PERIODIZATION OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT ACCORDING TO E. ERICKSON
Eric Ericson- a follower of Z. Freud, who expanded psychoanalytic theory. He was able to go beyond it due to the fact that he began to consider the development of the child in a broader system of social relations.
The peculiarities of personality formation 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 finds. A child living in New York in the middle of the 20th century develops differently from a little Indian on a reservation, where old cultural traditions are fully preserved and time seems to have stood still.
The values and norms of society are passed on to children during their upbringing. 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 activity and adopted parenting styles. In different Indian reservations, E. Erikson observed two tribes - the Sioux, former buffalo hunters, and the Yurok - fishermen and acorn gatherers. In the Sioux tribe, children are not swaddled tightly, fed breast milk for a long time, are not strictly monitored for neatness, and generally have little restriction on their freedom of action. Children are guided by the historically established ideal of their tribe - a strong and brave hunter in the endless prairies - and acquire such traits as initiative, determination, courage, generosity in relations with fellow tribesmen and cruelty in relation to enemies. In the Yurok tribe, on the contrary, children are weaned early, swaddled tightly, taught to be neat early, and are restrained in communicating with them. They grow up silent, suspicious, stingy, and 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 it sets for him at different age stages. But the sequence of stages of child development depends on the biological origin. As a child matures, it necessarily goes through a number of successive stages. At each stage, it acquires a certain quality (personal new formation), which is fixed in the personality structure and preserved in subsequent periods of life.
Until the age of 17-20, there is a slow, gradual formation of the main nuclear formation - personal identity. A 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 relationships with the outside world and determines his system of values, ideals, life plans, needs, social roles with corresponding forms of behavior. Identity is a condition of mental health: if it does not work out, a person does not find himself, his place in society, and finds himself “lost.”
Identity is formed in adolescence; it is a characteristic of a fairly mature personality. Until this 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 the parents, and then the wider social environment, introduce him to their social community, group, and convey to the child the worldview characteristic of it.
Another important moment for personal development 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 relationship to the world and to himself. This attitude can be positive, associated with the progressive development of the individual, and negative, causing negative changes in development, its regression. A child and then an adult have to choose one of two polar relationships - trust or distrust in the world, initiative or passivity, competence or inferiority, etc. When the choice is made and the corresponding personality quality is fixed, say positive, the opposite pole of the attitude continues to exist openly and can appear much later, when an adult faces a serious failure in life.
Table 1.4
Stages of personality development according to E. Erikson
|
Stage of development |
Area of social relations |
Polar personality traits |
The result of progressive development |
|
1. Infancy (0-1) |
Mother or her substitute |
Trust in the world - distrust in the world |
Energy and joy of life |
|
2. Early childhood (1-3) |
Parents |
Independence - shame, doubts |
Independence |
|
3. Childhood (3-6) |
Parents, brothers and sisters |
Initiative - passivity, guilt |
Determination |
|
4. School age (6-12) |
School, neighbors |
Competence - inferiority |
Mastery of knowledge and skills |
|
5. Adolescence and youth (12-20) |
Peer groups |
Personal identity - non-recognition |
Self-determination, devotion and fidelity |
|
6. Early maturity (20-25) |
Friends, loved ones |
Intimacy - isolation |
Cooperation, love |
|
7. Middle age (25-65) |
Profession, home |
Productivity is stagnant |
Creativity and worries |
|
8. Late maturity (after 65) |
Humanity, neighbors |
Personal integrity - despair |
Wisdom |
At the first stage of development (oral-sensory), corresponding to infancy, trust or distrust in the world. With the progressive development of personality, the child “chooses” a trusting relationship. It manifests itself in easy feeding, deep sleep, relaxed internal organs, and normal bowel function. A child who trusts the world that surrounds him tolerates the disappearance of his mother from his field of vision without much anxiety or anger: he is confident 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, but “nutrition” from the mother is also connected with the world of shapes, colors, sounds, caresses, smiles. Maternal love and tenderness determines the “amount” of faith and hope derived from the child’s first life experience.
At this time, the child seems to “absorb” the image of the mother (the mechanism of introjection arises). This is the first stage in the formation of the identity of a developing personality.
The second stage (muscular-anal) corresponds to an early age. The child’s capabilities increase sharply; he begins to walk and assert his independence. But the growing feeling independence should not undermine the previously established trust in the world. Parents help preserve it by limiting the child’s desires to demand, appropriate, and destroy when he tests his strength.
Parents' demands and restrictions 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 force the world not to 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 severe demands, often reproach and punish the child, he or she develops a fear of “losing face,” constant wariness, constraint, and unsociability. If the child's desire for independence is not suppressed, a relationship is established between the ability to cooperate with other people and insist on one's own, between freedom of expression and its reasonable limitation.
At the third stage (locomotor-genital), coinciding with preschool age, the child actively learns about the world around him, models in play 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. Added to independence initiative.
When a child’s behavior becomes aggressive, initiative is limited, feelings of guilt and anxiety appear; In this way, new internal authorities are laid - conscience and moral responsibility for one’s actions, thoughts and desires. Adults should not overload a child's conscience. Excessive disapproval, punishment for minor offenses and mistakes cause a constant feeling of entitlement. guilt, fear of punishment for secret thoughts, vindictiveness. Initiative slows down, develops passivity.
At this age stage there is gender identity and the child masters a certain form of behavior, male or female.
Junior school age - pre-pubertal, i.e. preceding the child's puberty. At this time, the fourth stage (latent) is unfolding, associated with instilling hard work in children and the need to master new knowledge and skills. The school becomes for them a “culture in itself,” with its own special goals, achievements and disappointments. Comprehending the basics of work and social experience allows the child to gain recognition from others and acquire a sense of competence. If the achievements are small, he is acutely aware of his ineptitude, inability, disadvantageous position among his peers and feels doomed to be mediocre. Instead of a feeling of competence, a feeling of inferiority is formed.
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 big stage of life's journey, when completed, leads to the formation identity. It combines and transforms all previous identifications of the child; new ones are added to them, as the child, who has matured and changed in appearance, is included in new social groups and acquires different ideas about himself. Holistic personal identity, trust in the world, independence, initiative and competence allow a young man to solve the main task that society sets for him - the task of self-determination in choosing a life path.
When it is not possible to realize oneself and one’s place in the world, one observes diffuse identity. It is associated with the infantile desire to avoid engaging in sexual activity for as long as possible.
adult life, with a vague, persistent state of anxiety, a feeling of isolation and emptiness. A diffuse identity can manifest itself in a hostile rejection of social roles desirable for the family and immediate environment of a young man (male or female, national, professional, class, etc.), in contempt for everything domestic and an overestimation of the foreign, in the desire to “become nothing” ( if this is the only remaining way of self-affirmation).
In early adulthood, at the sixth stage, an adult faces a problem proximity(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 establishing 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 to start a family. It brings love, understood by E. Zrikson in the erotic, romantic and moral sense. In marriage, love is manifested in care, respect and responsibility for your life partner.
The inability to love, to establish close, trusting relationships with other people, and a preference for superficial contacts leads to isolation and a feeling of loneliness.
Maturity, or average age, - the seventh stage of personality development, unusually long. Decisive here is “a person’s attitude towards the products of his labor and towards his offspring”, concern for the future of humanity. Man strives for productivity and creativity, to realize their opportunities to pass on something to the next generation - their own experience, ideas, created works of art, etc.
The desire to contribute to the lives of future generations is natural; at this age it is realized, first of all, in relationships with children. E. Erikson 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 care about other people, affairs or ideas, indifference, self-focus appears. Anyone who pampers himself like a child comes to stagnation and 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 accepts the path of life he has traversed as due and gains integrity of the individual.
Only now does wisdom emerge. Looking 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 border of life causes despair.
The theory of E. Erikson (1902-1994) - arose as a result of a generalization of experience in the clinic, based on his comparative studies of the characteristics of the development and upbringing of children in different periods. Erikson's theory is narrower, because it considers only the development of personality, like James, the development of the human ego. Erikson's theory covers the entire life of a person, and not just the time interval before adolescence. I was interested in the problem of normal and abnormal personality development. The theory tries to solve this problem too.
Like Elkonin's theory, Erikson's theory is very practical. It contains direct instructions on how a person should develop normally in ontogenesis.
Erikson identifies 8 stages of personality development, or, what is the same, 8 developments of the human self. The main specificity of these stages is that at each of them a person has opportunities to acquire as a person certain qualities that a person needs for his normal development. And if at each of these stages, a person manages to realize these possibilities (acquire all these qualities) and if in the future the person does not lose these qualities, but develops them, then we can say that the personality is developing normally. If these possibilities are not realized either at the appropriate stages or in the future, then with t.z. Erikson's personality will develop abnormally. Whether these qualities will be acquired depends on many factors. That. a person at each of these 8 stages of development is faced with an objectively existing problem, namely the problem of his personality acquiring certain qualities. And the solution to this problem determines in which direction the development of personality will go - normal or abnormal.
Erikson's stages:
1. Period from birth to 1 year (infancy) – basic trust vs basic mistrust. During this period, the normal development of the child’s personality involves the formation of basic trust. Basic trust is the child’s general attitude towards life, which is characterized by the fact that he accepts his life, has a positive attitude towards his life, is interested in living, etc. The most important factor in this regard is the attitude of the parents. If they satisfy the child’s immediate needs and treat him normally, then this contributes to the formation of basic trust. This feeling depends not only on the attitude of others, but also on the internal characteristics of the child. If he is often sick, is often in a depressed state - all this, of course, does not contribute to the formation of trust.
Stage 2: 1-3 years (early childhood) autonomy versus shame and doubt. It is normal for it to begin to develop independence. Gaining confidence in your actions without adult support. Parents should encourage their child's independence in every possible way. If you limit, then dependence on adults begins to form. The main manifestations of this dependence are increased shyness and indecisiveness. Shyness– one of the manifestations of dependence on the opinions and assessments of others. If it is necessary to take independent actions, the child does not rely on himself, but on how his behavior will look in the eyes of others. Indecisiveness- the flip side of confidence in what he can do without help.
Stage 3 3-6 years (preschool age) – initiative against guilt. Initiative– manifestation of activity in setting goals and achieving them. Children have many initiatives; they themselves strive to learn something, strive to communicate, make new acquaintances, and come up with activities and games for themselves. Parents should encourage initiative in their children. The very facts of its manifestation. The results of children’s initiative activities cannot be particularly successful, and if adults are overly critical of this, then children develop a delay in initiative and develop guilt as a reaction of a negative assessment of adults to an unsuccessful manifestation of initiative.
Stage 4 6-12 years (ml school age) – hard work versus feelings of inferiority. Forming a child’s desire to work. The child realizes that hard work, perseverance, diligence, accuracy - these qualities are valuable and desirable for himself and society. If this is not the case, then the child experiences failures in his work life and those around him begin to treat him as a loser, incapable, which leads to a decrease in the child’s self-esteem. This contributes to the formation of a stable feelings of inferiority
Stage 5 12-19 years (adolescence, adolescence) - identity versus role confusion. A transitional age during which a person’s lifestyle must change from childhood to adulthood. The child must become a full-fledged member of society and begin to perform some functions in it. This transition rebuilds the entire personality of the teenager; a new personality must be formed that meets the requirements of society. What is important in this personal restructuring is a new understanding of oneself and one’s social roles. These ideas should contain answers to questions about myself - what kind of person I am, my values, ideals, interests, who I want to be, what kind of person I am, how to behave. If, as a result of the formation of a new personality, a teenager develops new ideas about himself that coincide with other people’s ideas about him, the teenager’s self acquires a new identity, instead of the one that was before. Identity- (1) - the individual’s direct perception of his ongoing self-identity (oh, fuck! Leontiefism has begun again!) i.e. I am me, and the qualities of my personality remain with me regardless of the situation. (2) Other people also see this ongoing self-identity. If this period drags on and a new identity has not been formed, then a feeling of confusion arises - role mixing, delay in identity formation.
Stage 6 20-25 years – intimacy vs isolation. Normal personality development of an adult presupposes the establishment of close relationships with other people (after a radical restructuring). A person’s desire and readiness to devote himself or part of himself to someone else, to empathize, care, bear responsibility, sacrifice interests, and remain faithful to him. A condition for the formation of close relationships, among other things, is the formation of a family. If it is not possible to establish these relationships, the comfort of loneliness arises, insulation.
Stage 7 (middle maturity) 26-64 years – generativity versus stagnation. During this period, a person needs to decide on the general direction of his life. Main focus – generativity– productive activity, work aimed at the benefit of other people and society as a whole. For example, a person seeks to pass on his experience and knowledge to the younger generation. The anomaly here is manifested in the focus only on oneself and one’s well-being - this stagnation(stagnation)
Stage 8 65-to death – integrity I am against despair. The final stage at which it is impossible for a person to change his life. All that remains is to pay for the path he has already taken. If at each of the previous stages there was normal development of personality, then the human self acquires the quality integrity. Integrity– feeling of self, satisfaction with life lived, life was successful and had meaning. Such people have no fear of death. They don't want to live their lives differently. With abnormal development, a person experiences despair because of a poorly lived life. Such people have an expressed fear of death.
Erikson's age periodization is a doctrine of psychosocial personality development, developed by a German-American psychologist. In it he describes 8 stages, focusing on the development of the “I-individual”. In his theory, he paid great attention to the concept of Ego. While Freud's theory of development was limited to childhood, Erikson believed that personality continues to develop throughout life. Moreover, each stage of this development is marked by a specific conflict, only with a favorable resolution of which does a transition to a new stage occur.
Erickson table
Erikson reduces the age periodization to a table in which he designates the stages, the age at which they begin, virtues, favorable and unfavorable exit from the crisis, basic antipathies, and a list of significant relationships.
Separately, the psychologist notes that any personality traits cannot be interpreted as good or bad. At the same time, strengths are highlighted in Erikson’s age periodization, which he calls qualities that help a person solve the tasks assigned to him. The weak include those who interfere with him. When a person acquires weak qualities following the results of the next period of development, making the next choice becomes much more difficult for him, but still possible.
| Strengths | Weak sides | Meaningful Relationships |
||
| Infancy | Basic trust | Basic mistrust | Mother's personality |
|
| Autonomy | Doubt, shame | Parents |
||
| Preschool age | Entrepreneurship, initiative | Guilt | ||
| Hard work | Inferiority | School, neighbors |
||
| Identity | Role confusion | Different leadership models, peer group |
||
| Youth, early adulthood | Intimacy | Insulation | Sex partners, friends, cooperation, competition |
|
| Maturity | Performance | Housekeeping and division of labor |
||
| Old age | after 65 years | Integration, integrity | Hopelessness, despair | "Your circle", humanity |
Biography of the scientist
Erik Homburger Erikson was born in Germany in 1902. As a child, he received a classical Jewish upbringing: his family ate only kosher food, regularly attended synagogue, and celebrated all religious holidays. The problem of identity crisis that interested him was directly related to his life experience. His mother hid the secret of his origin from him (he grew up in a family with a stepfather). He appeared due to his mother’s extramarital affair with a Danish man of Jewish origin, about whom there is practically no information. It is only known that his last name was Erickson. Officially, she was married to Valdemar Salomonsen, who worked as a stockbroker.
At Jewish school he was constantly teased for his Nordic appearance, since his biological father was Danish. At public school he was punished for his Jewish faith.
In 1930, he married a Canadian dancer, Joanne Serson, with whom he emigrated to the United States three years later. In his work in America, he contrasted Freud's theory, in which psychological development of the individual was divided into only five stages, with his own scheme with eight stages, adding three stages of adulthood.
It was also Erikson who came up with the concept of ego psychology. According to the scientist, it is our Ego that is responsible for the organization of life, healthy personal growth, harmony with the social and physical environment, becoming the source of our own identity.
In the USA in the 1950s, he became a victim of McCarthyism, as he was suspected of having connections with the communists. He left Berkeley University when he was required to sign a loyalty oath. After that he worked at Harvard and a clinic in Massachusetts. In 1970 he received the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction for his book Gandhi's Truth.
The scientist died in Massachusetts in 1994 at the age of 91.
Infancy
The very first stage in E. Erikson’s age periodization is infancy. It continues from the birth of a person until the first year of his life. It is here that the foundations of a healthy personality emerge and a sincere sense of trust appears.
Erikson's age periodization notes that if an infant develops this fundamental sense of basic trust, then he begins to perceive his environment as predictable and reliable, which is very important. At the same time, he is able to endure the absence of his mother without excessive anxiety and suffering about separating himself from her. The main ritual at this stage of its development in E. Erikson’s age periodization is mutual recognition. It lasts for life, determining relationships with others.
Notably, methods for teaching suspicion and trust vary across cultures. At the same time, the method remains universal, as a result of which a person trusts others, depending on how he treated his mother. A feeling of fear, mistrust and suspicion arises if the mother is suspicious, rejects the child, showing her inadequacy.
During this period of Erikson's age periodization, the initial positive quality for the development of our Ego is formed. This is a belief in the best, based on an attitude towards the cultural environment. It is acquired in case of successful resolution of a conflict based on trust or mistrust.
Early childhood
Early childhood is the second stage of Erikson's periodization of age-related development, which develops from one to three years. It can be exactly correlated with the anal phase in Freud's theory. The ongoing biological maturation provides the basis for the child to demonstrate independence in a variety of areas - movement, eating, the process of dressing. In his periodization of age-related development, E. Erikson noted that a clash with the norms and demands of society occurs not only at the stage of potty training. Parents should expand and encourage the child’s independence and develop his sense of self-control. Reasonable permission contributes to the formation of his autonomy.
Critical ritualization becomes important at this stage, which is based on specific examples of evil and good, bad and good, prohibited and permitted, ugly and beautiful. With the successful development of the situation, a person develops self-control and will, and with a negative outcome, weakness of will.
Preschool age
The next stage in Erikson's periodization of age development is preschool age, which he also calls the age of play. From three to six years old, children are actively interested in all kinds of work activities, try something new, and establish contact with peers. At this time, the social world insists that the child behave actively; acquiring the skills to solve certain problems becomes important. A fundamentally new responsibility arises for pets, younger children in the family, and oneself.
The initiative that appears at this age is associated with enterprise; the child begins to experience the joy of independent actions and movements. Easily amenable to education and training, willingly makes contact with other people, and is focused on a specific goal.
According to Erik Erikson’s age periodization, at this stage a person develops a Superego and a new form of self-restraint appears. Parents are advised to recognize his rights to imagination and curiosity, and independent endeavors. This should develop his creative abilities, the boundaries of independence.
If children are instead overcome with guilt, they will not be able to be productive in the future.
School age
Giving a brief description of Erikson's age periodization, we will dwell on each of the stages. Stage 4 develops between the ages of six and twelve years. Here a confrontation with father or mother (depending on gender) already appears; the child goes beyond the family, joining the technological side of culture.
The main terms of this stage of E. Erikson’s theory of age periodization are “taste for work”, “hard work”. Children are absorbed in learning about the world around them. A person’s ego identity is expressed in the formula “I am what I have learned.” At school, they are introduced to discipline, develop diligence, and the desire to achieve. At this stage, the child will learn everything that can prepare him for a productive adult life.
He begins to develop a sense of competence, if he is praised for the results achieved, he gains confidence that he can learn something new, and talents for technical creativity appear. When adults see only self-indulgence in his desire for activity, there is a possibility of developing a feeling of inferiority and doubt in his own abilities.
Youth
No less important in E. Erikson’s age periodization is the developmental stage of adolescence. It lasts from 12 to 20 years, considered the main period in human psychosocial development.
This is the second attempt to develop autonomy. The teenager challenges social and parental norms, learns about the existence of previously unfamiliar social roles, reflects on religion, the ideal family, and the structure of the world around him. All these questions often cause him a feeling of concern. The ideology is presented in an overly simplified form. His main task at this stage in Erikson’s theory of age periodization is to collect all the knowledge about himself available at that time, to embody an image of himself, forming an ego identity. It must include a conscious past and an imagined future.
The emerging changes manifest themselves in the form of a struggle between the desire to maintain dependence on the care of loved ones and the desire for one’s own independence. Faced with such confusion, a boy or girl strives to become like his peers, he develops stereotypical ideals and behavior patterns. It is possible to destroy strict norms in behavior and clothing, and become interested in informal movements.
The scientist views dissatisfaction with social values and drastic social changes as a factor that interferes with the development of identity, the emergence of a feeling of uncertainty and the inability to continue education or choose a career.
A negative way out of a crisis can be expressed in poor self-identity, a feeling of uselessness, and aimlessness. Teenagers rush towards delinquent behavior. Due to excessive identification with representatives of the counterculture and stereotypical heroes, their identity development is suppressed.
Youth
In Erikson's periodization of developmental psychology, the sixth stage is youth. Between the ages of 20 and 25 marks the actual start of true adulthood. A person receives a profession, an independent life begins, and early marriage is possible.
The ability to engage in loving relationships includes most of the previous stages of development. Without trusting others, a person will find it difficult to trust himself, and due to uncertainty and doubt, it will be difficult for him to allow others to cross his boundaries. Feeling inadequate, it will become difficult to get close to others and take the initiative yourself. And in the absence of hard work, inertia will arise in relationships, mental discord can cause problems with determining a place in society.
The ability for intimacy becomes perfect when a person is able to build partnerships, even if this requires significant compromises and sacrifices.
The positive solution to this crisis is love. Among the basic principles of age periodization according to Erikson at this stage are the erotic, romantic and sexual components. Intimacy and love can be seen as an opportunity to begin to trust another person, to remain faithful in a relationship, even if for the sake of this one has to make self-denial and concessions. This type of love manifests itself in mutual respect, care, and responsibility for another person.
A person may strive to avoid intimacy due to fear of losing independence. This threatens self-isolation. The inability to build trusting and calm personal relationships leads to a feeling of social vacuum, loneliness and isolation.
Maturity
The seventh stage is the longest. It develops from 26 to 64 years. The main problem becomes the choice between inertia and productivity. An important point is creative self-realization.
This stage includes an intense work life and a formally new style of parenting. At the same time, there arises the ability to show interest in universal human problems, the destinies of others, to think about the structure of the world, and future generations. Productivity can manifest itself as the next generation's concern for youth, wanting to help them find their place in life and choose the right direction.
Difficulties at the performance stage can lead to an obsessive desire for pseudo-intimacy, a desire to protest, and to resist letting one’s own children into adulthood. Adults who fail to become productive withdraw into themselves. The main concern is personal comfort and needs. They focus on their own desires. With the loss of productivity, the development of the individual as an activity of a member of society ends, interpersonal relationships become poorer, and the satisfaction of one’s own needs ends.
Old age
After 65 years, the final stage begins - old age. It is characterized by a conflict between hopelessness and integrity. This may mean accepting oneself and one's role in the world, awareness of human dignity. By this time, the main work in life is behind you, and it’s time for fun with your grandchildren and reflection.
At the same time, a person begins to imagine his own life as too short to achieve everything that was planned. Because of this, a feeling of dissatisfaction and hopelessness may appear, despair that life has not turned out the way you wanted, and it is too late to start anything over again. The fear of death appears.
Psychologists, in reviews of Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, constantly compare his work with Sigmund Freud's classification, which includes only five stages. At all stages of the development of modern science, Erikson’s ideas were treated with increased attention, since the scheme he proposed made it possible to study the development of the human personality in more detail. The main claims were related to the fact that human development continues into adulthood, and not only during childhood, as Freud argued. This is the main doubt raised by critics of Erikson's work.
A child at each stage of his age development requires a special approach to himself. The task of the education system and all adults raising a child is to promote its full development at each age stage of ontogenesis. If a failure occurs at one of the age levels, the normal conditions for the child’s development are disrupted, V In subsequent periods, the main attention and efforts of adults will be forced to focus on correcting this development, which is difficult not only for adults, but especially for the child. Therefore, sparing no effort and resources to create conditions that are timely and favorable for the mental and spiritual development of children is economically beneficial and morally justified. To do this, you need to know the characteristics of each age.
Generally speaking The problem of age periodization of mental development is one of the most difficult problems in human psychology.. Changes in the processes of the mental life of a child (and a person in general) do not occur independently of one another, but are internally connected with each other. Individual processes (perception, memory, thinking, etc.) are not independent lines in mental development. Each of the mental processes in its actual course and development depends on the personality as a whole, on the general development of the individual: orientation, character, abilities, emotional experiences. Hence the selective nature of perception, memorization and forgetting, etc.
Any periodization of the life cycle always correlates with cultural norms and has a value-normative characteristic.
Age categories are always ambiguous, because they reflect the conventions of age boundaries. This is reflected in the terminology of developmental psychology: children age, adolescence, youth, adulthood, maturity, old age - age boundaries These periods of a person’s life are variable and largely depend on the level of cultural, economic, and social development of society.
The higher this level, the more diversified in various fields of science and practice, the more creatively developed people should be when entering independent work, and this requires longer training and increases the age limits of childhood and adolescence; secondly, the longer the period of personality maturity lasts, pushing old age to later years of life, etc.
The identification of stages of mental development is based on the internal laws of this development itself and constitutes psychological age periodization. First of all, it is necessary to define the basic concepts - these are age and development.
individual development.
There are 2 concepts of age: Chronological and psychological.
Chronological characterizes an individual from the moment of birth, psychological characterizes the patterns of development of the body, living conditions, training and upbringing.
Development May be biological, mental and personal. Biological is the maturation of anatomical and physiological structures. Mental is a natural change in mental processes, which is expressed in quantitative and qualitative transformations. Personal – the formation of personality as a result of socialization and upbringing.
There are many attempts to periodize the life path of an individual. They are based on different theoretical positions of the authors.
L.S. Vygotsky divided all attempts to periodize childhood into three groups: according to external criteria, according to any one sign of child development, according to a system of essential features of child development itself.
Vygotsky Lev Semenovich (1896–1934) - Russian psychologist. He developed a cultural-historical theory of mental development in the process of an individual’s assimilation of the values of human culture and civilization. He distinguished between “natural” (given by nature) mental functions and “cultural” functions (acquired as a result of interiorization, that is, the process of an individual’s assimilation of cultural values).
1. Newborn crisis– the most striking and undoubted crisis in the development of a child, because there is a change of environment, a transition from the uterine environment to the external environment.
2. Infancy(2 months - 1 year).
3. Crisis of one year- has a positive content: here negative symptoms are obviously and directly related to the positive acquisitions that the child makes, getting on his feet and mastering speech.
4. Early childhood(1 year–3 years).
5. Crisis of 3 years– is also called the phase of obstinacy or stubbornness. During this period, limited to a short period of time, the child's personality undergoes drastic and sudden changes. The child exhibits obstinacy, stubbornness, negativism, capriciousness, and self-will. Positive meaning: new characteristic features of the child’s personality emerge.
6. Preschool age(3-7 years).
7. Crisis 7 years– was discovered and described earlier than other crises. Negative aspects: mental imbalance, instability of will, mood, etc. Positive aspects: the child’s independence increases, his attitude towards other children changes.
8. School age(7-10 years old).
9. Crisis 13 years– the negative phase of the age of puberty: a drop in academic performance, a decrease in performance, disharmony in the internal structure of the personality, the collapse and withering away of a previously established system of interests, the productivity of mental work of students. This is due to the fact that there is a change in attitude from clarity to understanding. The transition to a higher form of intellectual activity is accompanied by a temporary decrease in performance.
10. Puberty(10(12)-14(16) years).
11. Crisis 17 years.
Lev Semenovich Vygotsky
(1896 – 1934)
| Age periodization L.S. Vygotsky | ||||
| Period | Years | Leading activity | Neoplasm | Social development situation |
| Newborn crisis | 0-2 months | |||
| Infancy | 2 months-1 | walking, first word | Mastering the norms of relationships between people | |
| Year 1 crisis | ||||
| Early childhood | 1-3 | subject activity | "external self" | Mastering ways of working with objects |
| Crisis 3 years | ||||
| Preschool age | 3-6(7) | role-playing game | arbitrariness of behavior | Mastering social norms and relationships between people |
| Crisis 7 years | ||||
| Junior school age | 7-12 | educational activities | arbitrariness of all mental processes except intellect | Acquisition of knowledge, development of intellectual and cognitive activity. |
| Crisis 13 years | ||||
| Middle school age, teenager | 10(11) - 14(15) | intimate and personal communication in educational and other activities | a feeling of “adulthood”, the emergence of an idea of oneself “not like a child” | Mastering norms and relationships between people |
| Crisis 17 years | ||||
| Senior schoolboy (early youth) | 14(15) - 16(17) | professional and personal self-determination | Mastering professional knowledge and skills |
Elkonin Daniil Borisovich - Soviet psychologist, creator of the concept of periodization of mental development in ontogenesis, based on the concept of “leading activity”. He developed psychological problems of play and the formation of a child’s personality.
Periodization:
1st period – infancy(from birth to 1 year). The leading activity is direct emotional communication, personal communication with an adult within which the child learns objective actions.
2nd period – early childhood(from 1 year to 3 years).
The leading activity is object-manipulative, within which the child cooperates with an adult in mastering new types of activities.
3rd period – preschool childhood(from 3 to 6 years).
The leading activity is a role-playing game, within which the child orients himself in the most general senses of human activity, for example, family and professional.
4th period – junior school age(from 7 to 10 years).
The leading activity is study. Children master the rules and methods of educational actions. In the process of assimilation, the motives of cognitive activity also develop.
5th period – adolescence(from 10 to 15 years).
The leading activity is communication with peers. By reproducing interpersonal relationships that exist in the world of adults, adolescents accept or reject them.
6th period – early adolescence(from 15 to 17 years old).
The leading activity is educational and professional. During this period, professional skills and abilities are mastered.
| Age periodization of Elkonon D.B. | |||
| Period | Years | Leading activity | New education and social development |
| infancy | 0-1 | emotional communication between a child and an adult | personal communication with an adult within which the child learns objective actions |
| early childhood | 1-3 | object-manipulative | the child cooperates with the adult in mastering new activities |
| preschool childhood | 3-6 | role-playing game | is oriented in the most general senses of human activity, for example, family and professional |
| junior school age | 7-10 | studies | Children master the rules and methods of educational actions. In the process of assimilation, the motives of cognitive activity also develop. |
| adolescence | 10-15 | communication with peers | By reproducing interpersonal relationships that exist in the world of adults, adolescents accept or reject them. |
| early youth | 15-17 | educational and professional activities | mastering professional skills and abilities |
Daniil Borisovich
Elkonin
(1904 - 1984)
Age periodization by E. Erikson
Erickson, Eric Homburger- American psychologist and psychotherapist, one of the founders of ego psychology, author of one of the first psychological theories of the life cycle, creator of the psychohistorical model of social cognition.
The entire life course, according to Erikson, includes eight stages, each of which has its own specific tasks and can be resolved favorably or unfavorably for future development. During his life, a person goes through several stages that are universal for all humanity. A fully functioning personality is formed only by passing through successively all stages of development. Each psychosocial stage is accompanied by a crisis - a turning point in the life of an individual, which arises as a consequence of achieving a certain level of psychological maturity and social requirements. Every crisis contains both positive and negative components. If the conflict is resolved satisfactorily (that is, at the previous stage the ego was enriched with new positive qualities), then now the ego absorbs a new positive component - this guarantees the healthy development of the personality in the future. If the conflict remains unresolved, then harm is caused and a negative component is built in. The challenge is for the individual to adequately resolve each crisis so that he or she will be able to approach the next stage as a more adaptive and mature individual. All 8 stages in Erikson's psychological theory are presented in the following table:
Periods:
1. Birth - 1 year Trust – distrust of the world.
2. 1-3 years Autonomy – shame and doubt.
3. 3-6 years Initiative – feeling of guilt.
4. 6-12 years Hard work is inferiority.
5. 12-19 years old Formation of individuality (identity) – role confusion.
6. 20-25 years old Intimacy - loneliness.
7. 26-64 years Productivity – stagnation.
8. 65 years - death Peace - despair.
1. Trust – distrust of the world. The degree to which a child develops a sense of trust in other people and the world depends on the quality of maternal care he receives.
The feeling of trust is associated with the mother's ability to convey to the child a sense of recognition, constancy and identity of experiences. The cause of the crisis is insecurity, failure and her rejection of the child. This contributes to the appearance in the child of a psychosocial attitude of fear, suspiciousness and fears for his well-being. Also, the feeling of mistrust, according to Erikson, can intensify when the child ceases to be the main center of attention for the mother, when she returns to those activities that she left during pregnancy (for example, resuming an interrupted career, giving birth to another child). As a result of positive conflict resolution, hope is gained.
2. Autonomy – shame and doubt. Acquiring a sense of basic trust sets the stage for achieving a certain autonomy and self-control, avoiding feelings of shame, doubt and humiliation. Satisfactory resolution of psychosocial conflict at this stage depends on the willingness of parents to gradually give children the freedom to exercise control over their own actions. At the same time, parents, according to Erikson, should unobtrusively but clearly limit the child in those areas of life that are potentially dangerous both for the children themselves and for others. Shame can arise if parents are impatient, irritated and persistent in doing something for their children that they can do themselves; or, conversely, when parents expect their children to do something that they themselves are not yet able to do. As a result, such traits as self-doubt, humiliation and weakness of will are formed.
3. Initiative – feeling of guilt. At this time, the child’s social world requires him to be active, solve new problems and acquire new skills; praise is the reward for success. Children also have additional responsibility for themselves and for the things that make up their world (toys, pets, and perhaps siblings). This is the age when children begin to feel that they are accepted and counted as people and that their lives have a purpose for them. Children whose independent actions are encouraged feel supported for their initiative. Further manifestation of initiative is facilitated by parents’ recognition of the child’s right to curiosity and creativity, when they do not inhibit the child’s imagination. Erikson points out that children at this stage begin to identify themselves with people whose work and character they are able to understand and appreciate, and become increasingly goal-oriented. They study energetically and begin to make plans. Children feel guilty because their parents do not allow them to act independently. Guilt is also promoted by parents who excessively punish their children in response to their need to love and receive love from parents of the opposite sex. Such children are afraid to stand up for themselves, they are usually followers in the peer group and are overly dependent on adults. They lack the determination to set realistic goals and achieve them.
4. Hard work is inferiority. Children develop a sense of hard work as they learn the technology of their culture through school. The danger of this stage lies in the possibility of feelings of inferiority, or incompetence. For example, if children doubt their abilities or status among their peers, this may discourage them from learning further (i.e., they acquire attitudes towards teachers and learning). For Erikson, work ethic includes a sense of interpersonal competence—the belief that, in the pursuit of important individual and social goals, an individual can have a positive impact on society. Thus, the psychosocial power of competence is the basis for effective participation in social, economic and political life.
5. Formation of individuality (identity) – role confusion. The challenge that teenagers face is to gather together all the knowledge they have up to this time about themselves (what kind of son or daughter they are, musicians, students, athletes) and collect these many images of themselves into a personal identity that represents awareness as past and
the future that logically follows from it. Erikson's definition of identity has three elements. First: the individual must form an image of himself, formed in the past and connecting with the future. Second: people need confidence that the internal integrity they have previously developed will be accepted by other people who are significant to them. Third: people must achieve “increased confidence” that the internal and external plans of this integrity are consistent with each other. Their perceptions must be confirmed by interpersonal experience through feedback. Role confusion is characterized by the inability to choose a career or continue education.
Many teenagers experience feelings of worthlessness, mental discord and aimlessness.
Erikson emphasized that life is constant change. Successful resolution of problems at one stage of life does not guarantee that they will not reappear at subsequent stages or that new solutions to old problems will not be found. A positive quality associated with successfully overcoming the crisis of adolescence is fidelity. It represents the ability of young people to accept and adhere to the morals, ethics and ideology of society.
6. Intimacy - loneliness. This stage marks the formal beginning of adulthood. In general, this is a period of courtship, early marriage and the beginning of family life. During this time, young people usually focus on obtaining a profession and “settling down.” By “intimacy,” Erikson means, first of all, the intimate feeling that we experience towards spouses, friends, parents and other close people. But in order to be in a truly intimate relationship with another person, it is necessary that by this time he has a certain awareness of who he is and what he represents. The main danger at this stage is excessive self-absorption or avoidance of interpersonal relationships. The inability to establish calm and trusting personal relationships leads to a feeling of loneliness and social vacuum. Self-absorbed people can engage in very formal personal interactions (employer-employee) and establish superficial contacts (health clubs). Erikson views love as the ability to commit oneself to another person and remain faithful to that relationship, even if it requires concessions or self-denial. This type of love manifests itself in a relationship of mutual care, respect and responsibility for the other person.
7. Productivity – stagnation. Each adult, according to Erikson, must either reject or accept the idea of his responsibility for the renewal and improvement of everything that could contribute to the preservation and improvement of our culture. Thus, productivity acts as a concern of the older generation for those who will replace them. The main theme of psychosocial development of the individual is concern for the future well-being of humanity. Those adults who fail to become productive gradually fall into a state of self-absorption. These people do not care about anyone or anything, they only indulge their desires.
8. Peace - despair. The last stage ends a person's life. This is the time when people look back and reconsider their life decisions, remember their achievements and failures. According to Erikson, 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 its development. Peace comes from a person's ability to look back at their entire past life (marriage, children, grandchildren, career, social relationships) and humbly but firmly say, “I am content.” The inevitability of death is no longer frightening, since such people see the continuation of themselves either in descendants or in creative achievements. At the opposite pole are people who view their lives as a series of unrealized opportunities and mistakes. At the end of their lives, they realize that it is too late to start all over again and look for some new paths. Erickson identifies two prevailing types of mood in indignant and irritated older people: regret that life cannot be lived again and denial of one's own shortcomings and defects by projecting them onto the outside world.
Erickson, Eric Homburger
(1902 – 1994)
Age periodization
The problem of age-related periodization of mental development is extremely difficult and important both for science and for pedagogical practice. In modern psychology, periodizations of mental development are popular, revealing the patterns of development of intelligence, and another - the personality of the child. At each age level, changes occur, both physiological, mental and personal. The most striking age stages are ml. school age, teenager and youth.
Junior school age– 6-10 years. Change of activity - from play to study. Change of leader: the teacher becomes an authority for the child, the role of parents decreases. They fulfill the teacher’s requirements, do not enter into arguments with him, and trust the teacher’s assessments and teachings. Uneven adaptation to school life. Based on the experience already gained in educational, gaming and work activities, the prerequisites are formed for creating motivation to achieve success. Increased sensitivity. Imitation lies in the fact that students repeat the reasoning of the teacher and comrades.
Psychological development and personality formation adolescence– 10-12 years – 14-16 years. In girls it occurs earlier. The reasons for a persistent and complete lack of interests often lie in the lack of bright interests among the adults around the teenager.
Needs: communication with peers, the need for self-affirmation, the need to be and be considered an adult. Conflicts and difficulties of a teenager in communicating with adults. A shift in the development of self-awareness: the teenager begins to form the position of an adult,
During this period, behavioral stereotypes associated with awareness of one’s gender are intensively acquired. Low self-esteem.
An unstable self-concept is a developing system of a person’s ideas about himself, including awareness of his physical, intellectual, characterological, social and other properties; self-esteem.