Erikson's Psychosocial Stages (Nursing)

00:00 Welcome to the pediatric growth and development lecture on psychosocial development.

00:05 I'm going to begin by telling you about a theory.

00:07 I know that theory may be the last thing you want to learn about, but trust me, this one's important to understand.

00:12 It actually helps explain people's personalities and traits throughout life.

00:16 And that's always interesting, right? Stay with me here.

00:19 So Erik Erikson is a psychoanalyst for the 1900s famous for his theory that each major stage of life beginning at birth is associated with a specific psychological struggle that occurs within the person.

00:33 This will make more sense as we talk through each one.

00:36 What's important for you to understand right now is that each one builds on one another.

00:41 According to his theory, the outcome of each of these psychological struggles a human goes through has consequences that can affect the person's personality and traits for the rest of their lives.

00:52 So this is actually applicable to literally everyone in the world.

00:55 It's actually pretty interesting stuff and pretty relatable once you understand it.

01:00 A side note, Erickson's theory, initially published in 1950, did not define specific ages when the eight stages occurred.

01:08 He only defined the sequence of the stages.

01:11 Researchers since that point have assigned approximate ages to the eight stages.

01:17 And those are the ones that I'll include in this lecture.

01:22 We're going to review the stages that children go through from infant to adulthood. There's six of them.

01:29 Let's start with the infant stage for about birth to one year.

01:34 Each of Erickson stages is actually two words separated by the word versus to represent the struggle that's occurring.

01:41 That sounds dramatic, right? Well, the first part of each stages name is the goal of that stage.

01:47 That's what the person wants or should want to achieve in order to progress in life.

01:52 The second part of that stage is the negative outcome that can occur if the goal is not met.

01:58 So for example, the first stage the one that is experienced in infancy is called trust versus mistrust.

02:05 Let's walk through this so it makes more sense.

02:08 According to Erickson's theory, the psychosocial task of infancy is for the infant to learn to trust himself, their caregivers, and their environment.

02:17 Despite the reputation infants are usually pretty simple creatures.

02:21 They just want to be warm, fed, safe, and loved and occasionally entertained.

02:25 Infants acquire a sense of trust when their needs are met consistently.

02:32 During the first few months of life, infants don't understand the concept of delayed gratification.

02:37 They don't even realize and other human beings exist beyond those they can actually see.

02:42 The fancy term for this is primary narcissism.

02:45 It sounds really mean It's actually pretty innocent in the young baby.

02:49 Young infants certainly don't understand that their caregivers have other responsibilities such as jobs and household responsibilities, even other children.

02:59 As a result of this primary narcissism, infants don't understand delayed gratification.

03:04 They can get pretty frustrated if they're hungry, and nobody feeds them right away.

03:08 Or if they wake up from their nap and nobody comes to pick them up right away.

03:11 They aren't trying to be difficult. They just don't understand it.

03:14 Now, of course, at some degree, the infant must get used to these little inconveniences.

03:19 But if their care is really inconsistent, inadequate or unpredictable, the infant may develop a sense of mistrust and anxiety as a result.

03:27 That can continue to affect them for some time, and to some degree, prevent them from meeting future psychosocial goals.

03:34 The takeaway point is the quality of the infant's attachment to their primary caregivers and the degree to which the primary caregivers meet the infant's needs can have some pretty major consequences.

03:45 Trust versus mistrust is a major stage of psychosocial development because the relationship between the infant and their primary caregivers can affect future relationships throughout their life, as well as how they deal with each stage of life in general.

03:59 The good news is unmet psychosocial needs can be addressed later in life, and as a result, sometimes negative outcomes can be reversed.

04:07 Many therapists make a living helping patients reverse negative outcomes from their early life.

04:13 Okay, that was heavy.

04:15 Now let's move on to the second stage of psychosocial development that occurs from about age 1 to 2, otherwise known as a toddler age.

04:24 During this stage called autonomy versus shame and doubt, the toddler is focused on developing a sense of control and independence.

04:33 The toddler is going through a lot of physical development and learning many new skills.

04:37 They want desperately to be more independent and autonomous.

04:40 If they're encouraged in these efforts, they'll become more confident and secure.

04:45 You may recall that toddlers love to say no.

04:49 Well, part of the reason is that "no" is an easy word to learn.

04:53 But they also love to say it because they're learning to assert themselves and express their opinions.

04:58 It makes them feel like they're in control.

05:00 It can be very empowering to express your opinion.

05:03 During this time caregivers are challenged to say the least, to allow independence while also making sure the child is safe and conforming to social norms, such as eating on the table instead of off the floor.

05:16 If the child was criticized or overly controlled, or not allowed to assert themselves, they may begin to feel inadequate lack self esteem, feel shameful and doubt their abilities.

05:27 Now let's move on to the third psychosocial stage that occurs from about age three to six.

05:33 During the initiative versus guilt, psychosocial stage, the child is learning to make their own decisions and is focused on developing a sense of initiative.

05:41 They're very motivated to learn and to practice new tasks.

05:44 But preschoolers are still learning what's right and wrong.

05:47 One way they learn this is through the use of punishment and reward.

05:50 As a child is rewarded for appropriate or socially acceptable behaviors, they gain initiative and the courage to repeat those behaviors in the future.

05:58 This is one time when positive reinforcement or rewarding positive behaviors can be very effective in teaching them.

06:04 The preschool age child is asking many questions as their learning really takes off.

06:09 To learn at this age really need the freedom to question, to disagree politely, and to learn.

06:15 If the child's sense of initiative is overly controlled, or their questions are treated as if they're inappropriate or a nuisance, the child may develop feelings of guilt, and lose some of their initiative.

06:27 You can probably see how this could affect their learning at that age and later.

06:32 Now let's move on to the fourth stage of psychosocial development that occurs from about age 7 to 10.

06:39 This is a stage called industry versus inferiority.

06:42 The school aged child is learning to read and write and to do many things independently.

06:48 They're focused on developing a sense of competence, also known as industry.

06:53 Teachers and peers become really important to the school aged child.

06:56 Teachers are important because they teach them new knowledge and skills.

07:00 The child is age feels the need to win the approval of others by demonstrating that they can master skills and responsibilities that are accepted and valued by society.

07:09 And that means by teachers as well as parents and peers.

07:12 At this age peers are their society.

07:15 The ability to explore their environment and to learn is essential during this age.

07:20 The child's peers become a major source of the child's self esteem.

07:25 If the child has restricted too much socially, or if their initiative to learn isn't encouraged, they may not be able to develop skills that they feel are necessary and they may begin to feel inferior.

07:35 Now let's wrap this up by discussing the fifth stage of psychosocial development that occurs from about age 11 to 18.

07:43 During this stage, identity versus role confusion, the child is transitioning to adulthood and trying to figure out where they fit into society.

07:51 This is a major stage of development, where the adolescent reexamines their identity and tries to figure out exactly who they are and who they want to be.

08:00 They may try out different roles, different peer groups or even different identities.

08:05 Adolescents really want to belong and fit in.

08:07 They meet many different people.

08:09 They want to explore different possibilities and begin to think about their future career relationships and where they want to live.

08:16 The more people they meet, and the more role models they have in their life, the more they can explore.

08:22 Failure to establish a sense of identity, or to figure out what they want to do with their life can lead to role confusion.

08:28 Adolescents who identify as LGBTQIA+ tend to take more time publicly identify their identity due in part to societal or family pressures, cultural beliefs, or lack of similar peers.

08:42 During the psychosocial stage, the adolescent also begins to share themselves more intimately with others and explore relationships outside their family.

08:51 Successful completion of this stage of psychosocial development can result in happy healthy relationships and a sense of commitment and safety.

09:00 An adolescent who is very sheltered from others avoids intimacy, or fears commitment and relationships can eventually experience loneliness and isolation.

09:09 And that wraps up our discussion of Erikson stages of psychosocial development from birth through age 18, 19 to adulthood.

09:18 Please note that we have a separate set of lectures for overall pediatric growth and development.

09:22 That series covers the physical, cognitive, motor, and language development from birth through adolescence to young adulthood.

09:30 Thank you for joining me.