Development Rate - Erik Erickson's Psychosocial Theory

Individual's going thru the different stages of development is very important. Individuals develop through a few stages at the same time. People develop physically, cognitively, and psychosocially all at the same time in life. The way an individual develops is based on an individual and their environment. All developments play an important role in a person's life. There are many factors that guide individuals while they develop. There are have been theories name about how people develop, and theorist have suggested that individuals go through stages while developing and maturing (physically and emotionally).

Erik Erickson's psychosocial theory regarded development as a passage through an interdependent series of stages. Each stage has its particular goals, concerns, accomplishments, and dangers. At each stage, Erickson suggested that the individual faces a development crisis. The way in which the individual solves each crisis influences future crises. According to this theory, successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and successful communication with other people. If the individual fails to complete a stage crisis, the stage crisis can be resolved successfully at a later time.

After observing two different groups of children at a day care for an hour and a half, being able to see what psychosocial stage the children were in was pretty easy. Group 1 was a group of children between the ages of 12-23 months. Group 2 was a group of children between the ages of 2 and 3 years old. In this daycare children's choices were greatly influenced on what the other children were doing. Both groups showed that they were developing according to Erickson's stages.

The first stage of Erickson's theory of psychosocial development occurs between birth to 12-18 months. It is the basic trust vs. basic mistrust stage. An infant is totally dependent on others for his needs; during this stage the infant learns whether the world which he lives in can be trusted. Infants learn to trust others based on the consistency of their caregiver(s). Group 1 was going through this stage. They sat there in their high chairs with a spoon and a bowl to themselves, some feeding themselves (making messes) others being fed. The staff was feeding to them and singing the happy song that was playing. The infants were happy and relied on the caregivers to feed them; they trusted that they would be fed by them. I believe that the infants at the daycare achieved successful completion of this stage. I believe that the caregivers presented consistent, adequate, and nurturing care and the children developed basic trust. The caregivers there seemed very knowledgeable about the stages while they were dealing with numerous different ages of children.

The second stage of Erickson's theory occurs from around 18 months to 3 years. It is the autonomy (independence) vs. shame and doubt. Children in this stage