Current issues essay

Part III Theories That Emphasize the Interaction

Between the Person and the Environment

The theories presented in the first section of the book highlighted biologically based patterns or directions of development that unfold in the context of adaptation to varied environments. The theories presented in the second section of the book highlighted the impact of varied environments in shaping thought and action. The theories covered in this final section view development as a product of ongoing interaction between the person and the environment. The distinction between person and environment is less clear in these theories. A few examples might help to illustrate this perspective.

When a baby emits babbling and cooing noises, these noises become part of the baby’s auditory environment. Thus, the infant is producing his or her environment. At later phases of development, individuals make choices about toys to play with, friends, books to read, places to live, activities and so on that reflect the person’s temperament, skills, interests, and needs. In this sense, a person’s environment is, in part, an expression of the person.

On the other hand, the environment is integrated into the person and guides action. For example, an infant will use a different mode of locomotion on a flat surface, an incline, or on steps. The kind of motor pattern you observe includes the infant’s adaptation to the environment. Action is context-specific. The behaviors you may observe when a person meets you for the first time are not the same behaviors you would observe if the person knows you well. The person modifies his or her behavior to adapt to the context. Knowledge of the environment and past experiences in similar situations influence a person’s expectations and subsequent actions.

These examples illustrate the bidirectional influences of person and environment, and suggest the need for new ways of thinking about the interpenetration of person and environment as they contribute to development.

The theories that illustrate this perspective are psychosocial theory, cognitive social- historical theory, bioecological theory, and dynamic systems theory. Each of these theories offers a way of thinking about the ongoing interaction of individuals and their environments over time. Psychosocial theory focuses on the development of personality, self-understanding, and a worldview that guides a person’s orientation toward self and others over the life course.

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Psychosocial theory highlights the cultural context within which the person is maturing. Cognitive social-historical theory focuses on the development of thought and language, meaning, and the interconnections between learning and development. Bioecological theory examines individual development in the context of multiple layers of interacting systems that are changing over time. Dynamic systems theory offers a framework for exploring the mechanisms of continuity and change in any type of living system. The theory has been applied to human development in a variety of domains including motor development, skill development, parent–child relationships, and cognition.

Psychosocial theory grew from roots in psychosexual theory, cultural anthropology, and psychosocial evolution. The theory defines human development as a product of the ongoing interaction of an individual’s biological and psychological needs and abilities on the one hand, and societal expectations on the other. Psychosocial theory predicts an orderly sequence of change in ego development and social relationships from infancy through late life. At each stage, new abilities and coping strategies emerge for engaging in social relationships and for meeting the demands of an ever-changing, increasingly complex social world.

Cognitive social-historical theory was developed in the time shortly after the Russian Revolution. The theory suggests that development begins in a social relationship between mother and child. The components of this relationship are internalized by the child and guide his or her behavior. Over the course of development, cognition advances from sources external to the child (intermental) to internalized thinking (intramental). The child learns best when a responsive adult or more skilled peer poses problems and guides solutions that are slightly beyond a child’s current level of functioning. The child learns to guide his or her own behavior by developing an inner voice or inner speech that is a product of this social support and guidance.

Bioecological theory provides a model for thinking about the changing person in a web of interconnected environments, some of which the person can influence directly, and others which impinge on the person through their influence on related family members, important institutions, cultural norms, and governmental policies. Both personal characteristics, such as temperament or intelligence, and specific behaviors, such as crying or helping someone, can modify the environment and alter its subsequent impact. Similar to life course theory, bioecological theory widens our view about the diversity of relevant environments, and also introduces new ideas about the ongoing interactions of persons and settings.

Dynamic systems theory has its roots in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. It was initially applied to the study of human development through the analysis of motor behavior. Development is understood as the result of multiple, mutual and continuous interactions among all levels of a developing system from the molecular to the cultural. The premise is that development is not guided by an executive, hierarchical plan either at the biological or the environmental level. Rather, new organizational patterns emerge as a result of the coordination and integration of recurring actions on many levels at once. The theory offers a way of linking the substantial variability of individual behaviors with the emergence of patterns and qualitative shifts in behavior over time.

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8 Psychosocial Theory

CHAPtER outLINE

Case Vignette 226 Historical Context 228 Key Concepts 230 Stages of Development 230 Psychosocial Crisis 232 Radius of Significant Relationships 234 Prime Adaptive Ego Qualities 234 Core Pathologies 235 New Directions 235 Additional Psychosocial Stages 235 Integration of Developmental Tasks 238 The Central Process for Resolving the Psychosocial Crisis 239 A Research Example: Individual Identity 240 Identity Status 240 Developmental Progression of Identity Statuses 241 An Application: The Role of Hope in Coping and Problem Solving 242 How Does Psychosocial Theory Answer the Basic Questions That a Theory of Human Development Is Expected to Address? 243 Critique of Psychosocial Theory 247 Strengths 247 Weaknesses 248 Critical Thinking Questions and Exercises 250 Key Terms 250 Recommended Resources 251 References 251

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CASE VIGNEttE

It is 1965 in Columbus, Ohio. Lillian has graduated from college where she majored in English. She is hoping to marry her steady boyfriend, Michael, who has a degree in engineering. Her desire to form a close, loving bond with a caring, ambitious partner who will be able to provide a comfortable life is central to her life plan. Lillian’s friends and family are enthusiastic about the relationship, and after a year-long courtship, Lillian and Michael are married. Their life is a pleasant blend of household manage- ment, social life with neighbors, periodic visits with family members, and some travel. At this point, the work of forming a satisfying, cooperative close relationship is very satisfying. It meets their personal needs and fits well into the expectations of their friends and family.

Now fast forward to 1985. Lillian is 42. Michael is a senior partner in his engineering firm, experiencing the positive rewards of leadership, community status, and financial success. He comes home after work, expecting Lillian to have a nice dinner ready. After dinner, he reads the paper, watches the sports channel on television, has a glass or two of wine, kisses Lillian goodnight, and goes to bed.

In the afternoons, Lillian has been going to a consciousness-raising group at the community center. She and her neighbors have been thinking about the meaning of their lives, the nature of their relationships, and the way they spend their days. She still admires Michael, but is starting to feel stifled by the routine of their life together, and the limits of her ability to “make a difference” in the world. Lillian wants to know how she can contribute to something beyond her own immediate family. When she talks to Michael about her feelings, he seems impatient, feeling that the life they have built together over the past 20 years is very satisfying. “I still love you, just as I did when we met. And I don’t want anything to change.” But Lillian has a strong sense that something has to change if she is going to continue to keep growing as a person.

GuIDING QuEStIoNS

• How would you characterize the similarities and differences between psychoanalytic theory and psychosocial theory? How are they related? What are four or five important distinctions between these theories?

• What is the direction of development in psychosocial theory? How would you characterize the path or pattern of maturity in this theory?

• What are some possible consequences of positive and negative development? • How does this theory incorporate the role of culture? What are some mechanisms

through which culture influences development at each stage of life? • Each stage of life is viewed as presenting a unique set of conflicting forces. Which stages

do you consider to be the most difficult in contemporary U.S. culture? Why? • Looking back over your life, identify some examples of experiences that support the

central concept of a psychosocial crisis at each stage of life.

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Psychosocial theory is unique in giving us a look at the inner world of thoughts, feelings, and desires that create a sense of self in the society. The theory introduces a picture of a dynamic tension or dialectic between opposing forces that shift from one stage of life to the next. Within this framework, the theory sketches out the signposts of an interdependent process through which societies direct the paths of maturity, and individuals struggle to resolve conflicts that will enable them to achieve new levels of maturity. At each stage of life, the process of growth results from the interaction of individuals’ drives, goals, and abilities, and the expectations and demands of the culture. In order for the society to thrive, individuals must be able to make their way along a path of ethical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal challenges. In order for individuals to thrive, societies must be structured to recognize and support these emerging capacities. The theory shines a light on the inner world of the person, who is striving to find a sense of balance and purpose over a long life in a changing world.

In the case presented above, we see the dynamic interplay between personal development and societal change for Lillian and Michael. In their early adulthood, the primary psychosocial theme was the desire for a sense of intimacy, which they achieve within a normative social context for marriage, while emphasizing a culturally approved pattern in which men were the primary breadwinners, and women were primarily responsible for the care of home and family. Twenty years later, the developmental issues shift toward concerns for personal meaning in life, and a goal of experiencing a generative impact on others. Within this developmental context, we see a situation in which Lillian and Michael no longer share the same, harmonious expression of their developmental needs, brought about in part by the rapid changes in social, economic, and cultural conditions especially related to the opening up of new roles for women in education and the labor market. Questions emerge about how Lillian and Michael will resolve this interpersonal tension. Can Lillian spur Michael into a more coordinated, growth-directed life path? Will Lillian become disillusioned in her marriage and strive to establish a more independent, authentic path toward generativity on her own? Or is their future likely to drift along toward stagnation, protecting what they have but withdrawing from the risks that are associated with change?

Psychosocial theory seeks to explain changes in self-understanding, social relationships, and one’s relationship to society as a product of interactions among biological, psychological, and societal systems. Changes in one of the three systems (biological, psychological, or societal) generally bring about changes in the others. From the psychosocial perspective, development results from the continuous interaction of the individual and the social environment. At each period of life, people spend much of their time mastering a unique group of psychological tasks that are essential for social adaptation within their society. Each life stage brings a normative crisis, which can be viewed as a tension between one’s competencies and the new demands of society. People strive to reduce this tension by using a variety of familiar coping strategies and by learning new ones. A positive resolution of each crisis provides a new set of social abilities that enhance a person’s capacity to adapt successfully in the succeeding stages. A negative resolution of a crisis typically results in defensiveness, rigidity, or withdrawal, which decreases a person’s ability to adapt successfully in succeeding stages.

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HIStoRICAL CoNtExt

The person who is identified with the development of psychosocial theory is Erik Erikson. He and his wife Joan worked together to formulate the first presentation of the theory and its eight stages of development in 1950 (Erikson, J.M., 1988). Erik Erikson was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1902. His mother was unmarried, and he never knew the identity of his biological father. Erikson’s Danish mother, Karla Abrahamsen, married a Jewish stockbroker before Erikson’s birth, but the marriage did not last. Before Erik’s third birthday, his mother married a German- Jewish pediatrician, Theodor Homburger, who gave Erik his surname. In his detailed biography of Erikson, Lawrence Friedman (1999) described Erikson’s continuing efforts to unravel the mysteries of his origin, and the convergence of this personal dilemma with Erikson’s emphasis on identity and the identity crisis.

Erikson was not a very good student and had trouble settling on a vocation. At age 18, after completing gymnasium (German secondary school that prepares students to study at a university), Erikson traveled around Europe for a year, spending several months on the shores of Lake Constance, reading, writing, and enjoying the beauty of the setting. When he returned home, he enrolled in art school and pursued this study for the next few years. After traveling to Florence, Italy, where he concluded that he was not going to succeed as an artist, he and some of his friends, including Peter Blos, wandered around for a time searching for a sense of themselves and their personal resources (Coles, 1970).

Erikson and Blos accepted an invitation to teach at a private school that had been founded by Anna Freud for the children of students at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. Erikson proved to be so talented in working with children that he was selected to be a full member of the society, where he studied the techniques of psychoanalysis and underwent a training analysis with Anna Freud. His decision to become an analyst was encouraged by the supportive, influential analysts of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society who were eager to help promising people enter the field they had created. Erikson’s admission to training was unusual in that he had neither a university nor a medical degree.

In 1933, after analytic training and marriage to Joan, whom he met in Vienna, he set off to the United States. He became one of the first child analysts in Boston, and began collaborating with Henry Murray at Harvard. By 1935, he went to Yale, and 2 years after that he went off to study the Sioux Indians in South Dakota. He benefited from the support and encouragement of a number of cultural anthropologists and sociologists who encouraged his interest in the integration of psychoanalysis and sociocultural processes.

After completing his research about the Sioux, he opened a clinical practice in San Francisco. During this time, he also became a faculty member at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1950, Erikson left Berkeley and became an analyst on the staff of the Austin Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In the late 1950s he became a professor of human development at Harvard, and he retained this position until his retirement. Erikson’s major theoretical work, Childhood and society, was synthesized while he was at Berkeley and published in 1950 when he was 48. In this work, Erikson presented his psychosocial theory of development. A revised edition was published in 1963, and he expanded and revised his theory in many other books and papers.

His thinking was influenced by a variety of sources. His training as an analyst was very influential in his view of an epigenetic, stage view of development. He viewed development as a progression in which the orientation or outlook acquired in earlier stages influenced one’s

Psychosocial Theory • 229

approach to subsequent stages. Erikson’s theory is often grouped with other psychoanalytic theories. However, his theory contributed a number of novel ideas that place it in a category of its own. The theory extends the view of development beyond adolescence into early, middle, and later adulthood. In comparison to the psychoanalytic tradition, which is focused on psychosexual development, Erikson became increasingly interested in the emergence of the skills necessary to participate in social life and to be meaningfully integrated into one’s society. He focused on the emergence of ego strengths and competences rather than on the vulnerabilities and defenses that crystallize when needs are not gratified. Nonetheless, by casting his view of development as a dialectic tension between positive and negative forces, his theory offers a conception of vulnerabilities as well as strengths. The theory places culture in a central position, opening the way to thinking about the possibility of universal directions for development embedded in unique and varied cultural pathways.

Erikson’s observations of American Indian tribes were guided by current research in cultural anthropology, and awakened his understanding of the way cultural norms and values are transmitted through childrearing and the socialization of children. He was a careful observer of daily behaviors such as nursing, toilet training, play, discipline, and other forms of adult– child interaction. In contrast to Freud’s theory which relied on reports from adult patients about recollections of their childhood, Erikson’s ideas were based more on the direct observation of children.

The fact that he was not trained in a specific intellectual field at the university level meant that Erikson was open to a variety of intellectual traditions. He was able to conceptualize aspects of social life that he observed but that were not yet part of traditional disciplines, such as psychology or psychoanalysis. For example, he corresponded with Julian Huxley, who was an evolutionary theorist. Huxley used the term psychosocial evolution to refer to those human abilities that have allowed people to gather knowledge from their ancestors and transmit it to their descendants. Childrearing practices, education, and modes of communication transmit information and ways of thinking from one generation to the next. At the same time, people learn how to acquire new information, ways of thinking, and ways of teaching their discoveries to others. In Huxley’s thinking, psychosocial evolution proceeded at a rapid pace, bringing with it changes in technology and ideology that have allowed people to create and modify the physical and social environments in which they live (Huxley, 1941, 1942/1974).

In one of his letters to Erikson, Huxley asked how we could account for certain higher-level social concepts, such as intimacy, identity, generativity, and wisdom. His point was that these are some of the finest aspects of human capacity, but they were not really addressed in the existing psychological theories. Much of Erikson’s theoretical focus was on trying to account for the emergence of these higher order capacities in adolescence and adulthood.

During this time, other theorists also were focusing on the development of mature competences that help support advanced functioning over the life course. Scholars such as Bernice Neugarten (1968), Robert Havighurst (1953, 1948/1972), and Robert White (1960) were building a framework for the study of personality development, competence, and mastery in adulthood. In the 1970s, theorists, including Daniel Levinson (1977; Levinson, Darrow, Klein, Levinson, & McKee, 1978), Roger Gould (1972), and George Vaillant (1977), developed related ideas about stages or phases of adult life, with a particular emphasis on the search for meaning that accompanies shifts in work, family, parenting, and self-understanding. The focus of this chapter is on Erikson’s construction of psychosocial theory, with a recognition that his ideas converged with those of others working at about the same time.

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kEy CoNCEPtS

As proposed by Erik Erikson, psychosocial theory accounts for systematic change over the life span through five basic concepts: (a) stages of development, (b) psychosocial crises, (c) a radius of significant relationships, (d) prime adaptive ego qualities, and (e) core pathologies.

Stages of Development

A developmental stage is a period of life that is characterized by a specific underlying organization. At every stage, some characteristics differentiate it from the preceding and succeeding stages. Stage theories propose a specific direction for development. At each stage, the accomplishments from the previous stages provide resources for mastering the new challenges. Each stage is unique and leads to the acquisition of new skills related to new capabilities (Davison, King, Kitchener, & Parker, 1980; Flavell, 1982; Levin, 1986). Within the framework of psychosocial theory the concept of stages of development refers to patterns of changes in self-concept and a coordinated sense of self in society based on new cognitive capacities, new learning, and new relationship skills. At each stage, the biological, psychological, and societal systems converge around a set of defining challenges that require a new view of the self in society and a new way of relating to others (Whitbourne, Sneed, & Sayer, 2009; Newman and Newman, 2015).

Erikson (1950/1963) proposed that the stages of development follow the epigenetic principle, a biological plan for growth that allows each function to emerge systematically until the fully functioning organism has developed. An assumption of this and other stage theories is that the stages form a sequence. Although one can anticipate challenges that will occur at a later stage, one passes through the stages in an orderly pattern of growth. In the logic of psychosocial theory, the entire life span is required for all the functions of psychosocial development to appear and become integrated. There is no going back to an earlier stage because experience makes retreat impossible. In contrast to other stage theories, however, Erikson suggested that one can review and reinterpret previous stages in the light of new insight and/or new experiences. In addition, the themes of earlier stages may reemerge at any point, bringing a new meaning or a new resolution to an earlier conflict. Joan Erikson reflects on the fluidity and hopefulness in this perspective:

This sequential growth . . . is now known to be more influenced by the social milieu than was in previous years considered possible . . . Where a strength is not adequately developed according to the given sequence for its scheduled period of critical resolution, the supports of the environment may bring it into appropriate balance at a later period. Hope remains constant throughout life that more sturdy resolutions of the basic confrontation may be realized. (Erikson, 1988, pp. 74–75)

Erikson (1950/1963) proposed eight stages of psychosocial development. The conception of these stages can be traced in part to the stages of psychosexual development proposed by Freud and in part to Erikson’s own observations and rich mode of thinking.

Figure 8.1 is the chart Erikson produced in Childhood and society to describe the stages of psychosocial development. The diagonal boxes identify the main psychosocial ego conflicts of each stage. These ego conflicts produce new ego skills. In Erikson’s original model, you will note that the periods of life are given names, such as oral-sensory or puberty and adolescence, but no ages. This approach reflected Erikson’s emphasis on an individual timetable for development, guided by both biological maturation and cultural expectations.

Psychosocial Theory • 231

The concept of life stages permits us to consider the various aspects of development such as physical growth, social relationships, and cognitive capacities at a given period of life and to speculate about their interrelation. It also encourages a focus on the experiences that are unique to each life period—experiences that deserve to be understood both in their own right and for their contribution to subsequent development.

One must avoid thinking of stages as pigeonholes. Just because a person is described as being at a given stage does not mean that he or she cannot function at other levels. It is not unusual for people to anticipate later challenges before they become dominant. Many children of toddler (muscular-anal) and preschool (locomotor-genital) age, for example, play house, envisioning having a husband or a wife and children. You might say that, in this play, they are anticipat- ing the issues of intimacy and generativity that lie ahead. The experience of having a child, whether this occurs at age 18, 25, or 35, is likely to raise issues of generativity, even if the theory suggests that this theme is not in its peak ascendancy until middle adulthood (McAdams & de St. Aubin, 1998). While some elements of each psychosocial theme can be observed at all ages, the intensity with which they are expressed at certain times marks their importance in the definition of a developmental stage. Erikson, Erikson, and Kivnick (1986) put it this way:

The epigenetic chart also rightly suggests that the individual is never struggling only with the tension that is focal at the time. Rather, at every successive developmental stage, the individual

Figure 8.1 Erikson’s Model of the Psychosocial Stages of Development

Source: From Childhood and society by Erik H. Erikson. Copyright © 1950, © 1963 by W. W. Norton & Company, renewed ©1978, 1991, by Erik H. Erikson. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1. O ral- sensory

2. Muscular- anal

3. Locomotor- genital

4. Latency

5. Puberty and adolecence

6. Young adulthood

7. Adulthood

8. Maturity

Basic trust vs.

Mistrust

Autonomy vs. Shame,

doubt

Initiative vs.

Guilt

Industry vs.

Inferiority

Identity vs. Role

confusion

Intimacy vs.

Isolation

Generativity vs.

Stagnation

Ego integrity vs.

Despair

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is also increasingly engaged in the anticipation of tensions that have yet to become focal and in reexperiencing those tensions that were inadequately integrated when they were focal; similarly engaged are those whose age-appropriate integration was then, but is no longer, adequate. (p. 39)

As one leaves a stage, the achievements of that period are neither lost nor irrelevant to later stages. Although the theory suggests that important ego strengths emerge from the successful resolution of conflicts at every stage, one should not assume that these strengths, once established, are never challenged or shaken. Events may take place later in life that call into question the essential beliefs established in an earlier period.

For example, the psychosocial conflict during early school age (locomotor-genital stage) is initiative versus guilt. Its positive outcome, a sense of initiative, is a joy in innovation and experimentation and a willingness to take risks in order to learn more about the world. Once achieved, the sense of initiative provides a positive platform for the formation of social relationships as well as for further creative intellectual inquiry and discovery. However, experiences in a highly authoritarian school environment or in a very judgmental, shaming personal relationship may cause one to inhibit this sense of initiative or to mask it with a facade of indifference.

The idea of life stages highlights the changing orientations toward one’s self and others that dominate periods of the life span. Movement from one stage to the next is the result of changes in several major systems at approximately the same time. The new mixture of needs, capabilities, and expectations is what produces the new orientation toward experience at each stage.

Psychosocial Crisis

A psychosocial crisis refers to a state of tension that results from the discrepancies between the person’s competences at the beginning of a stage and the society’s expectations for behavior at that period of life (Erikson, 1950/1963). The psychosocial crisis arises because one must make psychological efforts to adjust to the demands of the social environment at each stage of development (Erikson, 1950/1963). The word crisis in this context refers to a normal set of stresses and strains rather than to an extraordinary set of events. Societal demands vary from stage to stage. People experience these demands as mild but persistent expectations for behavior. They may be demands for greater self-control, further development of skills, or a stronger commitment to goals. Before the end of each stage of development, the individual tries to achieve a resolution, to adjust to society’s demands, and at the same time to translate those demands into personal terms. This process produces a state of tension that the individual must reduce in order to proceed to the next stage.

Psychosocial Crises of the Life Stages. Figure 8.1 lists the psychosocial crisis at each stage of development from infancy (oral-sensory) through later adulthood (maturity). This scheme, derived from Erikson’s model, expresses the crises as polarities—for example, trust versus mistrust, and autonomy versus shame and doubt. These contrasting conditions suggest the underlying dimensions along which each psychosocial crisis is resolved. According to psychosocial theory, most people experience both positive and negative ends of the continuum. The inevitable discrepancy between one’s level of development at the beginning of a stage and society’s push for a new level of functioning by the end of it creates at least a mild degree of the negative condition. Even within a loving, caring family environment that promotes trust, an infant will experience

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some moments of frustration or disappointment that result in mistrust. The outcome of the crisis at each stage is a balance or integration of the two opposing forces. For each person, the relative frequency and significance of positive and negative experiences will contribute to a resolution of the crisis that lies along a continuum from extremely positive to extremely negative.

The likelihood of a completely positive or a completely negative resolution is small. Most individuals resolve the crises in a generally positive direction, supported by a combination of positive experiences combined with natural maturational tendencies. At each successive stage, however, the likelihood of a negative resolution increases as societal demands become more complex and the chances of encountering societal barriers to development increase. A positive resolution of each crisis provides new ego strengths that help the person meet the demands of the next stage. A negative resolution contributes to withdrawal and rigidity that make it more difficult to meet the new demands of the next stage.

To understand the process of growth at each life stage, we have to consider the negative as well as the positive pole of each crisis. The dynamic tension between the positive and negative forces respects and reflects the struggles we all encounter to restrain unbridled impulses, to overcome fears and doubts, and to look past our own needs to consider the needs of others. The negative poles offer insight into basic areas of human vulnerability. Experienced in moderation, the negative forces result in a clarification of ego positions, individuation, and moral integrity. While a steady diet of mistrust is undesirable, for example, it is important that a trusting person be able to evaluate situations and people for their trustworthiness and to discern cues about safety or danger in any encounter. In every psychosocial crisis, experiences at both the positive and the negative poles contribute to the total range of a person’s adaptive capacities.

The term crisis implies that normal development does not proceed smoothly. The theory hypothesizes that tension and conflict are necessary to the developmental process. Crisis and its resolution are basic, biologically based components of life experience at every stage. In fact, they are what drives the ego system to develop new capacities.

The term psychosocial draws attention to the fact that the psychosocial crises are, in part, the result of cultural pressures and expectations. As part of normal development, individuals will experience tension because of the culture’s need to socialize and integrate its members. The concept acknowledges the dynamic conflicts between individuality and group membership at each period of life.

The exact nature of the conflict is not the same at each stage. For example, few cultural limits are placed on infants. The outcome of the infancy stage depends greatly on the skill of the caregiver. At early school age, the culture stands in fairly direct opposition to the child’s initiative in some matters by discouraging curiosity or questioning about certain topics, and offers abundant encouragement to a child’s initiative in others. In young adulthood, the dominant cultural push is toward the establishment of intimate relationships; yet an individual may be unable to attain intimacy because of the lack of time to cultivate intimate relationships, competing pressures from the workplace, cultural norms against certain expressions of intimacy, or restrictions against certain types of unions.

As reflected in the epigenetic principle, the succession of crises occurs in a predictable sequence over the life course. Although Erikson did not specify the exact ages for each crisis, the theory hypothesizes an age-related progression in which each crisis has its time of special ascendancy. The combination of biological, psychological, and societal forces that operate to bring about change has a degree of regularity within society that places each psychosocial crisis at a particular period of life.

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Radius of Significant Relationships

The third organizing principle of psychosocial theory is the radius of significant relationships (Erikson, 1982, p. 31). These relationships are thought to be the vehicle or channel through which age-related cultural and community expectations are communicated. A person’s ego includes a social processing system that is sensitive to social expectations. Initially, a person focuses on a small number of relationships, beginning with the primary caregivers, siblings, and other close family members. During childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, the number of relationships expands and the quality of these relationships takes on greater variety in depth and in intensity. In later adulthood, the person often returns to a smaller number of extremely important relationships that provide opportunities for great depth and intimacy.

At each stage of life, this network of relationships determines the demands that will be made on the person, the way he or she will be taken care of, and the meaning that the person will derive from the relationships. The relationship network varies from person to person, but each person has a network of significant relationships and an increasing readiness to enter into more complex social life (Vanzetti & Duck, 1996). The quality of these relationships and the norms for interaction influence the way the psychosocial crisis of the stage is experienced, and the interpersonal context in which it is resolved.

Prime Adaptive Ego Qualities

According to psychosocial theory, at each stage of life, consistent efforts to face and cope with the psychosocial crisis of the period result in the formation of basic adaptive capacities referred to as the prime adaptive ego qualities. When coping is unsuccessful and the challenges of the period are not adequately mastered, individuals are likely to form maladaptive orientations, referred to as the core pathologies.

Erikson (1978) postulated prime adaptive ego qualities that develop from the positive resolution of the psychosocial crisis of a given stage and provide resources for coping with the next. Drawing upon his concept of an epigenetic principle, Erikson viewed the prime adaptive ego qualities as guided by evolution and embedded into the developmental blueprint for human maturation. “Without them, and their re-emergence from generation to generation, all other and more changeable systems of human values lose their spirit and their relevance” (Erikson, 1950/1963, p. 274).

When the psychosocial crisis is resolved with a favorable balance between the positive and the negative poles, an enduring strength emerges. Erikson described these qualities as mental states that form a basic orientation toward the interpretation of life experiences. A sense of competence, for example, permits a person to feel free to exercise his or her wits to solve problems without being weighed down by a sense of inferiority.

The prime adaptive ego qualities and their definitions are: (a) infancy–hope, which is an enduring belief that one can attain one’s deep and essential wishes; (b) toddlerhood–will, which is a determination to exercise free choice and self-control; (c) early school age–purpose, which is the courage to imagine and pursue valued goals; (d) middle childhood–competence, which is the free exercise of skill and intelligence in the completion of tasks; (e) early adolescence– fidelity to others, which is the ability freely to pledge and sustain loyalty to others; (f ) later adolescence–fidelity to values, which is the ability freely to pledge and sustain loyalty to values and ideologies; (g) early adulthood–love, which is a capacity for mutuality that transcends childhood dependency; (h) middle adulthood–care, which is a commitment to concern about what has

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been generated; and (i) later adulthood–wisdom, which is a detached yet active concern with life itself in the face of death.

These ego qualities contribute to the person’s dominant worldview, which is continuously reformulated to accommodate new ego qualities. The importance of many of the prime adaptive ego qualities has been verified by research. For example, hope has been identified as a significant factor in allowing people to cope with adversity as well as to organize their actions to achieve difficult goals (Snyder, 1994). People with a hopeful attitude have a better chance of maintaining their spirits and strength in the face of crisis than people who are pessimistic. In interviews with people in very old age, Erikson and his colleagues found that those who were hopeful about their own future as well as that of their children were more intellectually vigorous and psychologically resilient than those not characterized by this orientation (Erikson et al., 1986).

Core Pathologies

Although most people develop the prime adaptive ego qualities, a potential core pathology or destructive force may also develop as a result of ineffective, negatively balanced crisis resolution at each stage (Erikson, 1982). The core pathologies and their definitions are: (a) infancy– withdrawal, social and emotional detachment; (b) toddlerhood–compulsion, repetitive behaviors motivated by impulse or by restrictions against the expression of impulse; (c) early school age– inhibition, a psychological restraint that prevents freedom of thought, expression, and activity; (d) middle childhood–inertia, a paralysis of action and thought that prevents productive work; (e) early adolescence–dissociation, an inability to connect with others; (f ) later adolescence– repudiation, rejection of most roles and values because they are viewed as alien to oneself; (g) early adulthood–exclusivity, an elitist shutting out of others; (h) middle adulthood–rejectivity, unwillingness to include certain others or groups of others in one’s generative concern; and (i) later adulthood–disdain, a feeling of scorn for the weakness and frailty of oneself and others.

The core pathologies also serve as guiding orientations for behavior. These pathologies move people away from others, tend to prevent further exploration of interpersonal relations, and obstruct the resolution of subsequent psychosocial crises. The energy that would normally be directed toward mastering the developmental tasks of a stage is directed instead toward resisting or avoiding change. The core pathologies are not simply passive limitations or barriers to growth. They are energized worldviews leading to strategies that protect people from further unwanted association with the social system and its persistent, tension-producing demands. Figure 8.2 illustrates the mechanism for positive and negative psychosocial development at each stage.

NEw DIRECtIoNS

Psychosocial theory has been expanded and elaborated upon as a framework for studying development across the life span (Newman & Newman, 1975, 2015). This perspective integrates two additional constructs: developmental tasks, and a central process for resolving the psychosocial crisis. It also expands the number of life stages and the related psychosocial crises. The three additional stages are prenatal development, early adolescence, and elderhood.

Additional Psychosocial Stages

The addition of three new stages provides a good demonstration of the process of theory con- struction. Theories of human development emerge and change within a cultural and historical

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context. Patterns of biological and psychosocial evolution occur within a cultural frame of ref- erence. The prenatal stage is added to the stages of psychosocial development in the context of a growing body of research that illuminates the dynamic interaction of the genetically guided plan for fetal development and the fetal environment. This fetal environment is further influenced by features of the social and cultural contexts within which pregnancy occurs. Thus, the status of the fetus at birth is already a product of a psychosocial dynamic.

The division of the adolescent period into two psychosocial stages is a product of changes in the timing of onset of puberty in modern society, the expanding need for education and training before entry into the world of work, related changes in the structure of the educational system, and the variety of the available life choices in work, marriage, parenting, and ideology. The period of later adolescence, which is described in many of Erikson’s writings as characterized by its focus on individual identity, is an effort to find a meaningful integration of one’s roles that is acceptable and valued by society. Recent research has linked this capacity for self-reflection and the capacity

Figure 8.2 Mechanism for Positive and Negative Psychosocial Development

Source: From B.M. Newman & P.R. Newman (2015). Development through life: A psychosocial approach. 12th ed. © 2015 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning, Inc. Reproduced by permission. www.cengage.com/permissions

New capabilities for future development

Prime adaptive ego qualities

Growth forces

Crisis resolution

Destructive forces

Core pathologies

Restriction of development

or

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to integrate diverse information into a complex, abstract sense of oneself with the continuing maturation of the prefrontal cortex tied to decision making, planning, and goal setting (Steinberg, 2005). The idea of later adolescence as a distinct stage of development has been supported by a growing body of research summarized by Jeffrey Arnett (1998, 2000, 2004). Arnett refers to this stage of life as emerging adulthood.

The period of early adolescence is characterized by its focus on social or group identity and its ties to the psychosocial transitions associated with pubertal change. The psychosocial crisis of this stage is group identity versus alienation. This crisis captures the tension between feeling that one is meaningfully connected to a valued social group and a sense of social estrangement. The prime adaptive ego quality is fidelity to others, a willingness to pledge one’s loyalties to others and to sustain one’s commitments to them. The core pathology is dissociation, a sense of separateness, withdrawal, and a reluctance to make the types of enduring commitments to others that foster long-term friendships (Newman and Newman, 1976, 2015).

The addition of a period of elderhood was stimulated by interest in the adaptive strategies that characterize people who have exceeded the life expectancy of their birth cohort. In the United States, those 85 and older are the fastest growing age group, expected to reach 7.2 million by 2020. Erikson hinted at this final stage in his book, Vital involvements in old age (Erikson et al., 1986). A psychosocial stage beyond maturity reflects the courage, vitality, and innovative coping strategies that are observed in this group, as well as the impact of advanced age on one’s self-concept and one’s outlook on mortality. The psychosocial crisis of elderhood is immortality versus extinction (Newman & Newman, 2015). This crisis reflects a tension between a view of life as transcending mortality through a symbolic, societal, or spiritual continuity, and the sense that death brings a final and permanent end to one’s existence and one’s impact. The prime adaptive ego quality is confidence, a trust in one’s self and the meaningfulness of life. The core pathology is diffidence, an inability to act because of overwhelming self-doubt.

The need to differentiate the period of elderhood from later adulthood was confirmed in the writings of Joan Erikson who proposed a ninth stage of the life cycle (Erikson & Erikson, 1997). Joan Erikson wrote about this stage of life in the years after Erik died, while she was in her nineties. As a result of physical decline, social isolation, the loss of loved ones, and cultural neglect or disregard, Erikson suggested that the dystonic or negative poles of the eight psychosocial stages become newly salient. In addition, she distinguished the sense of despair in the eighth stage of the theory, which was despair over past opportunities and regret over past decisions, from a new kind of despair over the mounting disintegration and loss of capacities resulting from the physical declines of very old age. She wrote of the failure of society to find an appropriate strategy or program to embrace the realities of advanced aging that permits older adults to remain engaged, in touch, and integrated into social life.

The counter force to this process of decline and despair is what Joan Erikson described as gerotranscendence.

To reach for gerotranscendence is to rise above, exceed, outdo, go beyond, independent of the universe and time. It involves surpassing all human knowledge and experience. How, for heaven’s sake, is this to be accomplished? I am persuaded that only by doing and making do we become. Transcendence need not be limited solely to experiences of withdrawal. In touching, we make contact with one another and with our planet. Transcendence may be a regaining of lost skills, including play, activity, joy, and song, and, above all, a major leap above and beyond the fear of death. It provides an opening forward into the unknown with a trusting leap. Oddly

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enough, this all demands of us an honest and steadfast humility. These are wonderful words, words that wind us up into involvement. Transcendence—that’s it, of course! And it moves. It’s one of the arts, it’s alive, sings, and makes music, and I hug myself because of the truth it whispers to my soul. No wonder writing has been so difficult. Transcendence calls forth the languages of the arts; nothing else speaks so deeply and meaningfully to our hearts and souls. The great dance of life can transport us into all realms of making and doing with every item of body, mind, and spirit involved. I am profoundly moved, for I am growing old and feel shabby, and suddenly great riches present themselves and enlighten every part of my body and reach out to beauty everywhere. (Erikson & Erikson, 1997, p. 127)

Integration of Developmental Tasks

At each stage of development, one faces a new set of developmental tasks consisting of skills and competencies that contribute to increased mastery over one’s environment. These tasks reflect areas of accomplishment in physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development, as well as development of the self-concept. The tasks define what is healthy, normal develop- ment at each age in a particular society. Success in learning the tasks of one stage leads to development and a greater chance of success in learning the tasks of later stages. Failure at the tasks of one stage leads to greater difficulty with later tasks or may even make later tasks impossible to master.

Robert J. Havighurst (1948/1972), who used the concept of developmental tasks in thinking and teaching about human development and education, believed that human development is a process in which people attempt to learn the tasks required of them by the society to which they are adapting. These tasks change with age because each society has age-graded expectations for behavior. “Living in a modern society is a long series of tasks to learn” (Havighurst, 1948/1972, p. 2). The person who learns well receives satisfaction and reward; the person who does not suffers unhappiness and social disapproval.

Havighurst credits Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory as playing a major role in his use of the concept of developmental tasks. It is a concept that bridges the individual and the society, assuming an active learner who is interacting with an active social environment. Although Havighurst’s view of development emphasizes the guiding role of society in determining which skills need to be acquired at a certain age, he believed that there are sensitive periods for learning developmental tasks—that is, times when the person is most ready and most likely to expend effort to acquire a new ability. Havighurst called these periods teachable moments. Most people learn developmental tasks at the time and in the sequence appropriate in their society. If a particular task is not learned during the sensitive period, learning may be much more difficult later on.

A relatively small number of major developmental tasks dominate a person’s problem-solving efforts and learning during a given stage. Keep in mind that one is changing on several levels at once during each period of life. Tasks involving physical, emotional, intellectual, and social growth, as well as growth in the self-concept, all contribute to one’s resources for coping with the challenges of life. As these tasks are mastered, new competencies enhance the person’s ability to engage in more complex planning, decision making, and relationship building. Successful cultures provide opportunities for their members to learn what they need to know at each age, for both their own survival and that of the group.

Mastery of the developmental tasks is influenced by the resolution of the psychosocial crisis of the previous stage, and it is this resolution that leads to the development of new social capabilities.

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These capabilities orient the person toward new experiences, a new aptitude for relationships, and new feelings of personal worth as he or she confronts the challenges of the developmental tasks of the next stage. In turn, the skills learned during a particular stage as a result of work on its developmental tasks provide the tools for the resolution of the psychosocial crisis of that stage. Task accomplishment and crisis resolution interact to produce individual life stories.

The Central Process for Resolving the Psychosocial Crisis

Every psychosocial crisis reflects some discrepancy between the person’s developmental competencies at the beginning of the stage and new societal pressures for more effective, integrated functioning. How is the discrepancy resolved? What experiences or processes permit the person to interpret the expectations and demands of society and internalize them in order to support change? The central process suggests a way that the person takes in or makes sense of cultural expectations and undergoes adaptive modifications of the self (Newman and Newman, 1975, 2015). The term process suggests a means by which the person recognizes new social pressures and expectations, gives these expectations personal meaning, and gradually changes. The process, unfolding over time, results in a new relationship between self and society. The central process might be compared to the physical phenomenon of absorption and evaporation through which moisture enters the body, is used and transformed, and leaves the body. At each life stage, specific modes of psychological work and social interaction must occur if a person is to continue to grow.

For example, in toddlerhood, the psychosocial crisis raises the question of how children increase their sense of autonomy without risking too many experiences that provoke a sense of shame and doubt. Imitation is the central process for psychosocial growth during toddlerhood (ages 2 and 3). Children expand their range of skills by imitating adults, siblings, television models, playmates, and even animals. Imitation provides toddlers with enormous satisfaction. As they increase the similarity between themselves and admired members of their social groups through imitation, they begin to experience the world as other people and animals experience it. They exercise some control over potentially frightening or confusing events by imitating elements of those occurrences in their play.

The movement toward a sense of autonomy in toddlerhood is facilitated by the child’s readiness to imitate and by the variety of models available for observation. Imitation expands children’s range of behavior, and through persistent imitative activity, children expand their sense of self-initiated behavior and control over their actions. Repetitive experiences of this kind lead to the development of a sense of personal autonomy.

The central process for coping with the challenges of each life stage provides both personal and societal mechanisms for taking in new information and reorganizing existing information. It also suggests the means that are most likely to lead to a revision of the psychological system so that the crisis of a particular stage may be resolved. Each central process results in an intensive reworking of the psychological system, including a reorganization of boundaries, values, and images of one’s self and others. The central processes that lead to the acquisition of new skills, the resolution of the psychosocial crisis, and successful coping at each life stage are: (a) infancy–mutuality with a caregiver; (b) toddlerhood–imitation; (c) early school age–identification; (d) middle childhood– education; (e) early adolescence–peer pressure; (f ) later adolescence–role experimentation; (g) early adulthood–mutuality among peers; (h) middle adulthood–person/environment fit and creativity; (i) later adulthood–introspection; and (j) elderhood–social support.

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A RESEARCH ExAMPLE: INDIVIDuAL IDENtIty

Many themes identified in psychosocial theory have become the focus of research, including trust, autonomy, shame and doubt, intimacy, isolation and loneliness, and generativity. One of the most extensively studied concepts is the topic of personal or individual identity. Erik Erikson provided a comprehensive treatment of the meaning and functions of individual identity, from his inclusion of this concept in the theory of psychosocial development in 1950 to his analysis of American identity in 1974. His notion of identity involves the merging of past identifications, future aspirations, and contemporary cultural issues. The major works in which he discussed identity are the article “The problem of ego identity” (1959) and the book Identity: Youth and crisis (1968).

Later adolescents are preoccupied with questions about their essential character in much the same way that early school-age children are preoccupied with questions about their origins. In their efforts to define themselves, later adolescents must take into account the bonds that have been built between them and others in the past as well as the direction they hope to take in the future. In later adolescence, the identity process includes: examining alternatives; selecting goals in valued domains such as occupation, religion, intimacy, family life, and education; making personal and interpersonal commitments to achieve these goals; and taking the active steps to achieve them (Nurmi, 2004). Identity serves as an anchor point, providing the person an essential experience of continuity in social relationships. Identity achievement is associated with an internal sense of individual uniqueness and direction accompanied by a social or community validation about the direction one has chosen.

Identity Status

One of the most widely used conceptual frameworks for assessing identity status was devised by James Marcia (1980, 1993, 2007). Using Erikson’s concepts, Marcia assessed identity status on the basis of two criteria: crisis and commitment. Crisis consists of a period of questioning, role experimentation, and active decision making among alternative choices. Commitment consists of a demonstration of personal involvement in activities and relationships that reflect one’s beliefs and values in the areas of occupational choice, religion, political ideology, and interpersonal bonds. On the basis of Marcia’s interview, one can determine a young person’s progress in clarifying values, goals, and commitments. The status of one’s identity development is assessed as either identity achieved, foreclosed, moratorium, or diffused (see Table 8.1.).

People who are classified as identity achieved have already experienced a time of questioning and exploration, and have made occupational and ideological commitments. People who are classified as foreclosed have not experienced a crisis but demonstrate strong occupational and ideological commitments. Their occupational and ideological beliefs appear to be close to those of their parents. The foreclosed identity is deceptive. A young person of 18 or 19 who can say exactly what he or she wants in life and who has selected an occupational goal, may appear to be mature. This kind of clarity of vision may impress peers and adults as evidence of a high level of self-insight. However, if this solution has been formulated through the wholesale adoption of a script that was devised by the young person’s family, it may not actually reflect much depth of self-understanding.

People who are classified as being in a state of psychosocial moratorium are involved in an ongoing crisis. They are in a period of questioning, exploration, and experimentation; they have not yet made commitments. The moratorium status is typically an active, open time for gathering

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information and figuring out how one fits in certain roles. Finally, people who are classified as identity diffused may or may not have experienced a crisis, and they demonstrate a complete lack of commitment. Marcia described several types of identify diffusion including people who have a rather cavalier, “party” attitude, and others who are more acutely confused and might be experiencing more serious psychopathology.

A significant body of research has shown patterns of personal characteristics associated with the four identity statuses that are consistent with Erikson’s theory. Those who are classified as identity achieved show greater ego strength. They have higher levels of achievement motivation, moral reasoning, intimacy with peers, and career maturity. Those in the moratorium status are more anxious and have conflict over issues of authority. They are more flexible and less authoritarian than the other groups. Those in the foreclosed status are the most authoritarian; they are the least autonomous and have the greatest need for social approval (Berzonsky & Adams, 1999; Waterman, 1999a, 1999b; Zimmermann & Becker-Stoll, 2002).

The most maladaptive resolution of the crisis is identity diffusion. Individuals in this status have been shown to have low self-esteem; they are more likely than those in the other statuses to be influenced by peer pressures toward conformity; and they approach problem solving with tendencies toward procrastination and avoidance which contribute to difficulties in adjusting to the college environment (Berzonsky & Kuk, 2000; Kroger, 2003). In comparison to the moratorium group, young people in the diffused status are less conscientious, more likely to experience negative emotions, and more disagreeable (Clancy & Dollinger, 1993). They are generally not outgoing; rather, they describe themselves as self-conscious and likely to feel depressed. Their relationship with their parents is described as distant or rejecting. Several studies have found that young people who are characterized as identity diffused have had a history of early and frequent involvement with drug use and abuse (Jones, 1992). Difficulties in resolving earlier psychosocial crises, especially conflicts related to autonomy versus shame and doubt and initiative versus guilt, leave some young people with deficits in ego formation that interfere with the kind of energy and playful self-assertiveness that are necessary in the process of identity achievement (Marcia, 2006).

Developmental Progression of Identity Statuses

The theoretical construct of identity status assumes a developmental progression from diffusion to foreclosure, moratorium, and finally achievement. Identity diffusion reflects the least defined status. Movement from any other status to diffusion suggests regression. A person who has achieved identity at one period may conceivably return to a period of moratorium. However, those who are in a moratorium or achieved status can never be accurately described as foreclosed, since by definition they have already experienced some degree of crisis (Waterman, 1982; Meeus, 1996).

A number of studies, both cross-sectional and longitudinal, show evidence of identity maturation, including higher levels of exploration and commitment with age. Over time more young people

Table 8.1 The relationship of crisis and commitment to identity status

Identity status Crisis Commitment

Achievement + + Foreclosure - + Moratorium + Diffusion +/- -

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are characterized as having the identity statuses of moratorium and achievement, and fewer are in foreclosure or identity diffusion (Kroger, Martinussen, & Marcia, 2010). When transitions in identity status occur, they are typically in the direction from moratorium to achievement. However, studies report diverse patterns of status transitions from diffusion or moratorium to foreclosure or achievement; and some studies find that many individuals do not change their identity status over the period of later adolescence and early adulthood (Meeus, 2011). Identity commitments provide stability and direction. Certain life events such as job loss, death of a loved one, or loss of a love relationship, can destabilize these commitments, resulting in a form of identity regression. For example, a person might move from achievement to moratorium or from foreclosure to diffusion (Marcia, 2010; Marcia & Simon, 2003). One implication is that the statuses are better thought of as self-theories or ways of linking information about the self and the world rather than formal stages that evolve in a strict sequence from one level to the next (Berzonsky, 2003).

AN APPLICAtIoN: tHE RoLE oF HoPE IN CoPING AND PRoBLEM SoLVING

Erikson (1982) theorized that the positive resolution of the psychosocial crisis of trust versus mistrust leads to the adaptive ego quality of hope. The prime adaptive ego qualities shape a person’s outlook on life in the direction of greater openness to experience and information, greater capacity to identify a variety of pathways to achieve one’s goals, more willingness to assert the self and to express one’s wishes and views, and a positive approach to the formation of close relationships. Even in the face of difficulties and stressful life events, these qualities contribute to higher levels of functioning and well-being (Peterson & Seligman, 2003).

As the first of the prime adaptive ego qualities, hope pervades the entire life story. It is a global, cognitive orientation that one’s goals and dreams can be attained and that events will turn out for the best. As Erikson described it:

Hope bestows on the anticipated future a sense of leeway inviting expectant leaps, either in preparatory imagination or in small initiating actions. And such daring must count on basic trust in the sense of a trustfulness that must be, literally and figuratively, nourished by maternal care and—when endangered by all-too-desperate discomfort—must be restored by competent consolidation. (1982, p. 60)

Hopefulness combines the ability to think of one or more paths to achieve a goal with a belief in one’s ability to move along that pathway toward the goal (Snyder, Cheavens, & Sympson, 1997). The roots of hopefulness lie in the infant’s understanding of the self as a causal agent. Each time a baby takes an action to achieve an outcome, the sense of hope grows. When babies encounter obstacles or barriers to their goals, sensitive caregivers find ways to remove the obstacles or lead them along a new path toward the goal. The infant’s sense of self as a causal agent combined with the caregiver’s sensitivity create the context for the emergence of hope.

Research with adults shows that people who have a hopeful, optimistic outlook about the future have different achievement beliefs and emotional reactions in response to actual achievement than do people who have a pessimistic outlook (Dweck, 1992; Seligman, 2011). People who have higher levels of hopefulness undertake a larger number of goals across life areas and select tasks that are more difficult. Hopefulness is generally associated with higher goals, higher levels of confidence that the goals will be reached, and greater persistence in the face of barriers to goal attainment, thus leading to higher overall levels of performance (Snyder, 2002).

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Feelings of hope have been shown to help people deal with their most difficult challenges, including serious illness, injury, bereavement, and facing the end of life (Sullivan, 2003). In the face of many difficulties as a result of separation from their mothers, poverty, and disruptive home environments, children who have higher levels of hope have been found to have fewer emotional and behavioral problems. These children are more likely to have ideas about how to overcome challenges in their lives rather than to be overwhelmed by the problems they face (Hagen, Myers, & Macintosh, 2005).

In studies of college students, hope has been found to be closely linked with academic success (Snyder, Shorey, Cheavens, Pulvers, Adams, & Wiklund, 2002). In a 6-year longitudinal study, students who were more hopeful had better grades and were more likely to graduate from college. Students’ hopefulness was associated with having more clearly identified goals based on internal standards. Their goals served to energize their behavior and increase efforts to perform well. Hopeful students were more focused on their goals and less likely to be distracted by self- deprecating thoughts or negative emotions that undermined their efforts. Finally, students who were hopeful were able to identify several different paths toward their goals. If one path was blocked, they would use the information to find another alternative. In contrast, students low in hopefulness tended to stick with one strategy even when it was not working and, as a result, became more passive and disengaged.

Hope plays a key role in the therapeutic process (Snyder & Taylor, 2000). An assumption of counseling is that the client and the therapist can imagine a better future and that together they will explore pathways toward that future. Counselors nurture hope by helping clients to identify new possibilities for their future, clarify their goals, devise strategies or paths to achieve these goals, and increase their sense of agency about being able to enact these strategies. By modeling confidence and reassurance, the counselor creates an environment in which the client can begin to experience hopefulness about the future (Snyder & McDermott, 1999; Egan, 2013).

How DoES PSyCHoSoCIAL tHEoRy ANSwER tHE BASIC QuEStIoNS tHAt A tHEoRy oF HuMAN DEVELoPMENt IS ExPECtED to ADDRESS?

1. What is the direction of change over the life span? How well does the theory account for patterns of change and continuity? Psychosocial theory attempts to explain human development across the life span—especially patterned changes in ego development, which is reflected in self-understanding, identity formation, social relationships, and worldview. The theory defines human development as a product of the ongoing interaction of an individual’s biological and psychological needs and abilities on the one hand, and societal expectations on the other hand. Psychosocial theory predicts an orderly sequence of change in ego development and social relationships from infancy through late life. At each stage, new abilities and coping strategies emerge for engaging in social relationships and for meeting the demands of an ever-changing, increasingly complex social world.

Meaning is created out of efforts to interpret and integrate the experiences of the biological, psychological, and societal systems. A primary focus of this meaning making is the search for identity. Humans struggle to define themselves—to achieve an identity—through a sense of connectedness with certain other people and groups, and through feelings of distinctiveness from others. We establish categories that define whom we are connected to, whom we care about, and which of our own qualities we admire. We also establish categories that define

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those to whom we are not connected, those whom we do not care about, and those qualities of our own that we reject or deny. These categories provide us with an orientation toward certain kinds of people and away from others, toward certain life choices and away from others. The psychosocial perspective brings to light the dynamic interplay of the roles of the self and the others, the I and the We, as they contribute to the emergence of identity over the life course.

Psychosocial theory addresses issues of continuity and change over the life course. At each stage of life, the resolution of the psychosocial crisis results in the attainment of certain prime adaptive ego strengths or core pathologies. At each stage of life, one is embedded in a radius of significant relationships. These factors, carried forward into the next stage, as well as the tendency to anticipate the issues of the stages ahead, contribute to continuity in development. At the same time, the epigenetic principle assumes an unfolding of new capacities in the context of changing social expectations. As a result, one can expect new ways of understanding the relationship of self and other, and new facets of one’s identity, to emerge over the life span. Although there is no going back to earlier stages of life, there is a capacity for reflection and revisitation through which the resolution of earlier crises may be reconfigured.

2. What are the mechanisms that account for growth? What are some testable hypotheses or predictions that emerge from this analysis? The basic mechanism that accounts for growth is the psychosocial crisis. The crises arise as a result of the epigenetic principle through which tension is created due to the discrepancy between one’s competencies at each stage and the new demands of society. People strive to reduce this tension by using a variety of familiar coping strategies and by learning new ones. The following testable hypotheses emerge from the theory:

1. A normal crisis arises at each stage of development, and a central process operates to resolve this crisis. The resolution of the crisis at each stage determines one’s coping resources, with a positive resolution contributing to ego strengths and a negative resolution contributing to core pathologies.

2. Each stage of development is accompanied by a specific psychosocial crisis. Issues of later stages can be previewed at an earlier time, but each issue has its period of ascendance. It takes the entire life course, from the prenatal period through elderhood, for all aspects of the ego’s potential to be realized.

3. Each person is part of an expanding network of significant relationships that convey society’s expectations and demands. These relationships also provide encouragement and support in the face of challenges.

4. Development will be optimal if a person can create new behaviors and relationships as a result of skill acquisition through mastery of the developmental tasks and successful crisis resolution during each stage of growth. Lack of development and core pathologies result from tendencies that restrict behavior (especially social behavior) in general and new behavior in particular.

3. How relevant are early experiences for later development? What evidence does the theory offer to support its view? Early experiences are highly relevant for subsequent development. The strengths and skills acquired through mastery of the developmental tasks and the resolution of earlier crises

Psychosocial Theory • 245

are important for resolving later crises. The prime adaptive ego qualities of early life stages prepare a person to approach subsequent crises with an outlook of hope, determination, and empowerment. Similarly, crises that are resolved toward the negative pole contribute to a more cautious, inhibited, or withdrawn outlook. What is more, psychosocial theory suggests that each life crisis is foreshadowed in earlier stages, and that each crisis is played out in a more complex way at later stages. Thus, all of life is a tapestry in which the issues of the past are expressed in new forms at later stages, and issues of later stages are anticipated in less mature forms in earlier stages.

4. How do the environmental and social contexts affect development? What aspects of the environment does the theory suggest are especially important in shaping the direction of development? As its name implies, psychosocial theory emphasizes the ongoing interaction of the individual and society. An assumption of this theory is that the development of the person and the continued adaptive functioning of society are interdependent. Societies shape development through the messages that are conveyed to individuals through the radius of significant relationships, beginning with the first caregivers and expanding outward to siblings, grandparents, other family members, friends, co-workers, admired role models, intimate partners, children, grandchildren and so on. As the radius of significant relationships expands, people engage in an increasingly complex set of roles with more diverse individuals. With advanced age, the number of relationships may decline, but the ego development that was stimulated through this complex set of relationships continues to be expressed through characteristics of integrity and wisdom or despair.

Societies differ. Prevailing cultural, religious, economic, and political factors have implications for the nature of interpersonal relationships, opportunities for social mobility, economic prosperity, and educational attainment, just to name a few. In societies where people are governed through intimidation and children are encouraged to embrace messages of inter-group hatred, the resolution of the psychosocial crises will likely be influenced by these conditions toward withdrawal, shame, and self-doubt. In societies where people are encouraged to value self-expression and agency, the resolution of the psychosocial crises will likely be influenced by these conditions toward more trust, autonomy, and initiative.

Individuals shape societies through the ways they establish and preserve relationships, make commitments to work, family, and ideologies, and nurture future generations through their generative actions. Individuals and groups of individuals can bring about cultural and political change, creating more open, caring communities that support psychosocial well-being.

5. According to the theory, what factors place individuals at risk at specific periods of the life span? The theory offers a stage-based guide to experiences that place individuals at risk. At each stage, the negative pole of the psychosocial crisis suggests a potentially high risk outcome for that period of life—mistrust, shame and doubt, guilt, inferiority, etc. When the psychosocial crisis is resolved with a balance in the direction of the negative pole, the result is likely to be the emergence of a related core pathology. These core pathologies interfere with the formation of new relationships, produce defensiveness and withdrawal, interfere with the creation of new, flexible coping strategies, and leave the ego vulnerable to sentiments of resentment and despair. Even when earlier psychosocial crises have been resolved in the

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direction of a positive pole, each new stage can bring a period of vulnerability, especially if life events converge to undermine resources or destabilize the social support system as a person strives to resolve the new crisis.

From a societal perspective, the early ego development of the child and the likelihood of a positive resolution of the psychosocial crises of infancy, toddlerhood, early and middle childhood are heavily dependent on the ego maturity and well-being of the caregivers. In that regard, societal conditions that undermine the financial, physical, or emotional well- being of caregivers, or that disrupt the social support for caregivers, can be considered risk factors for children.

Poverty is a major obstacle to optimal development. Under conditions of poverty, individuals have fewer options and less opportunity to escape or avoid other forms of societal oppression such as racism, sexism, or homophobia. It is well documented that poverty increases the risks that individuals face, including risks associated with malnutrition, poor quality health care, living in a hazardous or dangerous neighborhood, and attending ineffective schools. Poverty and prolonged economic strain tend to erode the self-esteem of caregivers, resulting in harsh parenting, parent conflict, and emotional withdrawal. Beyond childhood, poverty is linked with reduced access to the basic resources associated with survival. To the extent that poverty is stigmatized and associated with demeaning social treatment it has potentially powerful and pervasive effects on psychosocial development across the life span.

6. What are some practical implications of psychosocial theory? One of the unique features of psychosocial theory is that it identifies key issues and themes for each period of life from infancy through late life. As a result, the theory has wide- ranging implications for parenting, education, counseling, intergenerational programs, adult education, organizational and leadership training, and social/community interventions. A few examples are provided here.

The theory identifies specific themes for each stage of life that can guide intervention. For example, in infancy, the crisis of trust versus mistrust has clear implications for the importance of sensitive, responsive, psychologically attuned parenting. In toddlerhood, the crisis of autonomy versus shame and doubt has implications for family and early childhood settings, encouraging adults to provide opportunities for choice, self-expression, and the fostering of self-regulation while limiting a child’s experiences of humiliation and blame. Each psychosocial crisis suggests directions for positive development as well as potential aspects of vulnerability.

In the counseling context, the theory not only indicates potential areas of contemporary conflict, but suggests a way to think about how earlier periods of life might result in core pathologies that contribute to current difficulties. The framework of psychosocial crises, developmental tasks, prime adaptive ego strengths, and core pathologies has been used in counseling and social work settings to guide assessment of clients and provide directions for therapeutic interventions.

Psychosocial theory has inspired programs in mentoring and leadership development within corporations, adult education programs, and professional training. The concepts of gen- erativity versus stagnation and integrity versus despair, the related ego strengths of care and wisdom, and the core pathologies of rejectivity and disdain, offer guiding principles for think- ing about the relationship of supervisors and managers to both younger and older co-workers.

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The theory offers a distinct perspective on the interaction of the person and society. As such, it suggests features of a community or larger society that may support or inhibit optimal well-being. As an example, in political science, the notion of trust versus mistrust has been applied to inter-group relations as the underpinning of diplomacy and conflict resolution. The concept of personal identity has been expanded to include ethnic group and national identity. As individuals move across national boundaries they face challenges associated with conflicting cultural identities. Communities can be viewed as supportive or hostile to the psychosocial adaptation of groups with diverse social identities.

CRItIQuE oF PSyCHoSoCIAL tHEoRy

Strengths

Psychosocial theory provides a broad, integrative context within which to study life-span development (Hopkins, 1995; Kiston, 1994). The theory links the process of child development to the stages of adult life, individual development to the nature of culture and society, and the personal and historical past to the personal and societal future. Although many scholars agree that such a broad perspective is necessary, few other theories attempt to address the dynamic interplay between individual development and society (Miller, 2011).

The emphasis of psychosocial theory on ego development and ego processes provides insight into the directions of healthy development throughout life. The theory provides a framework for tracing the process through which self-concept, self-esteem, and ego boundaries become integrated into a positive, adaptive, socially engaged person (Hamachek, 1985, 1994). Emphasizing the normal, hopeful, and creative aspects of coping and adaptation, the theory has taken the study of development beyond the deterministic position of psychosexual theory or the mechanistic view of behaviorism, providing an essential conceptual framework for the emergence of positive psychology.

At one time, some argued that a weakness of psychosocial theory was that its basic concepts were presented in language that is abstract and difficult to examine empirically (Crain, 2011; Miller, 2011). However, over the past 20 years, such terms as hope, inhibition, autonomy, personal identity, intimacy, generativity, and integrity—to name a few—have been operationalized (Bohlin, Bengtsgard, & Andersson, 2000; Christiansen & Palkovitz, 1998; de St. Aubin, McAdams, & Kim 2003; Kroger, 2007; Lopez & Snyder, 2003; Marcia, 2002; McAdams & de St. Aubin, 1998; Snyder, 2002). Concepts central to the theory—such as trust, autonomy, identity achievement, coping, well-being, social support, and intergenerational interdependence—have become thoroughly integrated into contemporary human development scholarship. Researchers have developed instruments to trace the emergence of psychosocial crises and their resolution in samples varying in age from adolescence to later adulthood (Constantinople, 1969; Darling- Fisher & Leidy, 1988; Domino & Affonso, 1990; Hawley, 1988; Waterman & Whitbourne, 1981; Whitbourne, Sneed, & Sayer, 2009).

Unlike some other stage theories, psychosocial theory identifies tensions that may disrupt development at each life stage, providing a useful framework for considering individual differences in development. The positive and negative poles of each psychosocial crisis offer a way of thinking about differences in ego development at each stage of life as well as a model for considering cumulative differences across the life span. This matrix of crises and stages also provides a useful tool for approaching psychotherapy and counseling.

248 • Person–Environment Interaction Emphasis

The concept of normative psychosocial crises is a creative contribution that identifies predictable tensions between socialization and maturation throughout life. Societies, with their structures, laws, roles, rituals, and sanctions, are organized to guide individual growth toward a particular ideal of mature adulthood. However, every society faces problems when it attempts to balance the needs of the individual with the needs of the group. All individuals face some strains as they attempt to experience their individuality while maintaining the support of their groups and attempting to fit into their society. Psychosocial theory gives us concepts for exploring these natural tensions.

Longitudinal research using psychosocial theory as a framework for studying patterns of personality change and ego development has found support for many of its basic concepts. Changes in psychological outlook that reflect the major themes of the theory—such as industry, identity, intimacy, and generativity—appear to emerge and become consolidated over time (Whitbourne et al., 2009). There is also evidence of a preview of themes prior to their period of maximum ascendancy (Peterson & Stewart, 1993) and evidence for the notion of revisitation through which adults are stimulated to rework and reorganize the resolutions of earlier issues (Shibley, 2000).

Weaknesses

One weakness of psychosocial theory is that the explanations about the mechanisms for resolving crises and moving from one stage to the next are not well developed (Miller, 2011). The theory does not offer a universal mechanism for crisis resolution, nor a detailed picture of the kinds of experiences that are necessary at each stage if one is to cope successfully with the crisis of that stage.

The specific number of stages and their link to a biologically based plan for development have been criticized. The nature and number of stages of life is arguably highly culturally specific. For example, in some societies, the transition from childhood to adulthood is swift, leaving little time or expectation for identity exploration. In many traditional societies, parents choose one’s marital partner, there are few occupational choices, and one is guided toward one’s vocation from an early age. Thus, although there is always a biological period of pubescence, there may be little experience of the psychosocial processes of adolescence (Thomas & Schwarzbaum, 2006). In contrast, in our highly technological society, adolescence appears to be extended for some, especially as the age at first marriage is delayed and the complexity of preparing for and entering the labor market increases.

Along this same line of criticism, other human development scholars have taken a more differentiated view of the stages of adulthood and later life. In later life, health status, life circumstances, and culture interact to produce increasing variation in life stories. In a growing line of research, distinctions are being made between the “young-old” and the “old-old.” These distinctions are sometimes based on health status and the person’s capacity to manage tasks of daily life (Aldwin, Spiro, & Park, 2006; Poon & Harrington, 2006).

In other research, distinctions are made on the basis of chronological age. For example, Leonard Poon has written extensively about the differences between centenarians (people who are 100 or more), octogenarians (people in their eighties), and sexagenarians (people in their sixties). Each cohort of older adults has been exposed to different historical crises, educational, health and occupational opportunities, and shifting societal values. Therefore, it is likely that the normative patterns used to describe development in adulthood and later life will become dated

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and need reexamination (Randall, Martin, Bishop, Johnson, & Poon, 2012; Siegler, Poon, Madden, & Welsh, 1996). The increasing life expectancy, accompanied by a longer period of healthy later life and the elaboration of lifestyles, makes it difficult to chart a normative life course from early adulthood into very old age.

Finally, the psychosocial theory and related research have been criticized as being dominated by a male, Eurocentric, individualistic perspective that emphasizes agency—the ability to originate plans and take action—over connection and communion—the commitment to and consideration for the well-being of others (Abele & Wojciszke, 2007). The themes of autonomy, initiative, industry, and personal identity all emphasize the process of individuation. Critics have argued that ego development, separateness from family, autonomy, and self-directed goal attainment have been equated with psychological maturity, and that relatively little attention has been given to the development of interpersonal connection and social relatedness. These latter themes have been identified as central for an understanding of the psychosocial maturity of girls and young women. They also emerge in the study of collectively oriented ethnic groups— cultures in which maturity is equated with one’s ability to support and sustain the success of the family or the extended family group rather than with one’s own achievement of status, wealth, or recognition (Boykin, 1994; Josselson, Lieblich, & McAdams, 2007).

In our view, this last criticism is possibly overstated given the orientation of psychosocial theory toward the ongoing dynamic interaction of the individual and society. Within the framework of psychosocial theory, the theme of connection is addressed directly through the first psychosocial crisis of trust versus mistrust in infancy, and in subsequent psychosocial stages of early adolescence, early and middle adulthood, when group identity, intimacy, and generativity highlight the critical links that individuals build with others. The concept of the radius of significant relationships helps to maintain the perspective of the person interwoven in a tapestry of relationships, focusing especially on family and friends in childhood; the family, peer group, love relationships, and close friends in early and later adolescence; and intimate partners, family, friends, and co-workers in adult life. A basic premise of psychosocial theory is that the ego is taking shape in constant interaction with the community (Schlein, 1987, 2007). The strengths and weaknesses of psychosocial theory are summarized in Table 8.2.

Table 8.2 Strengths and weaknesses of psychosocial theory

Strengths weaknesses

Provides a broad, integrative framework within which to study the life span.

Provides insight into the directions of healthy development across the life span.

Many of the basic ideas of the theory have been operationalized using traditional and novel approaches to assessment.

The concept of psychosocial crises, including the positive and negative poles of the crisis, offers a model for considering individual differences within a framework of normal development.

The concept of the psychosocial crisis identifies predictable tensions between socialization and maturation.

Longitudinal studies support the general direction of development hypothesized by the theory.

Explanations for the mechanisms of crisis resolution and process of moving from one stage to the next need to be developed more fully.

The idea of a specific number of stages of life and their link to a genetic plan for development is disputed.

The theory and much of its supporting research have been dominated by a male, Eurocentric perspective that gives too much emphasis to individuality and not enough attention to connection and social relatedness.

The specific ways that culture encourages or inhibits development at each stage of life are not clearly elaborated.