Erikson's Psychosocial Stages
Updated 2026-08-15
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Erikson's theory of psychosocial development divides life into eight stages, each with a core conflict to resolve: trust versus mistrust in infancy, autonomy versus shame and doubt, initiative versus guilt, industry versus inferiority, identity versus role confusion in adolescence, intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation, and integrity versus despair in old age. Resolving a stage yields a virtue; failure leaves vulnerability, and development continues across the whole lifespan.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Locate the stage: identify which core conflict the person is currently working through. - Name the unresolved: spot which earlier tension still drains energy in the present. - Match the support: offer what the stage asks for, such as an exploration buffer in adolescence.
Anchor fast decisions
Each stage presents a developmental task the environment makes unavoidable; resolving it builds a virtue that later stages stand on, while failure leaves a fragile spot that adulthood reactivates. Because later conflicts reuse earlier solutions, unresolved tension propagates rather than disappears.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erikson%27s_stages_of_psychosocial_developmentverified
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