Human Growth and Development / Unit 1 HGD 0029 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Erikson's Eight Crises
The idea
Erikson described eight crises, each tied to an approximate age. Trust versus mistrust fills the first year; autonomy versus shame and doubt, ages one to three; initiative versus guilt, three to six; industry versus inferiority, about seven to eleven; identity versus confusion, twelve to eighteen; intimacy versus isolation, nineteen to twenty-nine; generativity versus stagnation, thirty to sixty-four; and integrity versus despair from sixty-five on. Each crisis resolved well leaves a strength, such as trust, identity or generativity.
In practice
One life read as eight turning points, from an infant's trust in caregivers to an older adult's review of a whole life.
Where people slip
The age bands are approximate, and textbooks differ: some place intimacy from nineteen to forty and generativity from forty to sixty-five. Erikson's crises have been criticised for fitting some cultures better than others, since a search for identity assumes adult roles offer many choices. On the exam, a middle-aged adult giving back to the next generation is working on generativity.
Your place on the trail
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