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Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development

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I need help by describing each stage of Erikson's theory.

* Include in your description an analysis of a character that best represents each stage of life. The character can be from television show, a movie, or a literary character from a book. Explain how each character represents the stage, and how the character resolves conflict.

* Provide a review of three recent studies on Erikson's theory from the list provided
my assessment will be used by the advertising firm to help in developing commercials targeting various developmental stages.

* Description of Erickson's theory. A description of each stage of development using the description in above list. Remember to include a description of a character that represents each stage of development.

* A review of three studies chosen from the list provided. In that review discuss how the study supports the information that you are providing in your report. If the study does not support your report, explain why it does not. Cover the following points in this review:
- For each study, identify the stages of Ericksonâ??s theory that are examined.
- Determine if the study strengthens or weakens Ericksonâ??s theory and your ideas based on that theory. Explain your reasons.
- State if you agree or disagree with the conclusions of the study itself. Why or why not?

The following articles can be found using the Academic Search Premier Collection database, available on the Find Articles and Books page of the library.

- Reexamining Gender Issues in Erikson's Stages of Identity and Intimacy by Horst, Elisabeth A.
Individuation and Attachment in Personality Development: Extending Erikson's Theory by Franz, Carol E.; White, Kathleen M.
- Egocentrism in Older Adults: Piaget's Three Mountains Task Revisited by McDonald, Lorraine; Stuart-Hamilton, Ian.
- Piaget on Childhood by Siegler, Robert S.; Ellis, Shari.
- Vygotsky and Identity Formation: A Sociocultural Approach by Penuel, William R.; Wertsch, James V.
- Attachment, Social Rank, and Affect Regulation: Speculations on an Ethological Approach to Family Interaction by Sloman, Leon; Atkinson, Leslie; Milligan, Karen; Liotti, Giovanni.

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Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development is summarized.

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Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development:

Erikson's theory of psychosocial development is among the well known theories of personality development in human beings. Erikson postulated in his theory that people developed in eight stages from infancy to adulthood in a predetermined order. Erikson focused more on the how the children's social skills developed as they grew older and postulated that at each development stage the way children socialize affects their sense of self. The completion of each stage allows a child to develop a healthy personality, but failure to complete a stage can have the effect of reduced abilities to the child in completing subsequent stages. This would result to an unhealthy sense of self and personality, although these can be resolved at a later stage in life (Tale & Parker, 2007). These stages are as described below:

Infancy Stage: Birth to eighteen months:

The development outcome of this stage can either be trust or mistrust. In this stage also known as the oral stage due to a child's tendency of putting everything in their mouth, the main emphasis is often on the mothers loving and positive care she gives to the child focusing on touch and visual contact. When a child passes successfully through this stage they learn to trust that life is fine and they gain confidence in the future, but when the child fails to experience trust due to unfulfilled and unmet needs, the child may develop a feeling of mistrust and worthlessness of the world in general (Wood, 1998). For instance in the Movie series Baby days out, the child character though in an unfamiliar environments in his adventures and though he may encounter dangerous situations, the child sees humor in all that and is confident as he trusts the world. This is mainly due to the maternal love and care, and the attention that he receives that gives him confidence in all that is around him.

Early childhood stage: eighteen months to three years:

The social development outcome in this stage can either be autonomy or shame. In this stage Erikson pointed out that children learned to master skills for themselves as they learn to talk, walk, and feed themselves. They also learn to use the word "no" and build their will power skills. In this stage the child has the opportunity to build self esteem and autonomy as they learn right from wrong, acquire new skills and gain more control over their body. In this stage a child can also be very vulnerable an if they are shamed or put down in the process learning some important skills they may feel great shame and doubt their capabilities and as a result suffer from low self esteem. At this stage significant relationship in the child's life is with both parents (Wood, 1998). Instances in this case are the young two to three olds common in the show Nanny 911. the children characteristically throw tantrums and cause havoc and more often it is due to lack of self esteem in abilities to be autonomous, or them being shut down by their parents not to learn to say "no".

Play age: three years to five years

The social development outcome of this stage is initiative or guilt. ...

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