Latest / Professor Peterson’s Psychology Classroom / Trust to Wisdom: Erikson’s 8 Stages of Life Explained

Transcript

Trust to Wisdom: Erikson’s 8 Stages of Life Explained · Professor Peterson’s Psychology Classroom

0:05
Welcome to Professor Peterson's Psychology Classroom,
0:09
connecting the science of human behavior to everyday
0:12
life. Here's Dr. Curtis Peterson.
0:17
So the second theory that has really received
0:23
a lot of cultural both criticism and
0:28
curiosity about its cultural
0:31
transmission and its ability to transmit from one
0:35
culture to another is Erik Erikson's psychosocial
0:40
theory. Okay, again, we're talking about a stage
0:44
theory. Uh, in Erikson's stage,
0:48
each stage we come to what we call a psychosocial crisis
0:53
where if we get through it positively,
0:57
we go— we then have that kind of psychosocial
1:03
concept supported.
1:09
We gain some type of like feelings of trust
1:13
with our environment, self-sufficiency,
1:16
healthy relationships. If we don't
1:20
go through it successfully, we then end
1:24
up with some psychological concerns such as fear, lack of independence,
1:29
inability to identify appropriate roles in
1:33
life, difficulties with relationships.
1:37
Okay, um, and his, as it's mentioned,
1:40
is a psychosocial theory, meaning that, uh,
1:44
Basically in it, we're using the world and our experience
1:48
with our world to tell us something about
1:52
us and how we should and should not interact
1:56
with the world. Okay, so I'm going
2:01
to go through this very quickly. I will say, if you're going to analyze where
2:04
you are on all of these, I do say in Psych
2:08
101 and Psych 240 He originally said either
2:12
you get trust or mistrust. I would put these on a continuum
2:17
that's, for example, in this first stage where we
2:21
talk about trust versus mistrust, we're all probably
2:25
somewhere on a continuum between being
2:28
able to trust or mistrust. Some of us are more
2:33
in the middle. And so, and reason
2:37
behind, I would argue, to put this on continuum is our
2:41
social world, such our parents aren't perfect. I know
2:45
as a father with my son, I wasn't always the
2:49
best, most wonderful dad, but I also know
2:53
the times where I wasn't so
2:57
wonderful were minimal. So I hope my
3:00
son is more towards the trust side, but I know
3:04
because of my imperfection Uh, it's, uh,
3:08
it's, uh, probably somewhere, uh, on the continuum.
3:12
Okay, and so think
3:16
of it that way. We'll, we'll do it as Erikson, uh, proposed,
3:20
but he proposed in infancy that the first psychosocial
3:24
crisis we go through is trust versus mistrust.
3:28
Uh, and the reason he felt like this was the phase we go
3:32
through is an infant between birth to
3:36
1.5 years to 2 years of
3:40
age are completely dependent on their caregiver.
3:44
They're dependent upon them for food,
3:48
warmth, shelter,
3:52
social interaction.
3:56
And so this, according to Erikson, is the perfect
4:01
time for a child or a person to
4:05
learn whether or not they can trust people in their environment
4:09
or have mistrust for their environment and people.
4:12
Okay, and on the trust end, if you have
4:17
a very responsive caregiver, one that
4:20
comes when the baby, uh, needs changed
4:24
or fed, holds the baby, nurtures the baby,
4:28
What the baby is learning is trust.
4:33
Because what the infant usually does, and I'll give kind of the feeding
4:37
example, the baby cries, the mom comes
4:41
in and feeds the baby. And if you've ever noticed, if you've ever fed
4:46
a baby or even changed a baby, after the baby is done
4:51
with feeding, there is kind
4:55
of this interaction where the infant will purposely look at the caregiver
5:00
and do a coo or a smile or
5:04
a feeling, a behavioral feeling of satisfaction,
5:09
okay, which is rewarding that caregiver.
5:14
So it's a reciprocal relationship that
5:17
the caregiver comes,
5:21
feeds, we have this reciprocal reinforcement
5:28
between the caregiver and the infant.
5:30
And if this happens, the infant will develop what Erikson
5:34
called trust. However, if we have a very
5:38
non-responsive parent,
5:41
if the parent just comes in, feeds them, and then
5:44
just instantly lays them down, is emotionally
5:48
unavailable, this is where Erikson
5:52
argued that a child develops mistrust, meaning They can't
5:56
really rely on their caregiver. When the caregiver comes,
6:01
they seem to think it's the infant's fault that
6:05
they have needs and wants, and it's— they're
6:08
bothering the parent in some way. And this— in
6:12
this phase, the child develops mistrust,
6:17
meaning they are very fearful and concerned
6:21
about interacting with their social
6:25
world. Okay? Now, I want
6:29
to point out one thing, and this is important when you think about
6:34
Erikson's theory. These are not cognitive
6:38
tasks. The child, an infant, isn't sitting
6:42
there going, well, based on my experiences
6:46
with my caregiver, If I need something, they come,
6:50
they take care of me, and I smile at them,
6:53
and they enjoy that. And so I know next time,
6:58
uh, they're gonna come back and do the same thing. Okay,
7:02
this is not cognition. This is emotional,
7:07
psychological. This is being ingrained
7:11
deeper than our conscious understanding
7:16
of the world. And this is why
7:20
a very trusting, uh,
7:22
provider has to be very patient
7:27
with a child who seems very fearful,
7:31
who seems very aggressive, very concerned. They have
7:35
to build that trust because
7:39
the child isn't instantly cognitively
7:42
going, oh, I don't like this caregiver, they're going to be
7:46
like mom or the last caregiver,
7:50
and so I'm going to give their world hell. Okay,
7:53
children do not have that capability, and a lot
7:57
of times adults don't react with that level of cognition.
8:02
Okay, so that's
8:06
something to kind of keep in mind. As we progress
8:10
through these. These are happening at that emotional,
8:14
psychological level. Okay, when the
8:18
child progresses into early childhood, they will
8:22
be interacting with their world,
8:25
they'll be exploring, they'll be trying to figure it
8:29
out. And this is where Erikson
8:32
argues that a child has the best ability
8:36
to develop what's called autonomy, which is this
8:40
ability to safely explore the world and
8:44
know that if I get in trouble or if I have a
8:48
problem, I have enough trust with my
8:52
caregiver that I'll be okay.
8:55
So I can safely explore my world versus
9:00
shame and doubt. Where the child either just
9:04
lacks self-sufficiency and lacks
9:09
a level of independence that they either severely
9:13
react to their social world, meaning this is a
9:16
child who really doesn't care what
9:21
people think of them, and so I'm just gonna act in a—
9:25
the way I want to because it's gonna piss
9:29
off the world anyways. Or this is a child
9:33
who becomes that child who becomes very clingy to
9:37
the caregiver and very apprehensive about
9:41
leaving the caregiver in the caregiver's world. Okay,
9:46
um, and this because what the child is developing is
9:50
shame and doubt. Shame,
9:53
feeling that I'm not worthy, that me as a
9:56
person and my behaviors are
10:01
wrong and bad, and doubt in
10:05
that I'm not sure if I can interact with the world.
10:09
So the child who strongly clings to the caregiver,
10:14
the doubt comes into, I can't go interact with those
10:18
other children because they'll reject me. They— there's
10:23
something wrong with me. Okay,
10:26
um, and, and so what
10:30
does healthy autonomy and shame— I kind of explained what shame and doubt.
10:34
Autonomy is when a child has built what's known
10:38
as a secure base, which is usually the primary caregiver,
10:42
and they can go into their world and explore for 10-15
10:46
minutes, and then they'll go check on their secure base,
10:50
make sure they're okay, and then they'll go explore more.
10:53
Meaning that they'll indicate independence while
10:57
also reinforcing their relationship with
11:01
their secure base. So if they do get in trouble,
11:07
they know someone will respond. Okay.
11:12
And then we get into, into the play age
11:16
where we get into children more interacting with
11:21
other children. If you think about the age of between 2 and 3, this is
11:25
where we start looking at childcares,
11:29
preschools, and we're getting into the
11:33
kindergarten ages. And this is where a child is leaving
11:37
their secure base for a significant amount of time
11:42
and interacting usually with children or
11:46
peers of the same age, and they're negotiating that world.
11:50
Okay, and this is where Erikson believed we
11:54
developed initiative versus guilt.
11:57
Initiative is, uh, a child
12:02
who initiates action. They will say,
12:07
hey, let's do this. They will go freely explore
12:11
and set up a place where other children can come
12:15
and we can play house together, we can play I
12:20
don't know what kids, little kids play today. Um, we can play,
12:24
uh, with our trucks together or our dolls together,
12:28
and, uh, they can safely interact with their
12:32
peers and initiate, uh,
12:36
action with their peers. Guilt is
12:39
again where a child has a very insecure environment,
12:44
a very unstable environment, So they develop guilt.
12:48
Guilt comes out of shame and doubt,
12:52
but it's the constant idea that what I'm doing
12:56
is bad. I feel guilt because
13:01
even when I do something right, I don't know
13:04
if it was right in the first place because my environment
13:08
doesn't have sufficient information to
13:12
help me understand whether I do.
13:16
Behaviorally, this is the child who gets to child
13:20
care and they absolutely don't want to be there.
13:23
Okay. Or the child who will
13:26
go into the child care and
13:30
just take a toy away from another child
13:35
without concern for that other child. Why because
13:40
they feel so much shame, doubt, and guilt. Why not? They know they'll probably
13:44
be punished or someone will ignore
13:47
what they just did, um,
13:50
and the like. And at this point, I just
13:54
want to point out the emotional aspect of this.
13:59
These are not necessarily cognitive decisions.
14:04
A child doesn't walk into a child care and
14:07
go, What child's toy am I going to take
14:11
away? I think I'm going to take away Billy's because
14:15
I really like what Billy is doing,
14:20
and that toy after all should be mine,
14:23
and Billy can just take off. Okay.
14:28
No, if you, if you've ever worked in a childcare
14:32
setting or with young children and they've taken another toy away,
14:37
and you go and ask them, hey, why did you do that?
14:42
Um, the majority of this time you get this blank stare,
14:48
and they might utter out what they think you want to
14:52
hear. They'll say something like, well,
14:56
it was my turn, or, well,
14:59
he's played with it long enough. So they're giving the
15:03
verbal answers that they think would—
15:08
what the caregiver would expect them to say.
15:12
But at the emotional level,
15:17
that's where this behavior is not operating.
15:20
Okay? And again,
15:24
this is another good example of how these
15:28
things are happening at an emotional level And
15:33
the behaviors are being produced from an emotional
15:37
reaction. They're not decisions
15:41
that a child is consciously saying,
15:45
I'm going to burden this child today.
15:47
Okay, so this is the play,
15:51
uh, period. Okay, the next phase—
15:55
to kind of get through this, I should speed this up— is our school age.
15:59
And this is where, if you think about our school age, this is where we're
16:03
learning skills— writing, math,
16:06
reading, um,
16:10
hopefully, you know, maybe a shop class or a
16:15
home ec class or a music
16:20
class or sports or something like that—
16:24
where the child is really learning kind of, hey,
16:27
I'm good at this. Okay,
16:31
but what the child does during this phase is they start to get a sense
16:35
of, hey, I— this, this thing I am doing brings
16:39
me a lot of pleasure. And so then they test it
16:43
out on their social world. Does this bring the same type
16:47
of pleasure and appreciation to my family,
16:52
to my schoolmates, Um,
16:54
and the example I often give in, uh,
16:58
Psych 101 or Psych 240 is,
17:02
let's say little Billy is really enjoying learning how to
17:06
play the guitar. Okay, so he plays the guitar, and at
17:10
home mom and dad are so proud of him. They say he's doing really good,
17:14
it sounds wonderful. So little, little Billy decides,
17:18
well, if that's making mom and dad feel that way and they
17:22
like it. I'll go to school, um,
17:25
and he plays it in front of his schoolmates
17:29
and they go, Billy, you're going to be a rock star someday.
17:34
And sometimes if you watch little kids, another kid will go, I'll be
17:38
the drummer, I'll be the lead singer. And they, they're all developing
17:42
this notion around Billy's ability to
17:46
make something he does have meaning to others.
17:52
And this is what's— why Erikson termed this industry,
17:57
is that they're learning that something
18:01
I do has a value to
18:06
others as well. Okay,
18:09
on the inferiority sense, uh,
18:14
it's this notion that little Billy, you know, he plays the guitar
18:18
at home and Dad comes in and he says, Billy, Billy, I thought
18:22
I told you not to play that when I'm home. You can
18:25
practice when you're at work— when, when I'm at work,
18:29
but I don't want to hear it when I get home.
18:33
So little Billy goes, well, Mom and Dad don't like it. I wonder if
18:36
my friends will do. Um, and he goes
18:41
and plays a guitar in front of his friends, and his friends kind of go,
18:44
you know what, Billy, you should really stick to, you know, maybe reading
18:49
and math, or this just isn't really working,
18:52
uh, I think I'm gonna go play over
18:56
here. Okay, what he's learning is
18:59
that something that initially brought him value does
19:03
not necessarily have value, um,
19:07
to the world. But he noticed that other kids who play guitars
19:12
Uh, they— other children and
19:15
people gravitate towards them.
19:19
Maybe dad at home has a favorite guitarist
19:23
that when he gets home from work, that's the first thing
19:27
he puts on his, uh, I don't know if we have
19:31
iPods anymore, I'll say iTunes or what, you know,
19:34
whatever device they use, uh, and loves
19:38
to listen to a certain guitarist play during a,
19:41
uh, a song. And what
19:45
Little Billy is learning is the notion of inferiority, that what
19:50
he, he enjoys, others may not.
19:54
And this brings a sense of unmastery. This brings a
19:58
sense that I'm not as industrious,
20:02
I'm not as influential, I'm not as good
20:06
as other people. Okay,
20:10
so industry inferiority, then, uh, and then I'll
20:14
go through these rapidly. Identity versus role confusion.
20:17
During our adolescence, we test our different—
20:21
our identity separate from our family.
20:25
And this is something I would pay attention to culturally because
20:28
this has been the one that's been most debated, that during adolescence
20:32
what a child is really looking to do is establish their
20:36
independence separate from their family.
20:39
Who are they as an individual? Okay, and it is—
20:43
and if we look in Western culture and you ask
20:48
a child before about the age of 12, who are they,
20:52
they may say, oh, I'm a soccer player or something like that,
20:55
but usually they'll also include, I'm so-and-so's
21:00
son, Uh, Joey over there is my brother.
21:04
Um, um, and they'll identify,
21:08
um, uh,
21:11
with their family after about the age of
21:16
12. Uh, in most— again, I'm going to say this— weird
21:20
societies, you ask a 12
21:24
or above year old what— who are they, they will say I
21:28
am a soccer player. I'm a,
21:32
you know, I'm good at math. They will
21:35
maybe identify a friend outside their family.
21:38
They might say, Tom is my best friend.
21:42
And they'll leave those kind of familial ties out.
21:46
Okay. And this is truly the
21:50
period Erikson believed that we're really starting to develop identity
21:54
versus role confusion. That if we test out our identity,
21:58
we become self-aware and knowledgeable about who
22:02
we are and our roles that we will fit into.
22:06
Role confusion is that we develop this notion that
22:10
we really are very unstable, we don't know
22:14
who we are. And so that's identity, role,
22:17
and role confusion. The next stage is intimacy
22:22
versus isolation. That really the goal of
22:26
early adulthood is to find that
22:29
partner that you're going to establish your life
22:33
with. Um, and so if we have healthy
22:37
intimacy, we're able to engage in intimacy
22:42
and developing a partnership in a loving and healthy
22:47
way. We're able to engage in sexuality in a healthy
22:51
way with the individual, and we're able to develop a
22:55
close relationship. Versus isolation
23:00
is where we are fearful of human relationships.
23:03
We don't engage. We question ourselves about our
23:07
sexual abilities, our sexual relationships.
23:12
And so that's isolation.
23:15
Okay, middle adulthood, we get into stagnation
23:19
versus generativity. Middle adulthood is
23:22
a stage where many adults are
23:26
now going to start on taking on the role of
23:30
a parent. They're going to start caring
23:34
for another human being outside
23:38
of their intimate relationship. Um, they're also
23:42
going to want to make sure that that child
23:47
that they're raising has a healthy place to
23:50
be raised in. So they'll start to invest in their communities,
23:55
they'll pay closer attention to politics and
23:59
those kinds of things for, in their mind,
24:02
to create a healthier relationship and
24:07
contribution to the continuity of life. Okay,
24:11
this is versus stagnation, where an individual has
24:15
not been so successful in their life. They've struggled with intimate
24:18
relationships. They're having trouble understanding
24:22
their role as a parent. And so they, I,
24:27
they go through stagnation. They just can't move in the world.
24:31
And then the last stage Um, before we get into
24:36
on Tuesday culture is ego
24:39
identity versus despair. Okay, ego identity
24:44
is when an older person still has family
24:47
members coming and visiting them. They contributed
24:52
something to their work life that will continue on beyond them.
24:56
Really what they're saying is if when they pass
25:00
away they will be remembered for generations
25:04
after their passing. Okay, that's ego integrity.
25:10
Uh, despair is,
25:12
um, they feel like they had a wasted lifetime.
25:17
They don't have family and friends coming over and visiting
25:21
them anymore. Uh, they didn't make any
25:24
true contributions to their work or to their community.
25:30
And so they realize that once they're gone, they're gone.
25:34
They, they won't have any continuity beyond
25:38
their passing. So they live out their life in despair.
25:43
Thank you for joining us for this Psychology Explained.
25:46
I hope you'll join us in later episodes where we can— we'll continue
25:51
to investigate the human mind and psychology.