Skip to main content

True Conflict Resolution Theory

In the 1950’s, one man, named Erik Erickson, theorized that humans go through eight stages of development that will determine their identities. In each stage, a person faces what he called a “crisis” that must be resolved, or else problems will occur later in life.

1. Trust versus Mistrust (experienced in infancy): An infant must find whether he or she can trust his or her mother and environment. If the child can’t, he or she may not be able to form healthy relationships with others, or even themselves.

2. Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt (experienced as a toddler): In this stage, a toddler tries to become independent from his or her caregiver. If parents don’t give the child boundaries and choices, he or she will feel shame and doubt (likely because he or she is so dependent on the caregiver).

3. Initiative versus Guilt (experienced from ages 3-6): A child plans and executes his or her own goals and sets his or her own boundaries (like deciding to cross a street on his or her own or riding a bike with or without a helmet). If he or she can’t reach the goals, the child acts out and eventually feels guilty for not being able to reach his or her goals.

4. Industry versus Inferiority (ages 7-12): Children in this stage want to learn and accomplish skills (writing, reading, etc.). They need to experience the feeling of success. If he or she experiences too little success, he or she will begin to feel incompetent or inferior.

5. Identity versus Role Confusion (experienced during adolescence): Adolescents must think about and determine who they are, and “where they are going in life.” If they are not allowed to explore, they may become confused about their role life.

6. Intimacy versus Isolation (ages 20-34): A person in this stage must be ready for intimate relationships and commitment, but must be able to balance intimacy and being alone. He or she must also be able to accept rejection. A person will experience either intimate relationships, or will be isolated.

7. Generativity versus Stagnation (35-60 years): A person in this stage is concerned with guiding the next generation. If this person feels that he or she hasn’t contributed to the next generation, that person will be self-absorbed and stagnant.

8. Integrity versus Despair (ages 60 and up): A person in this stage looks back at his or her life with pride and gladness, or looks back with sadness and unforgiveness of himself or others. They become dissatisfied with the lives they’ve led.

Socrates said that an unexamined life is not worth living, meaning that you have to think about why you act and feel the way you do. Erikson puts that quote into greater perspective.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Persuasion

At different points in history, governments have devoted men, women, and resources to try to persuade others to their side. One significant example of this occurred in Germany under Adolf Hitler. Hitler knew how important it was to make sure the German people were on his side as leader of the country. One way he did this was by controlling what people heard. Specifically, near the beginning of World War II, Hitler made it a crime for anyone in Germany to listen to foreign radio broadcasts. These were called the “extraordinary radio measures.” He did this to ensure that Germans weren’t being persuaded by enemy countries to question their loyalty to Hitler. He knew that a German listening to a radio broadcast from Britain might persuade that German to believe that Great Britain was the good guy and Hitler the bad guy. This was so important, in fact, that two people in Germany were actually executed because they had either listened to or planned to listen to a foreign radio broadcast (one...
Post a Comment
Read more

Comparison

Psychologists and others have studied ways in which we compare ourselves to each other. One man named Leon Festinger argued that we tend to compare ourselves to other people when we don’t know how good or bad we are at something (like football or playing the guitar). One way we do this is when we compare ourselves to those who are not as good as we are, to protect our self-esteem (called “downward social comparison;” example: we’re playing basketball and miss most of our shots, but we feel okay because a teammate wasn’t even given the ball). Another comparison we make is when we compare ourselves to others who are doing much better than we are (called “upward social comparison”). When we see others who appear to be doing better than we are, we can respond by trying to improve ourselves, or by trying to protect ourselves by telling ourselves it’s not that important. There was a study published in 1953 by Solomon Asch, who asked students to take part in a “vision test.” The par...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thoughts on Academic Purpose

If I could tell my students how to choose a path of employment, I would emphasize that no effective writer, historian, athlete, musician, or scientist became such without dedicating themselves to some goal. For that to have taken place, however, the respective expert must have had a firm idea about why they were doing what they were doing. In other words, they must have had purpose. Karl Marx spent countless hours in English libraries, I would share, to understand the functioning of society in order to improve it; while Isaac Newton often went without food to gain a firmer grasp of the science of motion, and eventually revised that science. They did this because they had a clear purpose, a real reason for doing what they were doing that would affect others around them. I would communicate that whatever passion students tap into, it should be embarked upon with that kind of clear goal in mind. While they may not know which passions they have yet, I would emphasize that school is a time ...
Post a Comment
Read more