Critically Evaluate Erikson

’s Psychosocial Theory Essay, Research Paper

Erik Erickson is possibly the best known of Sigmunds Freud’s many followers. He

grew up in Europe and spent his young adult life under the direction of Freud. In 1933

when Hitler rose to power in Germany, Erikson emigrated to the United States and

began teaching at Harvard University. His clinical work and studies were based on

children, college students, victims of combat fatigue during World War two, civil

rights workers, and American Indians. It was these studies which led Erikson to

believe that Freud misjudged some important dimensions of human development.

Throughout this essay, Erikson’s psychosocial model will be explored,

discussed and evaluated interms of it’s concepts, theories and assumptions. The

theoretical underpinning will be discussed with reference to the nature versus nurture

debate and also the continuity versus discontinuity argument. It will then be shown

how Erikson has influenced the way psychologists view the importance of identity

during adolescents. Firstly, however, Erikson’s work will be put alongside that of

Freud’s to establish an understanding of the basis from which it came.

Erikson’s psychosocial model was heavily influenced by Freud, and shares a

number of central ideas. For example, both Freud and Erikson agree that every

individual is born with a number of basic instincts, that development occurs through

stages, and that the order of these stages is influenced by biological maturation

(Sigelman, and Shaffer 1992). Erikson also believes, as did Freud, that personality has

three components: the id, the ego, and the superego. Therefore it is fair to say that

Erikson is a psychoanalytic theorist.

However, Erikson does argue that social and cultural influences have a critical

role in shaping human development, and less significance should be placed on the role

of sexual urges. Freud did note however, that social agents such as parents should be

regarded as important, but it is Erikson who highlights the forces within a much

broader social environment, including peers, teachers and schools which are highly

important according to Erikson. Erikson, then, moves more towards the ‘nurture’ side

of the nature – nurture debate than did Freud, viewing nurture as equally important in

development. This ‘nurture’ outlook highlights the emphasis on environmental forces

within Erikson’s model. Experiences in life, changes achieved through learning, the

influence of methods of child rearing, societal changes and culture all have an

exceptionally important role on human development according to Erickson.

In addition, Erikson’s theory encompasses the whole of the human life-span,

outlining the stages that occur, which will be looked at more closely later on. Erikson

also regards the individual as having responsibility during each stage of development

and that they also have the opportunity to achieve a positive and healthy resolution to

the ‘crisis’ experienced. Erikson, therefore, puts less emphasis on the id and instead

places more emphasis on the ego. In his view, human beings are rational creatures

who’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are largely controlled by the ego and it is the

ego’s development in which he is interested in.

Before we go any further it is important to look at Erikson’s psychosocial

model in more detail in order to understand the following evaluation.

Erikson’s model consists of eight stage of development, with each stage

unfolding as the individual goes through the life cycle. Each stage consists of a ‘crisis’

that must be confronted. The term epigenetic principle was used by Erikson to describe

the process that guides development through the life cycle. Within this it is urged that

everything that grows has a blue print, each having a special time of ascendancy, until

all of the parts have arisen to form a ‘functional whole’ (Siglemann and Shaffer 1992).

It has been attained that Erikson’s psychosocial model consists of eight stages

of development which continue thoughout the life-span of an individual. This idea of

‘discontinuity’ suggests that development occurs via a series of abrupt changes that

develop from one stage to another. Presumably Erikson believes that an individual

experiences a rapid period of change and reorganisation before being elevated to a new

and more advanced stage of development. Continuity theorists however, would argue

that human development is a process that occurs in small steps, without sudden

change. Physical growth and language development, for example, show smooth,

gradual and continuous growth. But Erikson does not totally rule out this argument.

He suggests that experiences in the early stages have a bearing on the experiences in

the later stages, this indicates that earlier and later development are connected in such

away as to suggest continuity. Erikson also stresses the importance o

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