The subject of research by E. Erickson (1902-1994) was identity as the identity of a person to himself, as a firmly learned and personally accepted image of himself in all the richness and diversity of the relationship of the individual to the world around him. The conclusions that he draws regarding the nature of neuroses do not correlate with a violation of psychosexual development, as Z. Freud believed, but with the fact that there is a gap between the present and past images of the I. According to Erickson, neurosis is not an intra-, but an interpersonal phenomenon.
He published his fundamental work "Childhood and Society" in 1950, having rich empirical material collected on different samples. E. Erickson explores personal and historical identity in relation to such areas of theory and practice as ethnopsychology, the study of so-called military neuroses, and child psychology.
Erickson's theory has a clear socio-cultural focus. Remaining a psychoanalyst, i.e. a researcher who takes into account and accepts the biological determination of the process of human development, he nevertheless combines psychology together with sociology and biology in order to find out how the social conditions for the formation of a personality and its own activity are mutually determined. "We are talking about three processes: the somatic process, the ego process, and the social. In the history of science, these three processes were associated with three scientific disciplines: biology, psychology and social sciences. Each of them studied what it could isolate, count and dissect: single organisms, individual minds and social aggregates… In all these cases, the scientific discipline damages the object of observation, actively dissecting its integral state of life in order to make the isolated part susceptible to the application of some set of tools or concepts… We study individual human crises , engaging in them as therapists ... we find that the three processes mentioned above represent three sides human life. Then the somatic tension, the anxiety of the individual and the Platonic mood of the group are three different images in which human anxiety reveals itself to various methods of research" (Erikson E., 1996, p. 67).
Summarizing his conclusions regarding the nature of identity, or identity, personality, Erickson defines it as the most important characteristic of the integrity of personality on higher levels development, as an integrative quality of its organization, in the center of which is the individual's experience of his inseparable connection with certain social groups.
A person, according to Erickson, goes through the psychological stages of development of the Ego, or I, during which he establishes basic guidelines in relation to himself and his social environment. The principle of passing through the stages is called epigenesis, therefore Erickson's theory is also called epigenetic. Epigenesis is the doctrine of the embryonic development of organisms as a process carried out by successive neoplasms. The term epigenesis first appeared thanks to Harvey William Harvey in biology in 1651. Epigenesis is seen as the intensive development of organisms (along with extensive development - preformism, that is, the appearance and increase of what is already there).
Essentially, the term itself means that:
o 1) development is not a simple deployment of what has already been born, new qualities and forms arise that were not originally predetermined;
o 2) in addition to the "beginnings", matter, genes, etc., the role is assigned to some triggering processes, mechanisms of the subjective (readiness, predisposition) and objective (conditions, circumstances, activity) order.
The content and form of the new quality is determined by the communication of the individual with the social environment, but at the same time it is necessarily based on internal prerequisites.
Erickson distinguishes the first stages of development by analogy with the stages of Freud's psychosexual development. True, he interprets them somewhat differently. According to Erickson, the maturation of certain psycho-physiological systems of the body makes the individual susceptible to certain social influences. Society makes demands on a person, but at the same time provides opportunities, a wide range of means, ways to solve social problems.
Relations that are formed in a person to new requirements, roles, tasks become the center of his identity. In the transition from one integrity to another, there is a change of identity, which is called a crisis. Such crises for Erickson are of a normative nature, stimulating the process of personal growth.
Erickson distinguishes eight stages of the human life cycle, at each of which a choice is made between two polar attitudes to the world and to oneself.
1. Oral-sensory, or incorporative (0-18 months). Purpose: choice between trust or distrust. Having a sense of certainty, trust the child perceives the world as a safe, stable place. The mother conveys to the child a sense of recognition, constancy, identity of experiences. This coherence and continuity of experience provides a rudimentary sense of ego-identity. The criterion for the formation of trust is the ability of the child to calmly endure the departure of the mother from the field of view. At the oral-sensory stage, elements of protective mechanisms are formed - projections - attributing one's own negative, disapproved properties to others and introjection - taking in external sources of positive states. The introjection of the images of parents is the first step in the formation of a person's identity.
2. Musculo-anal (18 months - 4 years). Purpose: choice between autonomy or shame. A prerequisite for this stage is the child's mastery of the ability to walk as the basis for the development of autonomy and independence. Autonomy - independent movement of the child in a controlled space. Shame is anger directed at oneself because of the unwillingness of parents to develop independence in a child. Shame is formed under the influence of reproaches from parents, prohibitions that have no obvious social significance. Parents scold the child for the inability to be neat, the inability to control the processes of urination and defecation. The basic feeling of doubt about everything that a person left behind him, later, i.e. in adulthood, may be expressed in paranoid fears of persecution threatening from behind. A positive outcome of this stage is the development of elements of self-control and self-regulation.
3. Locomotor-genital, or oedipal (4-6 years). Purpose: choice between initiative and guilt. The development of speech, mastery of new concepts, the ability to plan, anticipate some events is the basis for the formation at this stage of a new form of identity - identification, i.e. assimilation to an adult of a certain sex and the assimilation of the forms of behavior characteristic of him. Initiative adds enterprise and planning to autonomy, it is the development of new things through the ability to set goals. Guilt is a child's negative assessment of his wrong actions, a feeling of self-doubt caused by the need to love and receive the love of a parent of the opposite sex.
4. Latent (6-11 years). Goal: Choosing between a sense of skill, competence, and inferiority. This is a period that in a variety of societies means the same process - the beginning of the systematic assimilation of knowledge, skills and abilities. It is they who make the child feel competent. Competence - confidence that, in accordance with socially significant goals, the child can provide positive influence on the people around him. Inferiority (incompetence) is manifested in a sense of inferiority, ineptitude, timidity and isolation.
5. Stage of youth (11-20 years). Purpose: the choice between gaining a positive self and a diffuse identity. Diffuse identity is understood as the ambiguity of ideas about oneself, the uncertainty of life prospects, leading to a desire to join a group, to dependence on someone else's opinion, to passivity in decision-making. In order to preserve their personality from disintegration, young men over-identify with the heroes of informal associations and companies. The state of youthful love is interpreted by Erickson as an attempt to achieve a clear definition of one's own identity by projecting a vague image of one's ego onto other people and observing one's own "reflection". For Erickson the stage of adolescence was as important as the phallic stage for Freud.
6. Early adulthood (21-25 years). Goal: The choice between intimacy and isolation. Intimacy means the willingness to merge one's identity with the identity of another in the presence of an attitude to preserve one's identity and individuality. Intimacy is based on the development of a positive self in the previous period of development, isolation, as a rule, on the contrary, is closely related to diffusion of the self. This is due to the fact that the formation of ideas about oneself, the certainty of one’s own boundaries allows an individual to remain himself even when establishing trusting, intimate relationships with other people. Diffuse identity develops into a sense of isolation, isolation as a result of the emerging fear of being absorbed, incorporated.
7. Adulthood (25-60/65 years). Goal: Choose between productivity or stagnation. The new conditions of life that society presents to a person at this stage of development are caused by his special position in society, namely the need to establish constructive relations with different generations. For example, for a 50-year-old person, such relationships may be communication with their parents, children and grandchildren, which require different cognitive, emotional and communication strategies. Stagnation, or stagnation, is accompanied by isolation, stereotypical behavior, rigidity, self-centeredness.
8. Maturity (over 60/65 years). Goal: choice between integration or despair. Integration is the acceptance of one's one and only cycle of life. The lack of integration is expressed in the fear of death, the rejection of one's life (see Reader 3.2).
Erickson talked about the closure of the life cycle, the connection between infant trust and adult integrity. In his opinion, healthy children will not be afraid of life if the old people around them have sufficient integrity not to be afraid of death.
Erickson builds a sequence of stages of personality development, which are characterized by special neoplasms. Each of them is formed in the process of resolving a conflict between two opposites, one of which contributes to the progressive development of the personality, and the other inhibits it. These tendencies include both a certain personality trait and a person's attitude to the world, to life, to himself.
In his early work, such positive qualities were trust, autonomy, initiative, competence, a positively organized identity, closeness, generativity and integrativity. Negative qualities included distrust, shame, guilt, inferiority, diffuse roles, isolation, stagnation, and despair.
In recent works, he revises his view of personality development, defining neoplasms as an unstable balance between these two tendencies. With a favorable resolution of the crisis, the balance is disturbed in the direction of positive qualities.
Now, E. Erickson calls the epigenetic formations of each stage Hope, Will, Intention, Competence, Loyalty, Love, Care and Wisdom, each of which includes two opposite qualities. The balance between them can be disturbed in one direction or the other.
Epigenetic theory of personality development(epi - over, over, after + genesis - origin) - a psychoanalytic concept created by E. Erickson about the relationship between the "I" and society. The concept of epigenesis was borrowed by E. Erickson from biology. The epigenetic principle is used in the study of embryonic development. According to this principle, everything that grows has a common plan. Based on this general plan, separate parts develop. Moreover, each of them has the most favorable period for predominant development. This happens until all the parts, having developed, form a functional whole. Epigenetic concepts in biology emphasize the role of external factors in the emergence of new forms and structures and thus oppose preformist teachings. From the point of view of E. Erickson, the sequence of stages is the result of biological maturation, but the content of development is determined by what the society to which he belongs expects from a person.
According to E. t. l., human existence depends on three processes of organization, which must complement each other: this is the biological process of the hierarchical organization of the organic systems that make up the body (soma); mental process organizing individual experience through egosynthesis (psyche); social process of cultural organization of interconnected people (ethos). Erickson especially emphasizes that all three of these approaches are necessary for a holistic understanding of any event in human life.
Each stage of the life cycle is characterized by a specific task that is put forward by society. Society also determines the content of development at different stages of the life cycle. The solution of the problem, according to E. Erickson, depends both on the level of psychomotor development of the individual already achieved, and on the general spiritual atmosphere of the society in which this individual lives. As a result of the struggle of positive and negative tendencies in solving the main tasks, the main qualities of the personality are formed throughout epigenesis.
The task of infancy is the formation of basic trust in the world, overcoming feelings of disunity and alienation. The task of an early age is the struggle against a sense of shame and strong doubts in one's actions for one's own independence and self-sufficiency. The task of the "playing" (preschool) age is the development of an active initiative and at the same time experiencing a sense of guilt and moral responsibility for one's desires. During the period of study at school, a new task arises - the formation of industriousness and the ability to handle tools, which is opposed by the awareness of one's own ineptitude and uselessness. In adolescence and early adolescence, the task of the first integral awareness of oneself and one's place in the world appears; the negative pole in solving this problem is the lack of confidence in understanding one's own "I" ("diffusion of identity"). The task of the end of youth and the beginning of maturity is the search for a life partner and the establishment of close friendships that overcome the feeling of loneliness. The task of the mature period is the struggle of the creative forces of man against inertia and stagnation. The period of old age is characterized by the formation of a final integral idea of oneself, one's life path, as opposed to possible disappointment in life and growing despair.
The balance achieved at each stage marks the acquisition of a new form of ego identity and opens up the possibility of including the subject in a wider social environment. When raising a child, one should not forget that "negative" feelings always exist and serve as dynamic countermembers of "positive" feelings throughout life. The transition from one form of ego identity to another causes identity crises. Crises, according to E. Erickson, are not a personality illness, not a manifestation of a neurotic disorder, but turning points, "moments of choice between progress and regression, integration and delay."
Lecture 8
8.1. Driving Forces of Development
The concept of Erik Erickson (1902-1994) is rightfully one of the most significant theories of developmental psychology, both in its contribution to the study of the patterns of personality development in ontogeny, and in its influence on the formation of the problem field of research in the field of developmental psychology and the creation of particular theories. Although Erickson himself considered himself a supporter of psychoanalysis, he created an original epigenetic theory of development in the context of egopsychology.
There are a number of fundamental differences between psychoanalysis and Erickson's theory in the interpretation of the patterns of personality development:
* In the center of E. Erickson's attention is the structure of the Ego and its development.
Freud focuses on the structures of the id (it) and the superego.
(Super-I);
* Freud presents the relationship "child - society" as en
tagonistic, hostile, whose history is tragic
confrontation between the individual and society, the struggle of two worlds - the world
childhood and adult world. Erickson considers relationships
individual and society as a relationship of cooperation, provide
that promote the harmonious development of the personality;
* Freud assigned a decisive role to sexuality. E. Erickson, with
knowing its meaning, objects to the postulate of the primacy of
fanciful childish sexuality. He believed that the last
is not the main source of development;
* concept 3. Freud locks himself in the paradigm of two factors
as a determinant of development. E. Erickson offers more complex
a new system of causes, conditions and factors of personality development,
including her activity and communication. Personal activity
immanently assumed in the recognition of two variants of
the course of a psychosocial crisis and, accordingly, two
development options - constructive and destructive. Role
106 ■ Age-related psychology. Lecture notes
and the meaning of the child's communication with the social environment are revealed by E. Erickson in such concepts as the "radius of meaningful relationships" and "ritual".
Personal development, according to E. Erickson, is determined by the unity and interaction of three main lines: somatic, psychosocial, psychosexual. The main content of personality development is the process of formation of ego-identity. Identity is understood as self-identity and includes three main parameters: self-identity as internal identity to oneself in time and space; recognition of the self-identity of the individual by a significant social environment; confidence that internal and external identities are preserved and stable.
Thus, the concept of "identity" includes the subjective feeling of continuous identity with oneself; deep functional unity of one's own personality; awareness of one's own time span; awareness of the uniqueness of one's own personality; a sense of commonality with the social ideals and values of the group to which the individual belongs, a sense of social support and recognition. Personal identity is a condition for the effective functioning of a person in a particular culture and system public relations. E. Erikson considers the whole process of personality development from the point of view of the formation and transformation of identity.
epigenetic principle determines the sequence of stages of personality development. Epigenesis - the presence of a holistic innate plan that determines the main stages of development. The plan provides for the gradual formation of organs, i.e., psychological abilities. It postulates the presence of "critical periods" for the emergence and development of personality structures. In each period there is a special sensitivity to the formation of some personality trait, and if this period is missed, personal development is distorted. Each stage is based on the previous one - there is continuity and interrelation of the stages.
Development is the process of overcoming naturally arising on each age stage psychosocial crises. The essence of the crisis is the choice between alternative ways of development. Depending on the choice, personal development acquires a different direction - it can be positive, harmonious or negative, with developmental disorders and disorders of the emotional, personal and cognitive spheres. If the choice is positive,
_______ Lecture 8. E. Erickson's epigenetic theory of personality development ■ 107
then the formation of personality occurs according to a positive scenario, if it is negative - according to a destructive scenario. A destructive scenario is an obstacle to the formation of a person's identity and is accompanied by many problems.
A positive resolution of the crisis contributes to the formation of a positive neoplasm or a strong personality trait; negative - a destructive neoplasm that prevents the formation of ego-identity.
The crisis is carried out within the radius of significant social relations. Society helps in resolving the crisis by offering ritualizations, stable socio-cultural forms of interaction between the individual and his social environment, which create the necessary conditions for a successful resolution of the crisis. Ritualization has a number of features:
1. Ritual actions have general meaning, understandable and
shared by all participants. For example, prom night
delivery of the matriculation certificate "assigns" to a boy or girl
new rights and obligations of an adult.
2. Ritual actions combine stability and repetition
interactions with a certain novelty. Psychological sense
combination of stability and novelty of the ritual is to create an op
optimal conditions for the development of the child's personality. Stability
and stability provide a sense of security and confidence
in the near future, willingness and ability to actively participate
to interact with an adult. The child focuses on
script-ritual, can predict the actions of a partner and dos
very early learns to adapt to interaction, in the distance
taking the lead in carrying out the ritual.
Introducing elements of novelty into the ritual expands the boundaries of
abilities of the child, teaches him to act in new situations, with
teaches not to be afraid of the new. For example, laying down a small child
ka to sleep or his awakening to close adults represents with
fight is a special ritual. Emotional is central to it.
loaded actions - smiling, kissing, motion sickness, stroking
nie, lullaby and other signs of attention that create an atmosphere
warmth and security. At the same time, ritual actions every time
include something new that pushes the boundaries of self
your child and his acquaintance with the world.
3. Ritual actions not only persist throughout
throughout a person's life, but are transformed and acquire new forms
we, absorbing the experience and growing competence of the child.
108 ■ Developmental psychology. Lecture notes
Forms of interaction that are opposite to rituals and lead to the reproduction of a negative scenario of personality development are ritualisms. An example of ritualism is totalitarianism. Society offers a person both ritualizations and ritualisms, which leads to a variety of scenarios for personal development.
Each stage of development is characterized by a modus (modality) - the way the personality functions, its mode of action and attitude to the world.
8.2. Periodization of personality development
E. Erickson identifies eight ages, covering the entire life cycle from birth to death. The central line of development is the formation of ego-identity. Table 4 presents the main characteristics of development: psychosocial crisis, radius of significant relationships, positive and destructive neoplasms and ritualization.
Infancy, oral-sensory stage(0-1 year) is of fundamental importance for the further development of the individual. In psychoanalysis, birth is treated as a trauma; the child is helpless, the mother creates a special supportive environment. The mother determines by her care and upbringing, conditioned by culture and traditions, either a position of trust, openness to the world, or distrust and hopelessness. At this stage of development, an incorporative mode is realized, expressed in the actions "receive - give", "take - hold". "Deifying" ritualization presupposes a certain stability and reciprocity of the relationship between mother and child. Recognition is an early form of identity.
Belief in kindness, justice, reasonableness and stability of the world, forming an optimistic position, ensures the child's readiness to experience frustration and further development. The child learns to set reasonable boundaries of trust.
Early age, musculo-anal stage(1-3 years) is characterized by a psychosocial crisis - a choice between autonomy and shame and doubt. The development of the child's actions, the mastery of the muscular system and its regulation, the appearance of speech provide the conditions for the development of autonomy and the implementation of the “I myself” attitude. Identity appears in the form "I am that which I can freely desire." The leading modus is retentively-eliminative-
_______ Lecture 8. E. Erickson's epigenetic theory of personality development ■ 1 09
active (restraining-rejecting), expressed by the actions "retention, delay" - "letting go". Separation from the mother and the desire for independence are realized within the framework of reasonable ritualization. The type of family upbringing - accepting, encouraging independence or forbidding, authoritarian - largely determines the resolution of the crisis. Shame occurs when the child loses or is unable to self-control and is in the power of parental external control. A sense of self-control without loss of self-respect gives rise to free will. Obsession manifests itself in ritualistic repetition, compulsiveness, excessive shame, dependence and insecurity, or in open defiance and stubbornness. Preschool age, locomotor-genital stage- game age(3-6 years) is considered in connection with the Oedipus complex. The source of the psychosocial crisis is the Oedipus complex, feelings and experiences associated with relationships with parents. The leading modus is intrusions and penetrations. The castration complex creates fear in boys and guilt in girls. Moral feelings are born. The child is faced with an alternative: either to refuse to set and achieve goals, or to show initiative and ingenuity in the search for socially acceptable goals that meet his desires. The essence of the crisis is the choice between initiative and guilt. Society offers dramatic ritualization to resolve this crisis. In fact, this is a game, role-playing dramatization - the possibility of playing, modeling the relationships of adult life. In the game, prohibitions are removed, in the game everything can be everything. Play or dramatic ritualization opens up opportunities for free exploration and experimentation without the threat of guilt associated with breaking social taboos. During the game, the child masters these roles and develops the ability to proactively set goals. In the case of a positive resolution of the crisis in favor of the initiative, such a positive quality as purposefulness is formed - the ability to set goals and make efforts to achieve them. Otherwise, such a quality as inhibition is formed, i.e. refusal of the initiative. An example is the phenomenon of "learned helplessness" as a refusal to achieve goals, a refusal to be active in achieving goals when faced with the slightest difficulties, and any tasks that the child faces are perceived by him as difficult. Feature
Periodization of personality development (according to E. Erickson)
Table 4
| Psycho- | Radius | positive | destructive | ||
| stages | social | significant | neoplasm | neoplasm | ritualization |
| the crisis | relation | personalities | personalities | ||
| 1. Infancy | basic | Mother | Hope is faith | Care, rejection | deifying |
| (oral- | confidence - | into wisdom and | from communication | ||
| sensory) | basic under- | reliability of the world | activities, | ||
| 0-1 year | faith in the world | knowledge of the world | |||
| 2. Early | Autonomy - | Parents | Will is a way^ in | obsession | Reasonable |
| childhood | shame | overcoming | (law and order) | ||
| (muscle- | and doubt | cast doubt and | |||
| anal) | difficulties in dos- | ||||
| 1-3 years | target target | ||||
| 3.Game age | Initiative - | Family | Purposeful- | lethargy | dramatic |
| (locomotor- | guilt | ness | |||
| genital) | |||||
| 3-6 years old | |||||
| 4. School | diligence - | Neighbours, | Competence, | inertia | Formal |
| age | defective | school | skill | (technologies- | |
| (latent) | ness | chesky) | |||
| 6-12 years old | |||||
| 5. Teenage | ego-identical- | Groups | Loyalty | Negation | ideological |
| age | ness - mix- | peers | |||
| (pubertal) | solution is identical | ||||
| (12-19 years old) | news |
| 6. Youth | Intimacy - | Friends, | Love | exclusivity | Grouping |
| (youth) | insulation | partners | |||
| (genital) | |||||
| 20-25 years old | |||||
| 7. Maturity | Productivity | Divided | Care | rejection | mentoring, |
| 26-64 years old | ness - | work | educational | ||
| stagnation | and common house | ||||
| 8. Old age | ego-integration | Humanity | Wisdom | Contempt | philosophical |
| tion - | |||||
| despair |
112 Age psychology. Lecture notes
such a child - passivity, the desire to be under the care of an authoritative person.
School age, latent stage(6-12 years) covers the period from the beginning of schooling to the onset of puberty. The Oedipus complex has been overcome in the previous stage. The latent stage is characterized by the fact that sexual development is interrupted. The most important process is the process of sublimation, i.e. switching energy to socially desirable goals. This is the age of psychosexual moratorium, restrictions on sexual life. Society sets goals for the child related to the mastery of culture and offers technological ritualization. Formal technological ritualization responds to the tasks of forming competence, helping to make a choice between hard work and a sense of inferiority. Speaking about mastering technologies, we have two aspects in Evidu: subject, mastering subject disciplines (language, natural science, mathematics, etc.); technologies of cooperation, communication and interaction.
The child must learn to communicate and build joint activities to achieve common goals. The mastery of technology leads to the need to take responsibility, the willingness to self-restraint, and even submission. The main neoplasm of this age is competence (determined by efforts, skills and abilities, the ability to cooperate with others in learning and work). The main skill of the child is his ability to learn. The opposite quality of competence is inertia, which can act in two ways. Inertia is associated with a feeling of inferiority, which pushes towards two behaviors. The first is super-competition, when a child, prompted by a sense of inferiority, strives to be the first in all areas. The second is passive avoidance of tasks, activities in fantasy, imagination, compensatory activities. This is also a manifestation of inertia associated with the refusal to set goals and search for ways to achieve them.
IN school age there is a choice between the formation of abilities for creativity and creation and a feeling of inferiority, which limits the ability of the individual to solve the problems of self-education and self-development. Ego-identity appears in the form of "I am what I can learn."
Adolescence, adolescence, puberty(12-19 years old) - critical for the formation of identity. The essence of the psychosocial crisis is the choice between ego-identity and
_______ Lecture 8 E. Erikson's ethical theory of personality development ■ 113
confusion of identity. The radius of meaningful relationships is peer groups. A strong quality is loyalty. Pathological property - denial or rejection of the role. Ritualization is ideological.
It is at this age that the formation of the main, personal neoplasm - ego-identity, the integration of multiple images of the I into a single whole, the formation of a sense of self-identity in time and space, the recognition of the identity of the I by a significant social environment takes place. I am throughout the life cycle.
Why does an identity crisis arise in adolescence, what is its essence? This crisis is being prepared by a number of conditions. First, the processes of rapid somatic development and puberty. A teenager is faced with a fundamental change in the physical bodily Self, which sets the task of forming a new image of the Self. Secondly, the emergence of the tasks of self-determination and life choice. The society and itself raise questions: “Who am I?”, “What is the meaning of my life?”, “Who will I be?”, “What is my future profession?”, “What principles do I adhere to in this life?” etc.
Self-identity in time implies not only a retrospective, but also a perspective, planning the future in the context of life choices. The essence of this crisis is either the acquisition of the integrity of the Self, or ego-identity, or the confusion of ego-identity, that is, the inability to answer questions and build a holistic structure of the Self.
To solve these problems, society offers the teenager ideological ritualization - a system of worldviews, values, principles, norms, rules, views on life in relation to professional and ideological spheres. On the contrary, ritualism in the form of totalitarianism "liberates" the teenager from choice, imposing the only "correct" model of building life. The "dignity" of totalitarianism is that it saves the young man from the search, from the suffering and pangs of choice. Ideological ritualization presupposes the possibility of choice, experiment, prospects for the future, connected with the prospects of society. The functions of ideology are the establishment of a correspondence between the world of ideals and the world of reality; definition of ethnic identity, i.e. belonging to a certain ethnic group, nation, culture; encouragement to participate in collective, joint activities, where personal interests
114 Age psychology. Lecture notes
sy must be correlated with public interests; offering specific models of leadership and collaboration; representation of various religious, political currents, philosophical worldviews. Ideological ritualization is associated with the participation of young people in various groups, movements, and organizations.
According to Erickson, the mechanisms for acquiring identity can be three processes:
1. Introjection (Freud) is an investment from outside to inside. In hesh
Talt therapy introjects are called undigested construct
mi, uncritically transferred from outside to inside. This is the most accept
tive mechanism that does not ensure the acquisition of the true identity
ity.
2. Identification is a mechanism based on
expression, modeling of steering behavior of significant figures. At
adolescents usually have a lot of identification with their parents, hero
yami, actors, musicians, athletes, etc. Everyone has peace
leniya their heroes, represented by the culture of society.
3. The mechanism of role-playing experimentation, providing
achieving ego identity. The teenager takes on the role
tries it on, loses. It can be compared with theat
rum of masks, when the hero, changing masks, changes himself dramatically. During
day or several hours can play the role of the "soul of the company",
either an "unrecognized genius", or an outcast. Teenagers instantly got me
hobbies, passions. Impermanence, instability
deniya, interests, moods reflect the process of role-playing
mentoring. The peculiarity of adolescence is that this
the process of role-playing experimentation is carried out under the conditions
psychosocial moratorium to the final acceptance of the role.
It is possible to single out a number of specific symptoms of adolescence/adolescence associated with the crisis of the formation of ego-identity. The first is the blurring of the sense of time, in the form of a loss of time perspective, in adolescent amnesia - forgetting events while maintaining a sense of a very intense inner life. For a teenager, the night can be like one minute, and one minute can be experienced for hours. The second symptom is a relative, partial loss of productivity, meaning in creative, educational activities. In adolescence, there is a stagnation of previous achievements in sports, a teenager begins to study worse. The third feature is the withdrawal from close relationships, the desire for loneliness, isolation, the desire to be alone with their feelings and experiences. Keeping a diary
_______ Lecture 8. E. Erickson's epigenetic theory of personality development ■ 115
Cove, characteristic of this age, is the possibility of self-reflection alone with oneself. The last symptom is the formation of a negative identity. This is the adoption of a value system that is directly opposite to the one offered by society. In violation of trust between the child and parents, a negative identity is often formed. Many teenagers seem to question what society offers, and "try on" the exact opposite identity.
If the listed symptoms of the crisis persist after its completion, we can speak of a violation of the development of identity. The tasks of parents to support in resolving the crisis: move to a position of equality with a teenager; to accept his right to independent life choice; provide an opportunity for role-playing experimentation; encourage initiative, be ready for support and cooperation.
Identity statuses- a characteristic of the development of ego-identity. The concept of identity statuses was first stated in the works of E. Erickson and was further developed in the works of his students and followers, primarily D. Marcia. Today, identity status is one of the central concepts of personality psychology.
The resolution of an identity crisis involves a choice in the sphere of profession and in the sphere of ideology, including politics and religion. Depending on how the choice is made, one can speak of different statuses of identity. The most important indicator of maturity is going through a crisis - through a period of trials, doubts and reflections. The criteria for identifying identity statuses, according to D. Marcia, are: the passage of a crisis, the study of options, the implementation of a choice. Accordingly, four statuses of identity can be distinguished (Scheme 5): 1) predecision - there was no crisis, the choice was made; 2) moratorium - the crisis is relevant, the study is ongoing, the final choice has not been made; 3) achieved identity - the crisis is over, the choice is made; 4) diffuse identity - there was no crisis, or it took place, but the choice was not made. It can be of two types - precritical diffusion, postcritical diffusion, well expressed by the word "indifference".
Currently, they talk about other areas of choice - ethnic, family, gender, interpersonal identity. Identity statuses can be viewed as a normative sequence of ego-identity development: Diffusion => Predecision =>
116 ■ Developmental psychology. Lecture notes
Criterion > making a choice
Prejudice
Achieved Identity
Diffuse identity
Moratorium
Yes Criteria
passing the crisis
Scheme 5. Statuses of ego-identity
Moratorium ~> Achieved identity, allowing for a significant variability in the trajectories of achieving identity, explored in the works of D. Marcia, A. Waterman.
Identity development is a process that continues uninterrupted throughout our lives. In adulthood, we can return to an identity crisis again, reconsider our life choices, and again, after going through a moratorium, find an identity. One of the promising directions in modern developmental psychology is connected with the study of how identity develops in maturity.
A positive neoplasm is fidelity as the ability to be true to one's attachments and promises, despite the inevitable contradictions in the value system.
A destructive neoplasm is denial, which can act in two forms. The first is the rejection of the role and the confusion of roles, that is, the impossibility of achieving identity; the second is the acceptance of a negative identity that does not correspond to the inner essence of the personality.
Early maturity, youth, genital stage(20-25 years) - a period of psychosocial crisis. The essence of the crisis is the choice between intimacy and isolation. The formation of ego-identity is accompanied by a sense of uniqueness, originality, awareness of the individuality of the Self. As a result, a feeling of loneliness arises.
Lecture 8. E. Erickson's epigenetic theory of personality development ■ 117
feelings, anxiety and fear associated with the questions: will I be accepted for who I am? will they understand me? Will I succeed in life as a person? Will the goals be achieved in those areas of life, the exit to which was carried out? Another reason for the crisis is associated with an increase in the energy of sexual desires and with the need to find a partner, establish stable sexual relationships, and create a family. The radius of meaningful relationships are friends, people who are ready to share, accept and confirm identity in joint forms of activity and activity. A young person is faced with a choice: either to establish such relationships of intimacy and closeness that will allow him to realize his identity, or to remain alone and thus not get the opportunity to realize his identity, to realize himself. Thus, the choice between intimacy and isolation constitutes a developmental task at this age stage.
The ritualization offered by society, the ritualization of grouping. What is meant? A person who is aware of his uniqueness and originality bears the imprint of a crisis - leaving close relationships, communication is quite difficult, that is, it is disturbing to break the border of intimate space. Therefore, society offers a form of grouping that makes it easy to find "soul mates" and establish relationships. The phenomenon of youth subculture, grouping according to tastes, interests, beliefs makes it easy to get to know each other, establish relationships of mutual understanding, support and cooperation and engage in interaction in accordance with the existing system of rules.
Ritualism is elitism - the cultivation of all and all castes, groups, the establishment of the superiority of one group over another. This form of social interaction leads to alienation, repulsion, isolation.
A positive new formation of youth is love as the ability to entrust oneself to another person and remain faithful to this relationship, even if they require concessions and self-denial. Love is manifested in a relationship of mutual care, respect and responsibility for another person. Love implies a readiness for self-restraint in the interests of a partner, for maintaining loyalty to oneself and a partner.
The destructive neoplasm is exclusivity. We find the manifestation of exclusivity in hostility to everything that is not mine. For example, xenophobia is hostility towards everything alien. A well-known practice of youth groups
118 ■ Developmental psychology. Lecture notes
feasts: one's own against others, "wall to wall". The manifestation of exclusivity is the reverse side of intimacy, if intimacy implies intimacy and cooperation, then exclusivity is the beginning of the manifestation of rejection, hostility and readiness for confrontation.
Medium maturity(26-64 years old) - psychosocial crisis - the choice between generativity (productivity) and inertia, stagnation and stagnation. The radius of significant relationships is divided labor and a common home. At this stage, a person takes responsibility for everything that happens in the world, in the work team, in the family. Ritualization - mentoring and education associated with the care and transfer of experience to the new generation. Positive neoplasm - care, destructive - rejection.
The peculiarity of this stage is that, having reached maturity, having created a family, having made a choice of profession, a person assumes responsibility for the social well-being of both himself and those around him. The essence of the crisis is the choice: whether to accept this responsibility or refuse it. If a person accepts responsibility, then this is a choice in favor of productivity. Erickson believes that during maturity there is a constant expansion of the radius of meaningful relationships and thus the responsibility of the individual. Everyone has their own measure of "common home". Its expansion allows you to avoid stagnation, stagnation, stereotypes and provides an outlet for creativity. The metaphor of development is the "scissors" between what we can (the level of development achieved) and what we want - our goals. As soon as there are no "scissors", that is, the limit of our desires and our possibilities coincide, there will be no development. Crises of adulthood are crises of the meaning of life, the resolution of which is for a person, realizing his life, to set new life goals beyond its capabilities. And this is where development begins. The mentoring situation is also productive because if you are teaching something, you are eager to learn more yourself. Expanding the circle of care is a guarantee of future development. Going beyond the possibilities to productivity is the only way to keep the active, progressive course of development.
If a person refuses to take care and responsibility, if he does not have the ability to love and establish close relationships; if he is not included in an active, productive activity, then there is a danger of forming a rejection. Rejection can be directed both at oneself -
_______ Lecture 8. E. Erickson's epigenetic theory of personality development» 119
autoaggression, and outside. The number of suicides, violence, aggression, crime is growing in society. Therefore, society specifically creates a kind of buffers (the state, law enforcement agencies, various social services), protection against rejection. With the loss of productivity, a person directs his efforts only to his own needs and consumption, which leads to a crisis, loss of the meaning of life, a sense of hopelessness.
Late maturity, old age(65 years - before death) - the time of the psychosocial crisis - the choice between ego-integration and despair. The radius of meaningful relationships is the entire human race. Positive neoplasm - wisdom, negative - contempt, ritualization - philosophical, ritualism - dogmatism. The period of old age is the period of cessation of active productive and social activity; decrease in physical strength and capabilities, loss of many psychological capabilities; termination of the parent function. In old age, sensory modes are generalized. The essence of the psychosocial crisis lies in the choice between the path of personality disintegration, despair, loss of the Self, or ego integration. This task is solved thanks to philosophical ritualization, which allows summarizing the results of life, accepting the irreversibility of life and the inevitability of death, and seeing the continuation of the Self in subsequent generations. Ego-integration, the preservation of the Self, in spite of physical death, is possible only if one realizes one's own life as a link in the history of the human race.
Dogmatism is manifested in the fact that a person, not being able to maintain his Ego, follows the path of world stagnation. Rejection of innovations, innovations, the desire to keep everything the old way, strict adherence to the rules, rituals, norms, contrary to the realities of life changes. Dogmatism leads to emotional and personal impoverishment, a decrease in intelligence, without solving the problem of integrating the Self.
The path of a constructive resolution of the crisis leads to the formation of life wisdom as a meaningful and independent interest in life itself, in spite of death itself. The destructive resolution of the crisis leads to contempt for life as a chain of unfulfilled and missed opportunities and for oneself as "an excruciating pain for wasted years."
So, the life cycle of personality development is considered by E. Erickson as an integral system, where each of the stages is interconnected and interdependent.
120 ■ Developmental psychology. Lecture notes
Assessing the concept of E. Erickson, it is necessary to note its "strengths", revealing the prospects for further research:
* personal development is considered in a holistic life
a cycle covering the entire human ontogeny;
* development is seen as a dialectical process
solving crises, resolving emerging contradictions;
* development is understood as a process that largely depends
captured by the activity of the personality itself. Highlighted like a mini
um, two different development scenarios. Is there no development
a linear and initially programmed process;
* relations between the individual and society act as relations with
Difficulties in which the positive development of the individual is not possible
possible outside social relations;
* allocation of two types of neoplasms - destructive and
positive - defines the space of possible trajectories
personality development.
Eric Erickson, a student of Freud, created a new theory based on Freud's teachings on the phases of psycho-sexual development. Erickson's theory is a theory of psycho-social development, it includes eight stages of the development of the “I”, at each of which guidelines are worked out and refined in relation to oneself and to the external environment. Erickson noted that the study of personal individuality is becoming the same strategic task of the second half of the twentieth century, which was the study of sexuality in the time of Z. Freud, at the end of the nineteenth century. The difference between Erickson's theory and Freud's theory is as follows:
First, Erickson's 8 stages are not limited to childhood, but include the development and transformation of personality. throughout life from birth to old age, arguing that both adult and mature age are characterized by their own crises, during which the tasks corresponding to them are solved.
Secondly, in contrast to Freud's pansexual theory, human development, according to Erickson, consists of three interrelated, albeit autonomous, processes: somatic development, studied by biology; development of the conscious self, studied by psychology; and social development, studied by the social sciences.
The basic law of development is the “epigenetic principle”, according to which at each new stage of development new phenomena and properties arise that were not at the previous stages of the process.
Erickson identifies 8 main tasks that a person, one way or another, solves during his life. These tasks are present at all age stages, throughout life. But each time one of them is updated with the next age crisis. If it is solved in a positive way, then a person, having learned to cope with such problems, then feels more confident in similar situations. Having not successfully passed any age period, he feels like a schoolboy who does not know how to solve problems of some type: “suddenly they will ask, suddenly they will convict that I don’t know how.”
This situation is not irreversible: it is never too late to learn, but it is complicated by the fact that the time allotted for solving this problem has been lost. New age crises bring new problems to the fore, each age stage “throws up” its tasks. And for old, familiar ones, there is often not enough strength, time, or desire already. And so they drag on in the form of negative experience, the experience of defeat. In such cases, they say that a “tail of problems” stretches behind a person. Thus, E. Erickson considers the correspondence between the stages of growing up and the problems that a person, having not solved at a certain stage, then drags along his whole life.
Stages of development of the psyche according to Erickson :
I stage. Oral-sensory
Corresponds oral stage of classical psychoanalysis.
Age: first year of life.
Stage task: basic trust vs. basic distrust.
: energy and hope .
The extent of the infant's confidence in the world depends on the care shown to him. Normal development occurs when his needs are quickly met, he does not feel unwell for a long time, he is cradled and caressed, played with and talked to. The mother's behavior is confident and predictable. In this case, it produces confidence to the world into which he came. If he does not receive proper care, he develops mistrust, fearfulness and suspicion.
The task of this stage- work out the necessary balance between trust and distrust in the world. This will help, already as an adult, not to succumb to the very first advertisement, but also not to be a “man in a case”, distrustful and suspicious of everything and everyone.
As a result successful passage of this stage, people grow up who draw vital faith not only in religion, but also in social activities and scientific studies. People who have not successfully passed this stage, even if they profess faith, in fact, with every breath express distrust of people.
II stage. Musculo-anal
matches with the anal stage of Freudianism.
Age 2nd - 3rd years of life.
Stage task: autonomy against shame and doubt.
Valuable qualities acquired at this stage: self-control and willpower.
At this stage, the development of independence based on motor and mental abilities comes to the fore. The child learns different movements. If the parents leave the child to do what he can, he develops the feeling that he owns his muscles, his impulses, himself, and, to a large extent, the environment. Independence appears.
If educators show impatience and rush to do for the child what he himself is capable of, modesty and indecision develop. If parents constantly scold a child for a wet bed, soiled pants, spilled milk, a broken cup, etc. - the child develops a sense of shame and insecurity in his ability to manage himself and his environment.
External control at this stage, he must firmly convince the child of his strengths and capabilities, and also protect him from anarchy.
Exodus this stage depends on the ratio of cooperation and self-will, freedom of expression and its suppression. From feelings of self-control, how freedom to manage oneself without loss self-respect, takes a firm start feeling of goodwill, readiness for action and pride in their achievements, self-esteem. From a feeling loss of freedom manage yourself and feel someone else's over control going steady tendency to doubt and shame.
III stage. Locomotor-genital
Stage infantile genitality corresponds to the phallic stage of psychoanalysis.
Age: 4 - 5 years - preschool age.
Stage task: initiative (enterprise) versus guilt.
Valuable qualities acquired at this stage: direction and purposefulness .
By the beginning of this stage, the child has already acquired many physical skills, begins to invent activities for himself, and not just respond to actions and imitate them. Shows ingenuity in speech, the ability to fantasize.
The preponderance of qualities in character largely depends on how adults react to the child's undertakings. Children who are given initiative in the choice of activities (running, wrestling, messing around, cycling, sledding, skating), they develop entrepreneurial spirit. It reinforces her parents' willingness to answer questions (intellectual enterprise) and not interfere with fantasizing and starting games.
If adults show the child that his activities are harmful and undesirable, the questions are intrusive, and the games are stupid, he begins to feel guilty and carries this feeling of guilt into adulthood. Danger this stage - in the emergence of a sense of guilt for one's goals and actions in the course of enjoying a new locomotor and mental power, which require vigorous curbing. Defeat leads to resignation, guilt and anxiety. Overly optimistic hopes and wild fantasies are suppressed and restrained.
At this stage, the most important separation occurs between the potential triumph of man and the potential total destruction. And it's right here baby forever becomes divided within itself: for a children's set that maintains an abundance of growth potentials, and a parent's set that supports and enhances self-control, self-government and self-punishment. A sense of moral responsibility develops.
A child at this stage tends to learn quickly and eagerly, to mature rapidly in the sense of sharing duties and affairs. Wants and can do joint things, together with other children invents and plans things. Mimics ideal prototypes. This stage links the dreams of early childhood with the goals of an active adult life.
IV stage. Latent
Corresponds to the latent phase of classical psychoanalysis.
Age 6 - 11 years old.
Stage task: industriousness (skill) versus feelings of inferiority.
Valuable qualities acquired at this stage: system and competence .
Love and jealousy are at this stage in a latent state (which is what its name says - latent). These are the years elementary school. The child shows the ability for deduction, organized games, regulated activities. Interest in how things are arranged, how to adapt them, master them. During these years, he resembles Robinson Crusoe and is often interested in his life.
When children are encouraged tinker, build huts and model aircraft, cook, cook and craft when they are allowed finish what you started, praised for the results, then the child develops skill, the ability to technical creativity.
When parents see one thing in their child's work activity " pampering" And " dirty”, this contributes to the development of a feeling of inferiority in him. Danger this stage - a feeling of inadequacy and inferiority. If a child despairs of his tools and work skills or his place among comrades, then this may discourage identification with them, the child considers himself doomed to mediocrity or inadequacy. He learns to win confession doing useful and necessary work.
The environment of the child at this stage is already not limited to home. Influence not only of the family, but also of the school. Attitude towards him at school has a significant impact on the balance of the psyche. Being left behind causes a feeling of inferiority. He had already learned from experience that there was no feasible future in the bosom of the family. Systematic training- occurs in all cultures at this stage. It is during this period that the wider society becomes important in relation to providing the child with opportunities to understand meaningful roles in society's technology and economy.
Freud calls this stage the latent stage, because violent drives are dormant. But this is only a temporary lull before the storm of puberty, when all the earlier instincts reappear in a new combination to become subordinate to genitality.
V stage. Adolescence and early adolescence
Classical psychoanalysis notes at this stage the problem of "love and jealousy" for one's own parents. A successful decision depends on whether he finds the object of love in his own generation. This is a continuation of the latent stage according to Freud.
Age 12 - 18 years old.
Stage task: identity versus role confusion.
Valuable qualities acquired at this stage: dedication and loyalty .
The main difficulty at this stage is identification confusion, the inability to recognize one's "I".
The teenager matures physiologically and mentally, he develops new views on things,
new approach to life. Interest in other people's thoughts, in what they think of themselves.
The influence of parents at this stage is indirect. If a teenager, thanks to his parents, has already developed trust, independence, enterprise, and skill, then his chances of identification, i.e. on the recognition of one's own identity increase significantly.
The opposite is true for a teenager who is incredulous, insecure, filled with feelings of guilt and a sense of his inferiority. Difficulties in self-identification show symptoms role confusion. This is often the case with juvenile delinquents. Girls who show promiscuity in adolescence very often have fragmented view about their personality and their promiscuous connections do not correlate either with their intellectual level or with the system of values.
The isolation of the circle and the rejection of "strangers". Identification marks of “ours” - clothes, make-up, gestures, words. This intolerance (intolerance) is a defense against the “clouding” of identity consciousness. Teenagers stereotype themselves, their ideals, their enemies. Adolescents often identify their self with the opposite of what their parents expect. But sometimes it's better to associate yourself with "hippies" and the like than not to find your "I" at all. Teenagers test each other's ability to be faithful. Readiness for such a test explains the attraction for young people of simple and rigid totalitarian doctrines.
VI stage. early adulthood
Freud's genital stage.
Age: courtship period and early years family life. Late adolescence to early middle age. Here and below, Erickson no longer clearly states the age.
Stage task: closeness versus isolation.
Valuable qualities acquired at this stage: affiliation and love .
By the beginning of this stage, a person has already identified his “I” and is involved in labor activity.
Closeness is important to him - not only physical, but also the ability to take care of another person, to share everything essential with him without fear of losing himself. The newly minted adult is ready to show moral strength in both intimate and comradely relationships, remaining faithful even if significant sacrifices and compromises are required. Manifestations of this stage are not necessarily in sexual attraction, but also in friendship. For example, close ties are formed between fellow soldiers who fought side by side in difficult conditions - a model of closeness in the broadest sense.
stage danger -avoidance contacts that oblige to intimacy. Avoiding the experience of intimacy out of fear of losing the ego leads to feelings of isolation and subsequent self-absorption. If neither in marriage nor in friendship does he achieve intimacy - loneliness. No one to share your life with and no one to take care of. Danger This stage consists in the fact that a person experiences intimate, competitive, and hostile relations with the same people. The rest are indifferent. And only having learned to distinguish the fight of rivals from a sexual embrace, a person masters ethical sense- a hallmark of an adult. It's only showing up now true genitality. It cannot be considered a purely sexual task. It is an amalgamation of mate selection, cooperation, and competition.
VII stage. adulthood
Classical psychoanalysis no longer considers this and the subsequent stage, it covers only the period of growing up.
Age: mature.
Stage task: generativity versus stagnation.
Valuable qualities acquired at this stage: production and care .
By the time this stage is reached, a person has already firmly associated himself with a certain occupation, and his children have already become teenagers.
This stage of development is characterized by universal humanity - the ability to be interested in the fate of people outside the family circle, to think about the life of future generations, the forms of the future society and the structure of the future world. To do this, it is not necessary to have your own children, it is important to actively take care of young people and to make life and work easier for people in the future.
Those who have not developed a sense of belonging to humanity focus on themselves, and their main concern becomes the satisfaction of their needs, their own comfort, self-absorption.
Generativity - the central point of this stage - is an interest in the organization of life and the guidance of a new generation. Although there are individuals who, due to failures in life or special gifts in other areas, do not direct this interest to their offspring. generativity includes productivity And creativity, but these concepts cannot replace it. Generativity - most important stage both psychosexual and psychosocial development.
When such enrichment can't reach, there is a regression to the need for pseudo-intimacy, with a sense of stagnation and impoverishment of personal life. The man begins to pamper myself as if he were his own child. The very fact of having children or the desire to have them is not yet generative.
Reasons for the backlog- excessive selfishness, intense self-creation of a successful person at the expense of other aspects of life, lack of faith, trust, feeling that he is a welcome hope and concern of society.
VIII stage. Maturity
Age: pension.
Stage task: ego integrity versus despair.
Valuable qualities acquired at this stage: self-denial and wisdom.
The main work in life is over, it is time for reflection and fun with the grandchildren.
The feeling of wholeness, meaningfulness of life arises in someone who, looking back at the past, feels satisfaction. To whom the life lived seems to be a chain of missed opportunities and unfortunate blunders, he realizes that it is too late to start all over again and the lost cannot be returned. Such a person is overcome by despair at the thought of how his life could have developed, but did not. Hopelessness. Absence or loss accumulated integrity expressed in the fear of death: the one and only life cycle is not accepted as the end of life. Despair expresses the consciousness that there is little time left to live in order to try to start a new life and experience other paths to wholeness.
Disgust hides despair, albeit in the form of a “mass of small disgusts” that do not add up to one big repentance.
Comparing this stage with the very first, we see how the circle of values closes: integrity (integrity) of an adult and infantile trust, confidence in honesty (integrity) Erickson designates with the same word. He argues that healthy children will not be afraid of life if the old people around them have sufficient integrity not to be afraid of death.
8.1. Driving Forces of Development
The concept of Erik Erickson (1902-1994) is rightfully one of the most significant theories of developmental psychology, both in its contribution to the study of the patterns of personality development in ontogeny, and in its influence on the formation of the problem field of research in the field of developmental psychology and the creation of particular theories. Although Erickson himself considered himself a supporter of psychoanalysis, he created an original epigenetic theory of development in the context of egopsychology.
There are a number of fundamental differences between psychoanalysis and Erickson's theory in the interpretation of the patterns of personality development:
■ E. Erickson focuses on the structure of the ego and its development.
Freud focuses on the structures of the id (it) and the superego.
(Super-I);
■ Freud presents the relationship "child - society" as en
tagonistic, hostile, whose history is tragic
confrontation between the individual and society, the struggle of two worlds - the world
childhood and adult world. Erickson considers relationships
individual and society as a relationship of cooperation, provide
that promote the harmonious development of the personality;
■ Freud assigned a decisive role to sexuality. E. Erickson, with
knowing its meaning, objects to the postulate of the primacy of
fanciful childish sexuality. He believed that the last
is not the main source of development;
■ concept 3. Freud locks himself in the paradigm of two factors
as a determinant of development. E. Erickson offers more complex
a new system of causes, conditions and factors of personality development,
including her activity and communication. Personal activity
immanently assumed in the recognition of two variants of
the course of a psychosocial crisis and, accordingly, two
development options - constructive and destructive. Role
106 ■ Developmental psychology. Lecture notes
And the meaning of the child's communication with the social environment is revealed by E. Erickson in such concepts as the "radius of meaningful relationships" and "ritual".
Personal development, according to E. Erickson, is determined by the unity and interaction of three main lines: somatic, psychosocial, psychosexual. The main content of personality development is the process of formation of ego-identity. Identity is understood as self-identity and includes three main parameters: self-identity as internal identity to oneself in time and space; recognition of the self-identity of the individual by a significant social environment; confidence that internal and external identities are preserved and stable.
Thus, the concept of "identity" includes the subjective feeling of continuous identity with oneself; deep functional unity of one's own personality; awareness of one's own time span; awareness of the uniqueness of one's own personality; a sense of commonality with the social ideals and values of the group to which the individual belongs, a sense of social support and recognition. Personal identity is a condition for the effective functioning of a person in a particular culture and system of social relations. E. Erikson considers the whole process of personality development from the point of view of the formation and transformation of identity.
epigenetic principle determines the sequence of stages of personality development. Epigenesis - the presence of a holistic innate plan that determines the main stages of development. The plan provides for the gradual formation of organs, i.e., psychological abilities. It postulates the presence of "critical periods" for the emergence and development of personality structures. In each period there is a special sensitivity to the formation of some personality trait, and if this period is missed, personal development is distorted. Each stage is based on the previous one - there is continuity and interrelation of the stages.
Development is a process of overcoming psychosocial crises that naturally arise at each age stage. The essence of the crisis is the choice between alternative ways of development. Depending on the choice, personal development acquires a different direction - it can be positive, harmonious or negative, with developmental disorders and disorders of the emotional, personal and cognitive spheres. If the choice is positive,
_______ Lecture 8. E. Erickson's epigenetic theory of personality development ■ 107
then the formation of personality occurs according to a positive scenario, if it is negative - according to a destructive scenario. A destructive scenario is an obstacle to the formation of a person's identity and is accompanied by many problems.
A positive resolution of the crisis contributes to the formation of a positive neoplasm or a strong personality trait; negative - a destructive neoplasm that prevents the formation of ego-identity.
The crisis is carried out within the radius of significant social relations. Society helps in resolving the crisis by offering ritualizations, stable socio-cultural forms of interaction between the individual and his social environment, which create the necessary conditions for a successful resolution of the crisis. Ritualization has a number of features:
1. Ritual actions have a general meaning, understandable and
shared by all participants. For example, prom night
delivery of the matriculation certificate "assigns" to a boy or girl
new rights and obligations of an adult.
2. Ritual actions combine stability and repetition
interactions with a certain novelty. Psychological sense
combination of stability and novelty of the ritual is to create an op
optimal conditions for the development of the child's personality. Stability
and stability provide a sense of security and confidence
in the near future, willingness and ability to actively participate
to interact with an adult. The child focuses on
script-ritual, can predict the actions of a partner and dos
very early learns to adapt to interaction, in the distance
taking the lead in carrying out the ritual.
Introducing elements of novelty into the ritual expands the boundaries of
abilities of the child, teaches him to act in new situations, with
teaches not to be afraid of the new. For example, laying down a small child
ka to sleep or his awakening to close adults represents with
fight is a special ritual. Emotional is central to it.
loaded actions - smiling, kissing, motion sickness, stroking
nie, lullaby and other signs of attention that create an atmosphere
warmth and security. At the same time, ritual actions every time
include something new that pushes the boundaries of self
your child and his acquaintance with the world.
3. Ritual actions not only persist throughout
throughout a person's life, but are transformed and acquire new forms
we, absorbing the experience and growing competence of the child.
108 ■ Developmental psychology. Lecture notes
Forms of interaction that are opposite to rituals and lead to the reproduction of a negative scenario of personality development are ritualisms. An example of ritualism is totalitarianism. Society offers a person both ritualizations and ritualisms, which leads to a variety of scenarios for personal development.
Each stage of development is characterized by a modus (modality) - the way the personality functions, its mode of action and attitude to the world.
8.2. Periodization of personality development
E. Erickson identifies eight ages, covering the entire life cycle from birth to death. The central line of development is the formation of ego-identity. Table 4 presents the main characteristics of development: psychosocial crisis, radius of significant relationships, positive and destructive neoplasms and ritualization.
Infancy, oral-sensory stage(0-1 year) is of fundamental importance for the further development of the individual. In psychoanalysis, birth is treated as a trauma; the child is helpless, the mother creates a special supportive environment. The mother determines by her care and upbringing, conditioned by culture and traditions, either a position of trust, openness to the world, or distrust and hopelessness. At this stage of development, an incorporative mode is realized, expressed in the actions "receive - give", "take - hold". "Deifying" ritualization presupposes a certain stability and reciprocity of the relationship between mother and child. Recognition is an early form of identity.
Belief in kindness, justice, reasonableness and stability of the world, forming an optimistic position, ensures the child's readiness to experience frustration and further development. The child learns to set reasonable boundaries of trust.
Early age, musculo-anal stage(1-3 years) is characterized by a psychosocial crisis - a choice between autonomy and shame and doubt. The development of the child's actions, the mastery of the muscular system and its regulation, the appearance of speech provide the conditions for the development of autonomy and the implementation of the “I myself” attitude. Identity appears in the form "I am that which I can freely desire." The leading modus is retentively-eliminative-
_______ Lecture 8. E. Erickson's epigenetic theory of personality development ■ 1 09
active (restraining-rejecting), expressed by the actions "retention, delay" - "letting go". Separation from the mother and the desire for independence are realized within the framework of reasonable ritualization. The type of family education - accepting, encouraging independence or forbidding, authoritarian - largely determines the resolution of the crisis. Shame occurs when the child loses or is unable to self-control and is in the power of parental external control. A sense of self-control without loss of self-respect gives rise to free will. Obsession manifests itself in ritualistic repetition, compulsiveness, excessive shame, dependence and insecurity, or in open defiance and stubbornness. Preschool age, locomotor-genital stage- game age(3-6 years) is considered in connection with the Oedipus complex. The source of the psychosocial crisis is the Oedipus complex, feelings and experiences associated with relationships with parents. The leading modus is intrusions and penetrations. The castration complex creates fear in boys and guilt in girls. Moral feelings are born. The child is faced with an alternative: either to refuse to set and achieve goals, or to show initiative and ingenuity in the search for socially acceptable goals that meet his desires. The essence of the crisis is the choice between initiative and guilt. Society offers dramatic ritualization to resolve this crisis. In fact, this is a game, role-playing dramatization - the possibility of playing, modeling the relationships of adult life. In the game, prohibitions are removed, in the game everything can be everything. Play or dramatic ritualization opens up opportunities for free exploration and experimentation without the threat of guilt associated with breaking social taboos. During the game, the child masters these roles and develops the ability to proactively set goals. In the case of a positive resolution of the crisis in favor of the initiative, such a positive quality as purposefulness is formed - the ability to set goals and make efforts to achieve them. Otherwise, such a quality as inhibition is formed, i.e. refusal of the initiative. An example is the phenomenon of "learned helplessness" as a refusal to achieve goals, a refusal to be active in achieving goals when faced with the slightest difficulties, and any tasks that the child faces are perceived by him as difficult. Feature
Periodization of personality development (according to E. Erickson)
Table 4
| Psycho- | Radius | positive | destructive | ||
| stages | social | significant | neoplasm | neoplasm | ritualization |
| the crisis | relation | personalities | personalities | ||
| 1. Infancy | basic | Mother | Hope is faith | Care, rejection | deifying |
| (oral- | confidence - | into wisdom and | from communication | ||
| sensory) | basic under- | reliability of the world | activities, | ||
| 0-1 year | faith in the world | knowledge of the world | |||
| 2. Early | Autonomy - | Parents | Will is a way^ in | obsession | Reasonable |
| childhood | shame | overcoming | (law and order) | ||
| (muscle- | and doubt | cast doubt and | |||
| anal) | difficulties in dos- | ||||
| 1-3 years | target target | ||||
| 3.Game age | Initiative - | Family | Purposeful- | lethargy | dramatic |
| (locomotor- | guilt | ness | |||
| genital) | |||||
| 3-6 years old | |||||
| 4. School | diligence - | Neighbours, | Competence, | inertia | Formal |
| age | defective | school | skill | (technologies- | |
| (latent) | ness | chesky) | |||
| 6-12 years old | |||||
| 5. Teenage | ego-identical- | Groups | Loyalty | Negation | ideological |
| age | ness - mix- | peers | |||
| (pubertal) | solution is identical | ||||
| (12-19 years old) | news |
| 6. Youth | Intimacy - | Friends, | Love | exclusivity | Grouping |
| (youth) | insulation | partners | |||
| (genital) | |||||
| 20-25 years old | |||||
| 7. Maturity | Productivity | Divided | Care | rejection | mentoring, |
| 26-64 years old | ness - | work | educational | ||
| stagnation | and common house | ||||
| 8. Old age | ego-integration | Humanity | Wisdom | Contempt | philosophical |
| tion - | |||||
| despair |
112 Age psychology. Lecture notes
Such a child - passivity, the desire to be under the care of an authoritative person.
School age, latent stage(6-12 years) covers the period from the beginning of schooling to the onset of puberty. The Oedipus complex has been overcome in the previous stage. The latent stage is characterized by the fact that sexual development is interrupted. The most important process is the process of sublimation, i.e. switching energy to socially desirable goals. This is the age of psychosexual moratorium, restrictions on sexual life. Society sets goals for the child related to the mastery of culture and offers technological ritualization. Formal technological ritualization responds to the tasks of forming competence, helping to make a choice between hard work and a sense of inferiority. Speaking about mastering technologies, we have two aspects in Evidu: subject, mastering subject disciplines (language, natural science, mathematics, etc.); technologies of cooperation, communication and interaction.
The child must learn to communicate and build joint activities to achieve common goals. The mastery of technology leads to the need to take responsibility, the willingness to self-restraint, and even submission. The main neoplasm of this age is competence (determined by efforts, skills and abilities, the ability to cooperate with others in learning and work). The main skill of the child is his ability to learn. The opposite quality of competence is inertia, which can act in two ways. Inertia is associated with a feeling of inferiority, which pushes towards two behaviors. The first is super-competition, when a child, prompted by a sense of inferiority, strives to be the first in all areas. The second is passive avoidance of tasks, activities in fantasy, imagination, compensatory activities. This is also a manifestation of inertia associated with the refusal to set goals and search for ways to achieve them.
At school age, there is a choice between the formation of abilities for creativity and creation and a sense of inferiority, which limits the ability of the individual to solve the problems of self-education and self-development. Ego-identity appears in the form of "I am what I can learn."
Adolescence, adolescence, puberty(12-19 years old) - critical for the formation of identity. The essence of the psychosocial crisis is the choice between ego-identity and
_______ Lecture 8 E. Erikson's ethical theory of personality development ■ 113
confusion of identity. The radius of meaningful relationships is peer groups. A strong quality is loyalty. Pathological property - denial or rejection of the role. Ritualization is ideological.
It is at this age that the formation of the main, personal neoplasm - ego-identity, the integration of multiple images of the I into a single whole, the formation of a sense of self-identity in time and space, the recognition of the identity of the I by a significant social environment takes place. I am throughout the life cycle.
Why does an identity crisis arise in adolescence, what is its essence? This crisis is being prepared by a number of conditions. First, the processes of rapid somatic development and puberty. A teenager is faced with a fundamental change in the physical bodily Self, which sets the task of forming a new image of the Self. Secondly, the emergence of the tasks of self-determination and life choice. The society and itself raise questions: “Who am I?”, “What is the meaning of my life?”, “Who will I be?”, “What is my future profession?”, “What principles do I adhere to in this life?” etc.
Self-identity in time implies not only a retrospective, but also a perspective, planning the future in the context of life choices. The essence of this crisis is either the acquisition of the integrity of the Self, or ego-identity, or the confusion of ego-identity, that is, the inability to answer questions and build a holistic structure of the Self.
To solve these problems, society offers the teenager ideological ritualization - a system of worldviews, values, principles, norms, rules, views on life in relation to professional and ideological spheres. On the contrary, ritualism in the form of totalitarianism "liberates" the teenager from choice, imposing the only "correct" model for building life. The "dignity" of totalitarianism is that it saves the young man from the search, from the suffering and pangs of choice. Ideological ritualization presupposes the possibility of choice, experiment, prospects for the future, connected with the prospects of society. The functions of ideology are the establishment of a correspondence between the world of ideals and the world of reality; definition of ethnic identity, i.e. belonging to a certain ethnic group, nation, culture; encouragement to participate in collective, joint activities, where personal interests
114 Age psychology. Lecture notes
Sy must be correlated with public interests; offering specific models of leadership and collaboration; representation of various religious, political currents, philosophical worldviews. Ideological ritualization is associated with the participation of young people in various groups, movements, and organizations.
According to Erickson, the mechanisms for acquiring identity can be three processes:
1. Introjection (Freud) is an investment from outside to inside. In hesh
Talt therapy introjects are called undigested construct
mi, uncritically transferred from outside to inside. This is the most accept
tive mechanism that does not ensure the acquisition of the true identity
ity.
2. Identification is a mechanism based on
expression, modeling of steering behavior of significant figures. At
adolescents usually have a lot of identification with their parents, hero
yami, actors, musicians, athletes, etc. Everyone has peace
leniya their heroes, represented by the culture of society.
3. The mechanism of role-playing experimentation, providing
achieving ego identity. The teenager takes on the role
tries it on, loses. It can be compared with theat
rum of masks, when the hero, changing masks, changes himself dramatically. During
day or several hours can play the role of the "soul of the company",
either an "unrecognized genius", or an outcast. Teenagers instantly got me
hobbies, passions. Impermanence, instability
deniya, interests, moods reflect the process of role-playing
mentoring. The peculiarity of adolescence is that this
the process of role-playing experimentation is carried out under the conditions
psychosocial moratorium to the final acceptance of the role.
It is possible to single out a number of specific symptoms of adolescence/adolescence associated with the crisis of the formation of ego-identity. The first is the blurring of the sense of time, in the form of a loss of time perspective, in adolescent amnesia - forgetting events while maintaining a sense of a very intense inner life. For a teenager, the night can be like one minute, and one minute can be experienced for hours. The second symptom is a relative, partial loss of productivity, meaning in creative, educational activities. In adolescence, there is a stagnation of previous achievements in sports, a teenager begins to study worse. The third feature is the withdrawal from close relationships, the desire for loneliness, isolation, the desire to be alone with their feelings and experiences. Keeping a diary
_______ Lecture 8. E. Erickson's epigenetic theory of personality development ■ 115
Cove, characteristic of this age, is the possibility of self-reflection alone with oneself. The last symptom is the formation of a negative identity. This is the adoption of a value system that is directly opposite to the one offered by society. In violation of trust between the child and parents, a negative identity is often formed. Many teenagers seem to question what society offers, and "try on" the exact opposite identity.
If the listed symptoms of the crisis persist after its completion, we can speak of a violation of the development of identity. The tasks of parents to support in resolving the crisis: move to a position of equality with a teenager; to accept his right to independent life choice; provide an opportunity for role-playing experimentation; encourage initiative, be ready for support and cooperation.
Identity statuses- a characteristic of the development of ego-identity. The concept of identity statuses was first stated in the works of E. Erickson and was further developed in the works of his students and followers, primarily D. Marcia. Today, identity status is one of the central concepts of personality psychology.
The resolution of an identity crisis involves a choice in the sphere of profession and in the sphere of ideology, including politics and religion. Depending on how the choice is made, one can speak of different statuses of identity. The most important indicator of maturity is going through a crisis - through a period of trials, doubts and reflections. The criteria for identifying identity statuses, according to D. Marcia, are: passing through the crisis, exploring the possibilities of choice, making a choice. Accordingly, four statuses of identity can be distinguished (Scheme 5): 1) predecision - there was no crisis, the choice was made; 2) moratorium - the crisis is relevant, the study is ongoing, the final choice has not been made; 3) achieved identity - the crisis is over, the choice is made; 4) diffuse identity - there was no crisis, or it took place, but the choice was not made. It can be of two types - precritical diffusion, postcritical diffusion, well expressed by the word "indifference".
Currently, they talk about other areas of choice - ethnic, family, gender, interpersonal identity. Identity statuses can be viewed as a normative sequence of ego-identity development: Diffusion => Predecision =>
116 ■ Developmental psychology. Lecture notes
Criterion > making a choice
Prejudice
Achieved Identity
Diffuse identity
Moratorium
Yes Criteria
passing the crisis
Scheme 5. Statuses of ego-identity
Moratorium ~> Achieved identity, allowing for a significant variability in the trajectories of achieving identity, explored in the works of D. Marcia, A. Waterman.
Identity development is a process that continues uninterrupted throughout our lives. In adulthood, we can return to an identity crisis again, reconsider our life choices, and again, after going through a moratorium, find an identity. One of the promising directions in modern developmental psychology is connected with the study of how identity develops in maturity.
A positive neoplasm is fidelity as the ability to be true to one's attachments and promises, despite the inevitable contradictions in the value system.
A destructive neoplasm is denial, which can act in two forms. The first is the rejection of the role and the confusion of roles, that is, the impossibility of achieving identity; the second is the acceptance of a negative identity that does not correspond to the inner essence of the personality.
Early maturity, youth, genital stage(20-25 years) - a period of psychosocial crisis. The essence of the crisis is the choice between intimacy and isolation. The formation of ego-identity is accompanied by a sense of uniqueness, originality, awareness of the individuality of the Self. As a result, a feeling of loneliness arises.
Lecture 8. E. Erickson's epigenetic theory of personality development ■ 117
Stva, anxiety and fear associated with the questions: will I be accepted for who I am? will they understand me? Will I succeed in life as a person? Will the goals be achieved in those areas of life, the exit to which was carried out? Another reason for the crisis is associated with an increase in the energy of sexual desires and with the need to find a partner, establish stable sexual relationships, and create a family. The radius of meaningful relationships are friends, people who are ready to share, accept and confirm identity in joint forms of activity and activity. A young person is faced with a choice: either to establish such relationships of intimacy and closeness that will allow him to realize his identity, or to remain alone and thus not get the opportunity to realize his identity, to realize himself. Thus, the choice between intimacy and isolation constitutes a developmental task at this age stage.
The ritualization offered by society, the ritualization of grouping. What is meant? A person who is aware of his uniqueness and originality bears the imprint of a crisis - leaving close relationships, communication is quite difficult, that is, it is disturbing to break the border of intimate space. So society offers a form of grouping that makes it easy to find "soul mates" and establish relationships. The phenomenon of youth subculture, grouping according to tastes, interests, beliefs makes it easy to get to know each other, establish relationships of mutual understanding, support and cooperation and engage in interaction in accordance with the existing system of rules.
Ritualism is elitism - the cultivation of all and all castes, groups, the establishment of the superiority of one group over another. This form of social interaction leads to alienation, repulsion, isolation.
A positive new formation of youth is love as the ability to entrust oneself to another person and remain faithful to this relationship, even if they require concessions and self-denial. Love is manifested in a relationship of mutual care, respect and responsibility for another person. Love implies a readiness for self-restraint in the interests of a partner, for maintaining loyalty to oneself and a partner.
The destructive neoplasm is exclusivity. We find the manifestation of exclusivity in hostility to everything that is not mine. For example, xenophobia is hostility towards everything alien. A well-known practice of youth groups
118 ■ Developmental psychology. Lecture notes
Feasts: friends against strangers, "wall to wall". The manifestation of exclusivity is the reverse side of intimacy, if intimacy implies intimacy and cooperation, then exclusivity is the beginning of the manifestation of rejection, hostility and readiness for confrontation.
Medium maturity(26-64 years old) - psychosocial crisis - the choice between generativity (productivity) and inertia, stagnation and stagnation. The radius of significant relationships is divided labor and a common home. At this stage, a person takes responsibility for everything that happens in the world, in the work team, in the family. Ritualization - mentoring and education associated with the care and transfer of experience to the new generation. Positive neoplasm - care, destructive - rejection.
The peculiarity of this stage is that, having reached maturity, having created a family, having made a choice of profession, a person assumes responsibility for the social well-being of both himself and those around him. The essence of the crisis is the choice: whether to accept this responsibility or refuse it. If a person accepts responsibility, then this is a choice in favor of productivity. Erickson believes that during maturity there is a constant expansion of the radius of meaningful relationships and thus the responsibility of the individual. Everyone has their own measure of "common home". Its expansion allows you to avoid stagnation, stagnation, stereotypes and provides an outlet for creativity. The metaphor of development is the "scissors" between what we can (the level of development achieved) and what we want - our goals. As soon as there are no "scissors", that is, the limit of our desires and our possibilities coincide, there will be no development. Crises of adulthood are crises of the meaning of life, the resolution of which is for a person, realizing his life, to set new life goals that exceed his capabilities. And this is where development begins. The mentoring situation is also productive because if you are teaching something, you are eager to learn more yourself. Expanding the circle of care is a guarantee of future development. Going beyond the possibilities to productivity is the only way to keep the active, progressive course of development.
If a person refuses to take care and responsibility, if he does not have the ability to love and establish close relationships; if he is not included in an active, productive activity, then there is a danger of forming a rejection. Rejection can be directed both at oneself -
_______ Lecture 8. E. Erickson's epigenetic theory of personality development» 119
autoaggression, and outside. The number of suicides, violence, aggression, crime is growing in society. Therefore, society specifically creates a kind of buffers (the state, law enforcement agencies, various social services), protection against rejection. With the loss of productivity, a person directs his efforts only to his own needs and consumption, which leads to a crisis, loss of the meaning of life, a sense of hopelessness.
Late maturity, old age(65 years - before death) - the time of the psychosocial crisis - the choice between ego-integration and despair. The radius of meaningful relationships is the entire human race. Positive neoplasm - wisdom, negative - contempt, ritualization - philosophical, ritualism - dogmatism. The period of old age is the period of cessation of active productive and social activity; decrease in physical strength and capabilities, loss of many psychological capabilities; termination of the parent function. In old age, sensory modes are generalized. The essence of the psychosocial crisis lies in the choice between the path of personality disintegration, despair, loss of the Self, or ego integration. This task is solved thanks to philosophical ritualization, which allows summarizing the results of life, accepting the irreversibility of life and the inevitability of death, and seeing the continuation of the Self in subsequent generations. Ego-integration, the preservation of the Self, in spite of physical death, is possible only if one realizes one's own life as a link in the history of the human race.
Dogmatism is manifested in the fact that a person, not being able to preserve his Ego, follows the path of world stagnation. Rejection of innovations, innovations, the desire to keep everything the old way, strict adherence to the rules, rituals, norms, contrary to the realities of life changes. Dogmatism leads to emotional and personal impoverishment, a decrease in intelligence, without solving the problem of integrating the Self.
We advise you to read
Methods and tools for promoting a business from scratch - development on the Internet, advertising of goods and services, promotions and bonus programs Why is it necessary to create a wide semantic core
Communications management
What does font mean. What is a font? What is a font style
Online display advertising: why your brand needs it
