Erikson’s theory of psychological development may be proved through my personal experience. Erikson’s stages of development can be seen through most individuals.
The first stage Erikson describes is “Trust vs. Mistrust.” The statement present throughout this stage is “I am what I’m given.” This stage lasts usually from birth to 18 months and deals with your needs being met as an infant. If your needs are met, you develop a sense of trust in others and your environment; you become an optimist. If your needs are not met you may experience mistrust, and become negative and assume the worst of others. I think that as an infant, my needs were easily met because now I tend to assume the best of people and I am very gullible.
Erikson’s second stage is “Autonomy vs. Doubt.” “I am what I will” is usually the …show more content…
statement associated with this step. At age 18 months to 3 years, you experience autonomy or doubt based on the fact if your parents supported your goals and independence and believed in you. If your parents did not support you, or made you doubt yourself, you may experience doubt. I think I struggled a little bit with this step because thou
During Erikson’s fifth stage of development, “identity,” there are seven individual areas of development that occur.
The first area—time—one either experiences “temporal perspective” or “time confusion.” I think I experienced/am experiencing temporal perspective—I am very happy with the age I am at the moment and I am almost always early or on time for things. The second area, “self image,” is very significant. This is important to like the various selves that make you up as a person so you can gain confidence. If you do, you are said to be “self certain,” however, if you still feel as though you have not fully accepted yourself, you are self-conscious. I think I am mostly self-certain but I still sometimes feel self conscious about my areas of weakness. “Roles” is the third area in Erikson’s fifth stage. This includes “role experimentation” and “role fixation.” I think I did my share of role experimentation, since I dabbled in different areas to see what I would want to go into in college and as a career. In “Work,” the fourth area, it is important to figure out which tasks you want to do to fill up your free time.
≼/div>