1.
Erik and Joan Eriksons’ Approach to
Human Development in Counseling
Michael J. Karcher and Kristine Benne
Presented by : Sehar Mangi (B.Ed VI)
Sukkur IBA

2.
Content
• Background
 Biography
 History
• Introduction
 Eight stages
 Assumptions
• Usage of theory in counselling
 Case Study
• Conclusion

3.
BIOGRAPHY(Erik Erikson (1902-1994))
• Father Valdemar Isidor Salomonsen
• Mother Karla Abrahamsen
• His parents were Danish descent but separated before Erik was born.
• Born June 15, 1902 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
• Karla trained to be a nurse and moved to Karlsruhe.
• In 1905 she married Erik's Jewish pediatrician, Theodor Homburger.
• In 1908, Erik Salomonsen's name was changed to Erik Homberger.

4.
BIOGRAPHY(Erik Erikson (1902-1994))
• A tall, blond, blue-eyed boy, Erik
was raised in the Jewish religion.
• At temple school, the kids teased
him for being a Nordic
• At grammar school, they teased
him for being Jewish.
• Interested in human relationships
(parent and child).

5.
• Erik became a wondering artist, traveled across Europe.
• At age of 25, his friend Peter Blos asked Erik to come to Vienna to teach at the
Hietzing School.
• He met the Sigmud Freud family ,began training in child psychoanalysis under
Anna Freud.
• He focused on becoming a psychoanalyst, eventually graduating from the
Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute.
BIOGRAPHY(Erik Erikson (1902-1994))

6.
• 1930, married to Joan MowatSerson
• During their marriage Erikson converted to
Christianity
“In this whole collection there does not seem to be
one bit of good writing that was not shared by Joan
in thought as well as in formulation”.
-A Way of Looking at Things (Schlein, S., 1987)
BIOGRAPHY(Erik Erikson (1902-1994))

7.
• In 1933, when Hitler took power in Germany, the Erikson family
migrated to the United States
• Leaving Vienna marked a geographical separation from Freud that allowed
the Eriksons more autonomy to expand the psychoanalytic theory beyond
its focus on biological drives.

8.
History of Psychosocial Theory
• Identity Development seems to have
been one of Erikson's greatest concerns in
his own life as well as in his theory.
• As an older adult, he wrote about his
adolescent “identity confusion”

9.
• Erikson’s daughter writes that her father’s
“real psychoanalytic identity” was not established until he “replaced his
stepfather’s surname (Homburger) with a name of his own invention
(Erikson).
History of Psychosocial Theory

10.
• There were two psychoanalyst who had developed famous psychosocial
theories: Freud, and Erikson.
• For Freud it is biology or more specifically the biological instincts of life
which defines our behavior.
• For Erikson’s the most important force driving human behavior and the
development of personality is social interaction.
•
History of Psychosocial Theory

11.
• The biology of Freud’s drive psychology served as the initial impetus
for the model.
• The biological dimension of the Erikson theory, drawn in part from
Freud’s model.
History of Psychosocial Theory

12.
• Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory attempts to explain relationship
between psychological, biological, and societal development and its
connection with a person's relationship to their own society .
• Initially, it was bio-psycho-social theory of human development .
• According to h theory when conflicts arise people have the opportunity
to grow or fail equally.
Introduction

13.
Erikson’s Theory of Development
• A theory charts 8 stage-wise progression in the social,
emotional, and cognitive skills that individuals use in their
relationships with significant others across the lifespan.
• The stages describing how the individual develops through
individuation, through separation, connectedness and
increasing distinctiveness.
Eight Stages

14.
Underlying Assumptions of the Theory
1. The rates of progression through the eight stages will vary
depending on individuals’ internal and external factors.
2. Prior crisis resolutions provide the foundation for current
developmental crises.
3. Each stage should not be looked at as a success or failure but
as a process which has virtues and strengths

15.
4. Initial crisis resolution does not
mean that the issues just
overcome will not arise again
later.
5. Each crisis also reflects the need
to establish a balance toward
connectedness or individuation.
Underlying Assumptions of the Theory

16.
The Role of the Theory of Human Development in
Counseling
• It is a lens for examining the developing individual’s life in relative
isolation in terms of individual achievements.
• Joan Erikson (1988) suggests “if any intervention can break the dullness
of the graying pattern, it will be the experience of an intimate
relationship.
• Intimate relationship between the counselor and client varies according
to intervention structure and goals

17.
Case Study
• Sharon

18.
Case Study
• In her graduate studies in school counseling, she wrote her
thesis on how teachers’ developmental crises may interact with
their students’ crises and how she could use the Eriksons’
model to help facilitate teacher–student relationships.

19.
Kerry is a mentor of Sam.
Case Study

20.
• Using the Hemingway Measure of Adolescent
Connectedness
Case Study

21.
Identity Confusion
Case Study

22.
A savior role in Sam’s life
Case Study

23.
• Sam seems to be the
most significant person in
her life
Case Study

24.
• Loyola Generativity Scale and the Measures of Psychosocial
Development which provide an assessment of dimensions of
generativity and levels of successful crisis resolution for each
stage
Case Study

25.
In Kerry’s case
Case Study

26.
• She must do to be “a good mentor.”
Case Study

27.
• Kerry was less able to see how her identity crisis
resolution occurred
Case Study

28.
• Sharon helped Kerry see her self-imposed isolation and deep
desire for intimacy
Case Study

29.
• Kerry became clearer about
how she was trying to meet
multiple developmental
needs of her own in her
work with Sam.
Case Study

30.
Conclusion
• We can apply the theory in situations where an individual seems
stuck between stages, or searching to move to earlier or later
stages out of sequence.
• If choices have not been fully made, a return to those stages may
be predicted.