Erikson's theory of psychosocial development proposes that personality develops through 8 stages from infancy to late adulthood, where individuals face new challenges and crises. Each stage focuses on becoming competent in an area of social functioning. If handled well, it results in healthy development and a sense of competence. If handled poorly, it leads to feelings of inadequacy. The 8 stages are: basic trust vs mistrust, autonomy vs shame, initiative vs guilt, industry vs inferiority, identity vs role confusion, intimacy vs isolation, generativity vs stagnation, and integrity vs despair.

1. ERIKSON’S THEORY OF
PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

2. PSYCHOSOCIAL
•Psychosocial refers to the interaction between the
individual’s psychological development and his/her
social environment.
Psychological Development: refers to the development
of an individual’s cognitive, emotional, intellectual and
social capabilities and functioning over the course of the
life span i.e., from infancy to old age.
Social environment: the immediate physical and social
setting in which person live and interact.

3. PSYCHOSOCIAL
• Psychosocial is related to the social functioning of an
individual
• Social functioning
 Feeling of self worth.
 Satisfaction with roles in life.
 Positive relationship with others.

4. DEVELOPMENT
DEVELOPMENT means to open up or to grow
and raise
•Development refers to the qualitative changes in
the social, mental or personal skills of an
organism. It continues from conception till death.
•It has both positive or negative direction

5. PSYHOSOCIAL THEORY
•Personality of an individual develops through a
series of stages also known as life crisis, spread over
the entire life span. Each crisis must be resolved
successfully for satisfaction in later life
•Erikson gave emphasis on the development of ego
identity
• Ego identity is the conscious sense of self that we
develop through social interaction. It is constantly
changing due to new experiences and information we
acquire in our daily interactions with others.

6. PSYHOSOCIAL THEORY
•Erikson also believed that a sense of competence
motivates behavior and actions
•Each stage is concerned with becoming competent in
an area of life. If the stage is handled well, the person
will fell a sense of mastery, which is referred as ego
strength. If the stage is managed poorly, the person will
develop a sense of inadequacy.

7. S.NO Psychosocial stage Virtue Time Span
1 Basic Trust v/s Mistrust Hope, Feeding Infancy
(0-1 year)
2 Autonomy v/s Shame Will, control on senses Early childhood
(1-3 years)
3 Initiative v/s Guilt Purpose , Exploration Play Age
(3-6)
4 Industry v/s Inferiority Competence, School School Age
(6-12 years)
5 Identity v/s Role confusion Fidelity , Social
Relationship,
Adolescence
(12-20 years)
6 Intimacy v/s Isolation Love , Relationship. Young Adult
(20-40 years)
7 Generativity v/s Stagnation Care, Work ,
Parenthood
Adulthood
(40-65 years)
8 Integrity v/s Despair Wisdom, Reflection on
life
Old Age
(65 years- death)

8. 1.BASIC TRUST V/S MISTRUST
•The most fundamental stage in life
•The earliest basic trust is established during this stage. As
the child develops an inner certainty and trustfulness
provided by daily routines, consistency and continuity in
his/her environment
•The mother-child relationship is important for developing
trust in others and in oneself. The child achieves a state of
acceptance because of trust
•Hope is the virtue that develops due to the continuity of
experiences with adults and trust in them and oneself.

9. BASIC TRUST V/S MISTRUST
•If a baby develops trust, s/he will feel safe and secure
in the world.
•If the caregivers are emotionally unavailable or
rejecting the baby s/he will develop mistrust.
•Trust and mistrust both are important.
•Both extremes are harmful.
•Sense of trust grow along with ego.
•Develop trust toward mother and in it self . It comes
by self regulation.

10. BASIC TRUST V/S MISTRUST
•Transfer of anxiety
•Child is totally dependent on parents for basic needs.

11. 2.AUTONOMY V/S SHAME
•At this stage, the child want to achieve autonomy
(independence). They want to try out new activities
and demand acceptance.
•Adults have to stick a balance and be encouraging
and loving.
•Too much or too little control will lead the child to
doubting his/her own abilities and feel ashamed.
•Will is the virtue which when develops give the
child the strength to make choices of being
confident and happy.

12. •Can I do this thing by my self or must I always rely on
others?
•Child gain the control over the body movement and
try to control on surroundings.
•Role of the parents
•Freud Anal stage
•Id and ego development

13. 3.INITIATIVE V/S GUILT
•Child at this stage wants to take responsibility and is
curious to learn
•Initiative combines with Autonomy to give the child the
quality of planning, determining goals and develop a
ability to take up responsibilities.
•Purpose is the virtue that develops. It is the courage to
plan and pursue goals without feeling guilty or the fear of
punishment.

14. 3.INITIATIVE V/S GUILT
•Try to control over physical environment.
•Learning basic skill and principles of physics.
•Purpose fully handle the things, actions and EVS.
•Guilt is new emotion.
•Negative behavior
•Simple and beyond capacity tasks.
•Erikson appreciate – Oedipal complex.
•Same sex role by observation and imitation.

15. 4.INDUSTRY V/S INFERIORITY
•The child's social world expands as s/he comes in contact
with peers and school. Through social interactions, child
begins to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments
and abilities.
•Child becomes capable of performing complex tasks.
•They strive to master new skills.
•This stage is vital in the development of self-confidence of
the child
•The virtue of competence develops and helps the child to
prepare for future without fear and inferiority.

16. 4.INDUSTRY V/S INFERIORITY
•If the child receives attention and praise or
encouragement by parents and teachers for performing
various activities such as reading, writing, drawing,
solving puzzles etc. develop a feeling of competence and
belief in their skills.
•If the child receives no or little attention from s/he will
doubt their ability to be successful.
•The child should be given opportunities like debate,
painting competition etc. in order to develop their
confidence and competence.

17. 4.INDUSTRY V/S INFERIORITY
•Productive situation .
•Self awareness.
•Increase in cognitive abilities.
•They form the moral values.
•They express their independence.
•Insisting on task.
•Inertia

18. 5.IDENTITY V/S ROLE
CONFUSION
•When the child moves into this stage(Adolescence),
s/he begins to develop a sense of identity and questions
‘who am I?’
•The adolescent is mature physically, mentally,
emotionally and wants to explore about oneself.
•S/he become aware of personal characteristics as likes
and dislikes
•Fidelity is the virtue which develops and it is the
capacity to be loyal to people, beliefs etc

19. 5.IDENTITY V/S ROLE
CONFUSION
•If the adolescent reaches this stage with dense of Trust,
Autonomy, Initiative and Industry. There are high
chances of arriving at a meaningful ego identity.
•If the person receive proper encouragement from his/her
social environment will emerge from this stage with a
strong sense of self and a feeling of independence and
control.
•If the person remain unsure of their beliefs and desires
will feel insecure and confused about themselves and the
future.

20. 5.IDENTITY V/S ROLE CONFUSION
•Adolescence is a time of great change.
•Oedipal complex
•Displacement of feeling from parents to other.
•Role model
•Experimentation
•Fidelity or truthfulness and consistency to one’s core self or
faith in one’s ideology.
•The core pathology is repudiation of the assumption of a
healthy role formation.
•Repudiation can take the form of defiance of authority or of
resignation and despair, which Erikson termed diffidence.

21. 5.IDENTITY V/S ROLE
CONFUSION
•Fore closure- My father is dentist
•Moratorium – “A time out”
•Diffusion – A kind of apathy
•Positive role identification or identity achievement
•Negative role identity.

22. 6.INTIMACY V/S ISOLATION
•According to Erikson, it is vital for people to develop
close, committed relationships with others. Success leads
to strong relationships while failure results in loneliness
and isolation
•The primary goal of this stage is to form strong
friendships and achieve a sense of love and
companionship from another person
•Feeling of loneliness or isolation will develop if there is
an inability to form relationships
•The virtue is Love.

23. 6.INTIMACY V/S ISOLATION
•Geniality – Erikson referred to sexual intimacy. This is
the physical correlate of psychological intimacy.

24. 7.GENERATIVITY V/S
STAGNATION
•Generativity refers to generate new ideas or making
your mark on the world through caring for others,
creating and accomplishing things that make a world a
better place, Stagnation means the state of being still.
• At this stage people continue to build their lives,
focusing on their career and family.
•The adult strive to create or nurture things. E.g.-having
children and contributing to positive changes that
benefits other people.
•Virtue is care (of what is generated)

25. 7.GENERATIVITY V/S
STAGNATION
•Stagnation refers to the failure to find a way to
contribute. The individual may feel disconnected or
uninvolved in their community or society as a whole.
•If the person develop sense of generativity will feel that
they are contributing to the world.
•If the person fails to attain this skill will feel
unproductive and uninvolved in the world.

26. INTEGRITY V/S DESPAIR
•Integrity means being honest and have strong moral
values. Despair refers to the complete loss or absence of
hope.
•This stage focuses on reflecting back to life. ‘Did I live
a meaningful life?’
•People review their life as meaningful and productive
or wasted.
•If the person feels proud of their accomplishments will
feel a sense of integrity.