Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.
By means of introduction, let us give some information about Erik Erikson that may be useful for us in this work. It must be mentioned that Erikson’s theory of eight stages of human development is considered to be one of the most important impacts on psychoanalysis and psychology on the whole. Erikson is known as Neo-Freudian, but in contrast to Freud, he believes that though the character of a person is formed in his childhood, it is not forever, because the characteristic feature of the character is its ability to change considerably during every next stage. It should be mentioned that Erikson did not deny the essence of psychoanalysis, he used its main postulates building new levels on their basis.
Speaking about Erikson’s work, the eight stages of life that he defines should be mentioned. These stages of psychological development are formed on the basis of three key factors: psychological crisis, significant social relationship, and favorable outcome (McAdams, 2006). Thus, each stage involves a psychological crisis inside a person’s psyche and this crisis is the leading force in the development of a man’s personality: trust versus mistrust, autonomy versus doubt, initiative versus guilt, industry versus inferiority, identity versus diffusion, intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation and integrity versus despair (Weiten et al. 2008, 341).
The last but one conflict is especially interesting for me because I think that
I belong to the seventh stage of Erikson’s classification at the present moment. What is more, I have just entered this stage, because it includes people of 40 to 65 years old. However, I clearly understand that I have successfully completed the previous stage, and this may be proved by the fact that I have chosen my soul mate already and I am a married person. Besides, I have managed to establish a friendly relationship with many people, so, isolation is not a threat for me.
The main question that is posed at the seventh stage may be defined in the following way: Am I satisfied with my present accomplishments? Have I done everything I could for the next generation? Have I done anything useful for society? The word “generativity” in this case refers, first of all, to the next generation. The primary goal of a person at this stage is to give birth to children and to provide them with suitable conditions for their future life. As for me, I am sure that I have accomplished at least the first part of the task: I have children and so far, I am rather successful in their upbringing. My children have everything they need for their mental and physical development and for their becoming developed personalities. The atmosphere in our family is healthy if we have any problems we solve them together. Besides, at this stage a person should be socially active: that means that he/ she should establish the career, be productive at work and see the positive results of the work. I feel that I satisfy the requirements of this stage, as I am successful at my work, and I have healthy and friendly relationship of cooperation with my colleagues. In addition, the stage under consideration concerns social life. I personally feel that I am a cell of society, that my opinion and my existence are important for it. That is why I feel that I have to be socially active, take part in community activities.
Those people, who fail to resolve the main conflict of the stage, become stagnant. They suffer, because they feel that they are unproductive, if they have neither children nor career. They understand that they have lived the half of their life already and it is high time to observe some results, but they have none. I definitely do not belong to such people and the only thing I can advise them is to summon their strength and to start doing something useful.
As an example of a person belonging to the other stage, I have decided to choose a neighbor of mine, Ms. Lizock, a woman of eighty, who evidently belongs to the last stage – old age. She is lonely, she has neither family nor friends. Ms. Lizock never had experience of married life and she has no children. The main questions she has to answer are the following: Have I lived my life successfully? Have I managed to achieve everything I wanted? Unfortunately, Ms. Lizock cannot answer these questions in the affirmative, because despair is the result of reflection on her life. She suffers, because she feels that her life is wasted and she cannot face death with calm conscience. The present situation is the result of Ms. Lizock’s failure to resolve the conflict of some previous stage, because she failed in finding friends, husband and good job.
Unfortunately, it is too late to help my neighbor, but her example may be useful for other people for them not to understand that they have wasted their lives when it is too late already. Thus, we have proved that Erikson’s theory is reasonable and may help people resolve the major conflicts of life. This theory may be useful for everyone, because it makes people think about their achievements and plan their future.
Reference List
McAdams, D. (2006). The person: A new introduction to personality psychology. (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Son
Weiten, W., Lloyd, M.A., Dunn, D.S., and Hammer E. (2008). Psychology Applied to Modern Life: Adjustment in the 21st Century. NY: Cengage Learning.
Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.