6 Erik Erikson: Psychoanalytic Ego-Psychology

Question 1

Where was Erikson born, live, die?

Answer 1

Born in Frankfurt in 1902

Moved to America pre-WWII

Died in America in 1994

Question 2

Erikson is known as the father of which school of psychology?

Answer 2

Ego psychology

Question 3

How did Erikson expand on Freud’s theory of the ego?

Answer 3

While Freud viewed human behaviour as the result of a clash between the id, ego and superego, Erikson took the three as a whole and focussed on their interaction with the social world

Question 4

How did Erikson shift away from the focus on pathology in psychoanalysis?

Answer 4

By examining how the healthy ego might function

Question 5

Was spracht Erikson about the main role of the ego?

Answer 5

The main role of the ego is to establish and maintain our sense of identity

Question 6

What are Erikson’s eight developmental psychosocial crises?

Answer 6

1. 0–2 years Basic Trust vs. Mistrust
   Can I Trust the World?
2. 2–4 years Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
   Is It Okay To Be Me?
3. 4–5 years
   Initiative vs. Guilt
   Is It Okay For Me To Do, Move and Act?
4. 5–12 years Industry vs. Inferiority Can I Make It In The World Of People And Things?
5. 13–19 years Identity vs. Role Confusion Who Am I? What Can I Be?
6. 20–24 years Intimacy vs. Isolation
   Can I Love?
7. 25–64 years Generativity vs. Stagnation
   Can I Make My Life Count?
8. 65-death Ego Integrity vs. Despair
   Is It Okay To Have Been Me?

Question 7

What are the eight virtues that arise from resolving the eight developmental crises?

Answer 7

1. 0–2 years Basic Trust vs. Mistrust
   Can I Trust the World?
   HOPES
2. 2–4 years Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
   Is It Okay To Be Me?
   WILL
3. 4–5 years Initiative vs. Guilt
   Is It Okay For Me To Do, Move and Act?
   PURPOSE
4. 5–12 years Industry vs. Inferiority Can I Make It In The World Of People And Things?
   COMPETENCE
5. 13–19 years Identity vs. Role Confusion Who Am I? What Can I Be?
   FIDELITY
6. 20–24 years Intimacy vs. Isolation
   Can I Love?
   LOVE
7. 25–64 years Generativity vs. Stagnation
   Can I Make My Life Count?
   CARE
8. 65-death Ego Integrity vs. Despair
   Is It Okay To Have Been Me?
   WISDOM

Question 8

What counts as a successful resolution of a psychosocial crisis?

Answer 8

A person must experience both negative (dystonic: isolation) and positive (systonic: intimacy) aspects of each crisis for healthy personality development. But the positive must outweigh the negative in the final ratio.

Question 9

How does Berk define identity?

Answer 9

“A well-organised conception of the self made up of values, beliefs and goals to which the individual is solidly committed”

Question 10

What is an identity crisis?

Answer 10

A period of confusion and distress as the individual experiments with alternatives before settling on a set of values and goals.

Question 11

How has the term identity crisis been criticised?

Answer 11

Baumister (1990) has suggested that although adolescents question their self-values, most do not experience a crisis. Identity exploration better describes the typical adolescent’s experience.

Question 12

What is identity synthesis?

Answer 12

The extent to which the various aspects of one’s identity fit together.

Question 13

What is identity confusion?

Answer 13

A sense of feeling “mixed up,” that is, being unable to enact and maintain lasting commitments to life alternatives and lacking a clear sense of purpose and direction

Question 14

What is moratorium in Erikson’s theory?

Answer 14

A period of active identity exploration without commitments, typically endorsed socially in early adulthood.

Question 15

What new paradigm did James Marcia devise to expand on Erikson’s identity achievement vs confusion model of conflict in adolescence?

Answer 15

Marcia developed the “identity status approach” to account for exceptions to Erikson’s identity/diffusion dichotomy.

Question 16

What are the 4 modes of identity formation –and their empirical outcomes – according to Marcia’s identity status approach?

Answer 16

1. Identity diffusion
   No commitments made
   OUTCOME: Risk of depression and drug use
2. Identity foreclosure
   Adopted others’ (eg. parents) commitments
   OUTCOME: Inflexible and vulnerable to cult following
3. Moratorium
   Exploring possibly commitments
   OUTCOME: High self-esteem; congruent self
4. Identity achievement
   Made definite commitments
   OUTCOME: High self-esteem and congruence
   More secure

Question 17

What is Erikson’s epigenetic approach to identity development?

Answer 17

The individual passes through stages which are genetically determined, yet environmental conditions account for how each stage is mastered.

Question 18

With whom did Erikson study?

Answer 18

Anna Freud, from 1927

Question 19

What does the ego acquire through the 8 stages?

Answer 19

Each of the eights stages sees the ego adding new modes of competency for dealing with characteristic ’identity crises’ for that phase of life.

Question 20

What examples has Erikson given of individuals who have passed successfully through the 8 psychosocial phases?

Answer 20

Martin Luther (1962) and Mahatma Gandhi (1969) - giving rise to the field of psychohistory

Question 21

How refutable are Erikson’s theories?

Answer 21

For a psychoanalyst, quite a lot. The developmental stages generate hypotheses about basic strengths. And identity formation is also measurable - cf. Marcia.

Question 22

Are the psychosocial stages unalterable?

Answer 22

Yes, you go through them in a serial sequence, although not necessarily with success at each stage.

Question 23

NE What are ritualization and ritualism?

Answer 23

Positive outcomes to psychosocial crises yield “ritualizations”, which are recurring patterns of behavior that positively reflect one’s culture. If the positive outcome is so strong as to be distorted than it too can become negative –too much of a good thing –and result in the person developing a “ritualism”, which is a mechanical, exaggerated and stereotyped form of ritualization.

For example in the 6-11 stage…
Ritualization: Formality. There are appropriate ways of doing things (above being simply right or wrong).
Ritualism: Formalism (perfectionism)

And in the Young Adulthood 18-35 stage
Ritualization: Affiliation - “I’m OK, You’re OK”
Ritualism: elitism - status symbols, “Yuppies”

Question 24

What is Erikson’s triple bookkeeping approach (useful in psychography)?

Answer 24

Analysis of person is split into
Body - biology
Ego - personality
Culture - background