Erik Erikson formulated a theory of psychosocial development that posited that development is organized around eight age-graded developmental tasks. At each age, infants, children, adolescents, and adults, negotiate target developmental tasks that are specific to that period of development. When the target task is negotiated successfully, it creates a foundation for future healthy development and provides a basis for the successful negotiation of future developmental tasks. When a task is not well resolved, this makes continued healthy development more difficult. The development of a healthy personality and a sense of competence depend on the successful completion of each task.

Erikson believed that we are aware of what motivates us throughout life. We make conscious choices in life, and these choices focus on meeting certain social and cultural needs rather than purely biological ones. Humans are motivated, for instance, by the need to feel that the world is a trustworthy place, that we are capable individuals, that we can make a contribution to society, and that we have lived a meaningful life. These are all psychosocial problems.

Erikson described eight stages, each with a major psychosocial task to accomplish or crisis to overcome. Erikson believed that our personality continues to take shape throughout our life span as we face these challenges.  Here is an overview of each stage:

Table 19.1: Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development

Infancy: Trust vs. Mistrust

The developmental task of infancy is trust vs. mistrust, and it is negotiated in the establishment of a secure attachment relationship with the caregiver. Erikson maintained that during the first year to year and a half of life the most important goal is the development of a basic sense of trust in one’s caregivers (Erikson, 1982). Infants are dependent and must rely on others to meet their basic physical and psychological needs. A caregiver who consistently meets these needs instills a sense of trust or the belief that the world is a trustworthy place. Caregivers should not worry about overly indulging an infant’s need for comfort, contact, or stimulation. Caregiver responsiveness communicates to infants that their needs will be taken care of, and so is essential in supporting the development of a sense of trust.

Problems establishing trust

Erikson (1982) believed that basic mistrust could interfere with many aspects of psychosocial development and make it more difficult to build love and fellowship with others. Consider the implications for establishing trust if a caregiver is unavailable or is upset and ill-prepared to care for a child. Or if a child is born prematurely, is unwanted, or has physical problems that make him or her less attractive to a parent. Under these circumstances, we cannot assume that the parent is going to care for the child in ways that support the development of trust. As you will read later, it is possible to rework mental models of insecure early relationships, but close and caring relationships with primary caregivers make it much easier for infants to negotiate this first developmental task.

Toddlerhood: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

As the child begins to walk and talk, an interest in independence or autonomy replaces a concern for trust. If infants have built a secure attachment with caregivers, they can use that secure base to explore the world and establish themselves as independent persons, with their own goals and interests. It is the job of the toddler to exert his or her will, and to test the limits of what can be touched, said, and explored. Erikson (1982) believed that toddlers should be encouraged to explore their environments as freely as safety allows, and in so doing develop a sense of independence that will later grow to support self-esteem, initiative, and confidence. If a caregiver is overly anxious about the toddler’s actions for fear that the child will get hurt or is overly critical and controlling about the mistakes they make, the child will get the message that he or she should be ashamed of who they are and instill a sense of doubt in their capacities. Parenting advice based on these ideas would be to keep toddlers safe but to validate their desires for exploration and independence, and to encourage them to learn by doing.

Early Childhood: Initiative vs. Guilt

The trust and autonomy of previous stages develop into a desire to take initiative or to think of ideas and initiate action (Erikson, 1982). Once children reach the preschool stage (ages 3–6 years), they are capable of initiating activities and asserting control over their world through social interactions and play. By learning to plan and achieve goals while interacting with others, preschool children can master this task. Children may want to build a fort with the cushions from the living room couch or open a lemonade stand in the driveway or make a zoo with their stuffed animals and issue tickets to those who want to come. Or they may just want to get themselves ready for bed without any assistance. Initiative, a sense of ambition and responsibility, occurs when parents allow a child to explore within limits and then support the child’s choice. To reinforce taking initiative, caregivers should offer praise for the child’s efforts and avoid being critical of messes or mistakes. Placing pictures of drawings on the refrigerator, purchasing mud pies for dinner, and admiring towers of legos will facilitate the child’s sense of initiative. These children will develop self-confidence and feel a sense of purpose. Those who are unsuccessful at this stage—with their initiative misfiring or stifled by over-controlling parents—may develop feelings of inadequacy and guilt.

Middle Childhood: Industry vs. Inferiority

According to Erikson, children in middle and late childhood are very busy or industrious (Erikson, 1982). They are constantly doing, planning, playing, getting together with friends, and achieving. This is a very active time, and a time when they are gaining a sense of how they measure up when compared with peers. Erikson believed that if these industrious children can be successful in their endeavors, they will get a sense of confidence for future challenges. If instead, a child feels that they are not measuring up to their peers, feelings of inferiority and self-doubt will develop. These feelings of inferiority can, according to Erikson, lead to an inferiority complex that lasts into adulthood. To help children successfully negotiate this stage, they should be encouraged to explore their abilities. They should be given authentic feedback as well. Failure is not necessarily a horrible thing according to Erikson. Indeed, failure is a type of feedback which may help a child form a sense of modesty. A balance of competence and modesty is ideal for creating a sense of competence in the child.

Adolescence: Identity vs. Role Confusion

Erikson believed that the primary psychosocial task of adolescence was establishing an identity. As formal operational thinking unfolds, bringing with it adolescent self-consciousness and the ability to reflect on one’s own attributes and behaviors, teens often struggle with the question “Who am I?” This includes questions regarding their appearance, vocational choices and career aspirations, education, relationships, sexuality, political and social views, personality, and interests. Erikson saw this as a period of uncertainty, confusion, exploration, experimentation, and learning regarding identity and one’s life path. Erikson suggested that most adolescents experience psychological moratorium, where teens put on hold commitment to an identity while exploring their options. The culmination of this exploration is a more coherent view of oneself. Those who are unsuccessful at resolving this stage may either withdraw further into social isolation or become lost in the crowd. However, more recent research, suggests that few leave the adolescent period with identity achievement, and that for most of us the process of identity formation continues all during the years of emerging and young adulthood (Côtè, 2006).

Early Adulthood: Intimacy vs. Isolation

Erikson’s (1950, 1968) sixth stage of psychosocial development focuses on establishing intimate relationships or risking social isolation. Intimate relationships are more difficult if one is still struggling with identity. Achieving a sense of identity is a life-long process, as there are periods of identity crisis and stability. Once a sense of identity is established, young adults’ focus often turns to intimate relationships. The word “intimacy” is often used to describe romantic or sexual relationships, but it also refers to the closeness, caring, and personal disclosure that can be found in many other types of relationships as well– and, of course, it is possible to have sexual relationships that do not include psychological intimacy or closeness. The need for intimacy can be met in many ways, including with friendships, familial relationships, and romantic relationships.

Middle Adulthood: Generativity vs. Stagnation

According to Erikson (1950, 1982) generativity encompasses procreativity, productivity, creativity, and legacy. This stage includes the generation of new beings, new ideas or creations, and lasting contributions, as well as self-generation concerned with further identity development. Erikson believed that the stage of generativity, which lasts from the 40s to the 60s, during which one established a family and career, was the longest of all the stages. Individuals at midlife are primarily concerned with leaving a positive legacy of themselves, and parenthood is the primary generative type. Erikson understood that work and family relationships may be in conflict due to the obligations and responsibilities of each, but he believed it was overall a positive developmental time. In addition to being parents and working, Erikson also described individuals as being involved in the community during this stage, for example, providing mentoring, coaching, community service, or taking leadership in church or other community organizations. A sense of stagnation occurs when one is not active in generative matters, however, stagnation can motive a person to redirect energies into more meaningful activities.

Erikson identified “virtues” for each of his eight stages, and the virtue emerging when one achieves generativity is “care”. Erikson believed that those in middle adulthood should “take care of the persons, the products, and the ideas one has learned to care for” (Erikson, 1982, p. 67). Further, Erikson believed that the strengths gained from the six earlier stages are essential for the generational task of cultivating strength in the next generation. Erikson further argued that generativity occurred best after the individual had resolved issues of identity and intimacy (Peterson & Duncan, 2007).

Research has demonstrated that generative adults possess many positive characteristics, including good cultural knowledge and healthy adaptation to the world (Peterson & Duncan, 2007). Using the Big 5 personality traits, generative women and men scored high on conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, and low on neuroticism (de St. Aubin & McAdams, 1995; Peterson, Smirles, & Wentworth, 1997). Additionally, women scoring higher on generativity at age 52, were rated higher in positive personality characteristics, reported higher satisfaction with marriage and motherhood, and showed more successful aging at age 62 (Peterson & Duncan, 2007). Similarly, men rated higher on generativity at midlife also showed stronger global cognitive functioning (e.g., memory, attention, calculation), stronger executive functioning (e.g., response inhibition, abstract thinking, cognitive flexibility), and lower levels of depression in late adulthood (Malone, Liu, Vaillant, Rentz, & Waldinger, 2016).

Erikson (1982) indicated that at the end of this demanding stage, individuals may withdraw as generativity is no longer expected in late adulthood. This releases elders from the task of caretaking or working. However, not feeling needed or challenged may result in stagnation, and consequently one should not fully withdraw from generative tasks as they enter Erikson’s last stage in late adulthood. People in late adulthood continue to be productive in many ways. These include work, education, volunteering, family life, and intimate relationships. Older adults also experience generativity through voting, forming and helping social institutions like community centers, churches and schools. Thinking of the issue of legacy, psychoanalyst Erik Erikson wrote “I am what survives me” (Havey, 2015).

Late Adulthood: Integrity vs. Despair

In terms of psychosocial development, the tasks of adulthood were about becoming the self that you want to become (i.e., Identity) and creating the life you want to live, including establishing or maintaining the close interpersonal relationships that will be crucial to your physical and psychological health and well -being (i.e., Intimacy). The value of that life project is negotiated during middle adulthood in the search for meaning and a purpose larger than yourself that will contribute to your legacy (i.e., generativity). So in old age, this final task basically comes down to whether you have built a life and constructed a self that is sufficient to withstand the disintegration of your physical body, the death of many of those you love, and eventually and inevitably, strong enough to face your own impending death with dignity and grace.

Like all psychosocial tasks, this one has two potential resolutions: Integrity, or a sense of self-acceptance, contentment with life and imminent death versus despair, or a lack of fulfillment or peace and the inability to come to terms with life, aging, and approaching death. Development during elderhood, as during all developmental periods, is a bio-psycho-social process that takes place in specific societal and historical contexts. But this task, at the end of life, offers offers us the prospect of lifting off of those geographical, societal, and temporal limitations. We have the potential to transcend them, to establish a sense of wholeness and acceptance by getting in touch with our universal connection to humanity, past, present, and future. Like birth, death is a journey that every single one of us will take.

Erikson’s Ninth Stage of Psychosocial Development

Erikson collaborated with his wife, Joan, throughout much of his work on psychosocial development. In the Eriksons’ older years, they re-examined the eight stages and generated additional ideas about how development evolves during a person’s 80s and 90s. After Erik Erikson passed away in 1994, Joan published a chapter on the ninth stage of development, in which she proposed (from her own experiences and Erikson’s notes) that older adults revisit the previous eight stages and deal with the previous conflicts in new ways, as they cope with the physical and social changes of growing old. In the first eight stages, all of the conflicts are presented in a syntonic-dystonic matter, meaning that the first term listed in the conflict is the positive, sought-after achievement and the second term is the less-desirable goal (i.e., trust is more desirable than mistrust and integrity is more desirable than despair) (Perry et al., 2015).

During the ninth stage, the Erikson’s argue that the dystonic, or less desirable outcome, come to take precedence again. For example, an older adult may become mistrustful (trust vs. mistrust), feel more guilt about not having the abilities to do what they once did (initiative vs. guilt), feel less competent compared with others (industry vs. inferiority), lose a sense of identity as they become dependent on others (identity vs. role confusion), become increasingly isolated (intimacy vs. isolation), and feel that they have less to offer society (generativity vs. stagnation) (Gusky, 2012). The Eriksons found that those who successfully come to terms with these changes and adjustments in later life make headway towards gerotranscendence, a term coined by gerontologist Lars Tornstam to represent a greater awareness of one’s own life and connection to the universe, increased ties to the past, and a positive, transcendent, perspective about life.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Erikson’s Theory

Erikson’s eight stages form a foundation for discussions on emotional and social development during the lifespan. Keep in mind, however, that these stages or crises can occur more than once or at different times of life. For instance, a person may struggle with a lack of trust beyond infancy. Erikson’s theory has been criticized for focusing so heavily on stages and assuming that the completion of one stage is a prerequisite for the next crisis of development. His theory also focuses on the social expectations that are found in certain cultures, but not in all. For instance, the idea that adolescence is a time of searching for identity might translate well in the middle-class culture of the United States, but not as well in cultures where the transition into adulthood coincides with puberty through rites of passage and where adult roles offer fewer choices.

By and large, Erikson’s view that development continues throughout the lifespan is very significant and has received great recognition. However, it has been criticized for focusing on more men than women and also for its vagueness, making it difficult to test rigorously.