Theory of psychosocial development E. Epigenetic concept E

Erik Erikson's theory of personality development states:

1. Society is not antagonistic for a child.
2. Personality develops from birth to death.
3. Personality develops through successive stages of life.
4. The stages of life, as stages of personality development, are the same for everyone.
5. There are eight stages in human development.
6. A person can go through each stage of his development either safely or not.
7. The transition from a stage to the next stage is a personal crisis.
8. In a crisis, ego identity is lost, the task of the psychotherapist is to restore it.

Read more.

Society is not antagonistic for a child

In the concept of psychoanalysis, I and society, Id and Super-Ego, are presented as hostile, antagonistic principles to each other. Erikson began to distinguish between rituals and ritualisms and argued that the relationship between the individual and society can be a cooperative relationship that ensures the harmonious development of the individual.

Personality develops from birth to death

This is another departure from classical psychoanalysis, where personality development was described only as psychosexual development. However, personal development for Erik Erikson is passive personal growth, where the main thing is not the achievement of certain peaks, but “agreement with oneself.”

Personality develops through successive stages of life

According to Erik Erikson, in the development of personality there are some mandatory and successive stages that everyone must go through in their development. As a development paradigm, it is a ladder. Is this the only possible view of personality development? No. Other researchers believe that personality can develop both as a honeycomb and as a crown.

The stages of life, as stages of personality development, are the same for everyone

Erik Erikson's theory is epigenetic theory. Epigenesis is the presence of a holistic innate plan that determines the main stages of development.

There are eight stages in human development

According to Erikson, development continues throughout life, and each stage of development is marked by a conflict specific to it, the favorable resolution of which leads to a transition to a new stage:

1. The first stage is from birth to one year, the conflict between trust and mistrust;
2. The second stage is from one to two years, the conflict between autonomy and doubt;
3. The third stage is from three to six years, the conflict between enterprise and inadequacy;
4. The fourth stage corresponds to Freud’s “latent period”, the conflict between creativity and an inferiority complex;
5. The fifth stage is adolescence, personal identification and role confusion;
6. The sixth stage is early adulthood, the conflict between intimacy and loneliness;
7. The seventh stage is late adulthood, the conflict of productivity and stagnation;
8. The eighth stage is the conflict of integrity and hopelessness.

Favorable resolutions to conflicts are called “virtues”. The names of the virtues in order of their gradual acquisition are: hope, will, purpose, confidence, loyalty, love, caring and wisdom. More details

A person can go through each stage of his development either safely or not.

Successful passage is usually determined by how well a person has passed through the previous stages of his development, as well as by the well-being of the social situation. Wars, social crises and other blows of fate prevent a person from successfully passing the next stage of his life path.

Erik Erikson has not worked with people who are active personal growth and development, developing oneself according to plan and consciously. Erikson described what happens in the spontaneous development of personality, including elements of personal degradation. And if a developed person can build himself consciously, be the author of his life, then with Erickson’s patients the successful passage of the next stage only happened - either it didn’t happen, either you were lucky or not - and then, dear victims, you are referred to a psychotherapist. The psychotherapist helped the person build his next stage of life more actively and more consciously, although Erik Erikson never set himself the task of becoming a personal coach.

The transition from a stage to the next stage is a personality crisis

The idea of ​​development as a sequence of psychosocial crises is, to say the least, not obvious. Yes, at some stage of a person’s life there are alternative paths of development, and depending on his choice, personal development can turn out to be either positive and harmonious, or negative, with developmental disorders and disorders of the emotional, personal and cognitive spheres. A positive resolution of the crisis contributes to the formation of a positive new formation or a strong personality trait; negative - a destructive neoplasm that prevents the formation of ego-identity.

The question is, why should the presence of an important alternative in development be called a crisis? According to Wikipedia, a crisis is a turning point in which the inadequacy of the means to achieve goals gives rise to unpredictable problems. If in a situation of choice you use inadequate means of achieving goals and generate unpredictable problems, then, indeed, every choice will turn out to be a crisis. Perhaps Erik Erikson's clients turned out to be such people. But to formulate on this basis that for any person, including smart and healthy ones, the construction of a new stage of his life is a crisis - there are probably not enough reasons. Moreover, it seems that such formulations are pathogenic, creating unreasonable anxieties about upcoming life events.

In a crisis, ego identity is lost, the task of the psychotherapist is to restore it

For Erik Erikson, the main thing in a person’s life is to be in agreement with oneself, but at the same time to develop. Ego identity denotes the integrity of the developing personality; the identity and continuity of our Self, despite the changes that occur to us in the process of growth and development. “I am developing, but I am the same”

Stages of personality development according to Erik Erikson

According to Erik Erikson's theory of personality development, personality development continues throughout life, where one stage, in the case of successful resolution of internal contradictions, comes to replace another.

Childhood

1. Trust and mistrust

The first stage of human development corresponds to the oral phase of classical psychoanalysis and usually covers the first year of life. During this period, Erikson believes, a parameter of social interaction develops, the positive pole of which is trust, and the negative pole is distrust.

The degree of trust with which a child develops in the world around him, in other people and in himself, largely depends on the care shown to him. A baby who gets everything he wants, whose needs are quickly satisfied, who never feels sick for a long time, who is rocked and caressed, played with and talked to, feels that the world, in general, is a cozy place, and people are responsive and helpful creatures. . If a child does not receive proper care, does not encounter loving care, then distrust develops in him - fearfulness and suspicion towards the world in general, towards people in particular, and he carries this distrust with him into other stages of his development.

It must be emphasized, however, that the question of which principle will prevail is not resolved once and for all in the first year of life, but arises anew at each subsequent stage of development. This brings both hope and threat. A child who comes to school with a feeling of wariness may gradually develop confidence in a teacher who does not allow injustice towards children. In doing so, he can overcome the initial distrust. But on the other hand, a child who has developed a trusting approach to life in infancy may become distrustful of it at subsequent stages of development if, say, in the event of a parent’s divorce, an environment filled with mutual accusations and scandals is created in the family.

A favorable resolution to this conflict is hope.

Achieving balance

2. Independence and indecisiveness(autonomy and doubt).

The second stage covers the second and third years of life, coinciding with the anal phase of Freudianism. During this period, Erickson believes, the child develops independence based on the development of his motor and mental abilities. At this stage, the child masters various movements, learns not only to walk, but also to climb, open and close, push and pull, hold, release and throw. Kids enjoy and are proud of their new abilities and strive to do everything themselves: unwrap lollipops, get vitamins from a bottle, flush the toilet, etc. If parents allow the child to do what he is capable of, and do not rush him, the child develops the feeling that he controls his muscles, his impulses, himself and, to a large extent, his environment - that is, he gains independence.

But if educators show impatience and rush to do for the child what he himself is capable of, he develops shyness and indecisiveness. Of course, there are no parents who do not rush their child under any circumstances, but the child’s psyche is not so unstable as to react to rare events. Only if, in an effort to protect the child from effort, the parents show constant zeal, unreasonably and tirelessly scolding him for “accidents”, be it a wet bed, soiled panties, broken cup or spilled milk, the child develops a sense of shame in front of other people and lacks confidence in his ability to manage himself and his environment.

If a child emerges from this stage with a great deal of uncertainty, this will adversely affect the independence of both the teenager and the adult in the future. Conversely, a child who takes away much more independence from this stage than shame and indecision will be well prepared to develop independence in the future. And again, the relationship between independence, on the one hand, and shyness and uncertainty, on the other, established at this stage, can be changed in one direction or another by subsequent events.

The favorable resolution of this conflict is will.

3. Entrepreneurship and guilt(in another translation - Enterprise and inadequacy).

The third stage usually occurs between four and five years of age. The preschooler has already acquired many physical skills; he can ride a tricycle, run, cut with a knife, and throw stones. He begins to invent activities for himself, and not just respond to the actions of other children or imitate them. His ingenuity manifests itself both in speech and in the ability to fantasize. Social parameter This stage, says Erikson, develops between enterprise at one extreme and guilt at the other. How parents react to the child’s ideas at this stage largely determines which of these qualities will prevail in his character. Children who are given the initiative in choosing motor activities, who run, wrestle, tinker, ride a bicycle, sled, or skate at will, develop and consolidate their entrepreneurial spirit. It is also reinforced by the parents’ readiness to answer the child’s questions (intellectual entrepreneurship), and not to interfere with his imagination and starting games. But if parents show the child that his motor activity is harmful and undesirable, that his questions are intrusive, and his games are stupid, he begins to feel guilty and carries this feeling of guilt into further stages of life.

A favorable resolution of this conflict is the goal.

4. Skill and inferiority(creativity and inferiority complex).

Fourth stage - age from six to eleven years, years primary school. Classical psychoanalysis calls them the latent phase. During this period, the son's love for his mother and jealousy for his father (for girls, on the contrary) are still in a latent state. During this period, the child develops the ability to deduce, to organized games and regulated activities. Only now, for example, are children properly learning to play pebbles and other games where they must take turns. Erikson says that the psychosocial dimension of this stage is characterized by skill on the one hand and feelings of inferiority on the other.

During this period, the child’s interest in how things work, how they can be mastered, adapted to something, intensifies. Robinson Crusoe is understandable and close to this age; In particular, the enthusiasm with which Robinson describes his activities in every detail corresponds to the child’s awakening interest in work skills. When children are encouraged to make anything, to build huts and airplane models, to cook, cook and do handicrafts, when they are allowed to finish what they start, praised and rewarded for their results, then the child develops skill and ability for technical creativity. On the contrary, parents who see nothing but “pampering” and “messing” in their children’s work activities contribute to the development of their feelings of inferiority.

At this age, however, the child’s environment is no longer limited to the home. Along with the family, an important role in his age crises Other social institutions are also beginning to play a role. Here Erikson again expands the scope of psychoanalysis, which until now only took into account the influence of parents on the child's development. A child’s stay at school and the attitude he encounters there has a great influence on the balance of his psyche. A child who lacks intelligence is especially likely to be traumatized by school, even if his diligence is encouraged at home. He's not dumb enough to get into a school for mentally retarded children, but he learns educational material slower than peers and cannot compete with them. Continuous falling behind in class disproportionately develops his feelings of inferiority.

But a child whose inclination to make something has died out due to eternal ridicule at home can revive it at school thanks to the advice and help of a sensitive and experienced teacher. Thus, the development of this parameter depends not only on parents, but also on the attitude of other adults.

The favorable resolution of this conflict is confidence.

Adolescence crisis

5. Personal identification and role confusion.

During the transition to the fifth stage (12-18 years old), the child is faced, as classical psychoanalysis claims, with the awakening of “love and jealousy” for his parents. The successful solution of this problem depends on whether he finds the object of love in his own generation. Erickson does not deny that this problem occurs in adolescents, but points out that others exist. The teenager matures physiologically and mentally, and in addition to the new sensations and desires that appear as a result of this maturation, he develops new views on things, a new approach to life. An important place in the new features of the adolescent’s psyche is occupied by his interest in the thoughts of other people, in what they think about themselves. Teenagers can create for themselves a mental ideal of family, religion, society, in comparison with which far from perfect, but really existing families, religions and societies are very inferior. The teenager is able to develop or adopt theories and worldviews that promise to reconcile all contradictions and create a harmonious whole. In short, the teenager is an impatient idealist who believes that creating an ideal in practice is no more difficult than imagining it in theory.

Erikson believes that the parameter of connection with the environment that arises during this period fluctuates between the positive pole of identification of the “I” and the negative pole of role confusion. In other words, a teenager who has acquired the ability to generalize is faced with the task of combining everything that he knows about himself as a schoolchild, son, athlete, friend, boy scout, newspaperman, and so on. He must collect all these roles into a single whole, comprehend it, connect it with the past and project it into the future. If a young person successfully copes with this task - psychosocial identification, then he will have a sense of who he is, where he is and where he is going.

Unlike previous stages, where parents provided more or less direct impact on the outcome of development crises, their influence now turns out to be most indirect. If, thanks to parents, a teenager has already developed trust, independence, enterprise and skill, then his chances of identification, that is, of recognizing his own individuality, increase significantly.

The opposite is true for a teenager who is distrustful, shy, insecure, filled with a sense of guilt and awareness of his inferiority. Therefore, preparation for comprehensive psychosocial identification in adolescence should begin, in fact, from the moment of birth.

If, due to an unsuccessful childhood or a difficult life, a teenager cannot solve the problem of identification and define his “I,” then he begins to show symptoms of role confusion and uncertainty in understanding who he is and what environment he belongs to. Such confusion is often observed among juvenile delinquents. Girls who show promiscuity in adolescence very often have a fragmented idea of ​​their personality and do not correlate their promiscuity with anything intellectual level, nor with a value system. In some cases, young people strive for “negative identification,” that is, they identify their “I” with an image opposite to the one that parents and friends would like to see.

But sometimes it is better to identify yourself with a “hippie”, with a “juvenile delinquent”, even with a “drug addict”, than not to find your “I” at all.

However, anyone who does not acquire a clear idea of ​​his personality in adolescence is not doomed to remain restless for the rest of his life. And those who identified their “I” as a teenager will certainly encounter facts along the path of life that contradict or even threaten the idea they have about themselves. Perhaps Erickson, more than any other theoretical psychologist, emphasizes that life is a continuous change in all its aspects and that successfully solving problems at one stage does not guarantee that a person will be freed from the emergence of new problems at other stages of life or the emergence of new solutions to old ones that have already been solved seemed to be a problem.

The favorable resolution to this conflict is fidelity.

Midlife Conflicts

6. Intimacy and loneliness.

The sixth stage of the life cycle is the beginning of adulthood - in other words, the courtship period and early years family life, that is, from the end of adolescence to the beginning of middle age. Classical psychoanalysis does not say anything new or, in other words, anything important about this stage and the one that follows it. But Erickson, taking into account the identification of the “I” that has already occurred at the previous stage and the inclusion of a person in labor activity, indicates a parameter specific to this stage, which is concluded between the positive pole of intimacy and the negative pole of loneliness.

By intimacy, Erickson means more than just physical intimacy. In this concept he includes the ability to care for another person and share everything essential with him without fear of losing himself. With intimacy the situation is the same as with identification: success or failure at this stage does not depend directly on the parents, but only on how successfully the person has passed through the previous stages. Just like in the case of identification, social conditions can make it easier or more difficult to achieve intimacy. This concept is not necessarily related to sexual attraction, but extends to friendship. Between fellow soldiers who have fought side by side in difficult battles, such close bonds are often formed that can serve as an example of intimacy in the broadest sense of the concept. But if a person does not achieve intimacy either in marriage or in friendship, then, according to Erikson, his lot becomes loneliness - the state of a person who has no one to share his life with and no one to care about.

The favorable resolution to this conflict is love.

7. Universal humanity and self-absorption(productivity and stagnation).

Seventh stage - mature age, that is, already the period when children became teenagers, and parents firmly connected themselves with a certain type of occupation. At this stage, a new personality dimension appears with universal humanity at one end of the scale and self-absorption at the other.

Erickson calls universal humanity the ability of a person to be interested in the destinies 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. Such interest in new generations is not necessarily associated with having children of their own - it can exist in anyone who actively cares about young people and about making it easier for people to live and work in the future. Those who have not developed this sense of belonging to humanity focus on themselves and their main concern becomes the satisfaction of their needs and their own comfort.

The favorable resolution of this conflict is caring.

8. Integrity and hopelessness.

The eighth and final stage in Erikson's classification is the period when the main work of life has ended and the time for reflection and fun with grandchildren, if any, comes for a person. The psychosocial parameter of this period lies between integrity and hopelessness. A feeling of wholeness and meaningfulness in life arises for those who, looking back on their lives, feel satisfaction. Anyone who sees their life as a chain of missed opportunities and annoying mistakes realizes that it is too late to start all over again and that what has been lost cannot be returned. Such a person is overcome by despair at the thought of how his life could have turned out, but did not work out. The favorable resolution of this conflict is wisdom.

Of all the theories of depth psychology that appeared in the second half of the 20th century, Erikson’s personality theory was perhaps the most widely recognized and widespread. This is due to the fact that his thoughts about the integrity of the individual, her identity (identity) to herself and the society in which she lives, have become very relevant for most modern societies, in which one of the problems is the disunity and loneliness of people.

As a student and follower of A. Freud, daughter of Z., he studied and further developed not so much the ideas of classical psychoanalysis, but of Ego psychology. This concept, laid down by A. Freud and A. Kardiner, was based on the idea that main part The structure of the personality is not the unconscious Id, as in Freud, but the conscious part of the Ego, which strives in its development to preserve its integrity and individuality.

Equally important, Erikson's theory of personality tied together several trends in the development of personality psychology, combining the psychoanalytic approach with important ideas of humanistic psychology, mainly the thoughts about the ambiguous role of adaptation, which suspends the self-development of the individual, and the importance of maintaining one's own identity and integrity. The main provisions of his concept were outlined in the book “Childhood and Society,” which brought Erikson wide fame. His subsequent works “Young Luther” (1958), “Identity” (1968) and “Gandhi’s Truth” (1969) laid the foundation for a new approach to the analysis of the relationship between man and society, including the analysis of historical events and characters. The direction he created in the study of the history of psychological science was called psychohistory.

Erikson's personality theory not only revises Freud's position regarding the hierarchy of personality structures, but also in understanding the role of the child's environment, culture and social environment, which, from his point of view, have a huge influence on development. He places special emphasis on the child-family relationship, and more specifically on the child-mother relationship. He believed that a person’s “innate drives” are fragments of aspirations that must be collected, acquired meaning and organized during the protracted period of childhood. The lengthening of the childhood period is precisely connected with this need for the socialization of children. Therefore, Erikson argued that the “instinctive weapons” (sexual and aggressive) in humans are much more mobile and plastic than in animals. The organization and direction of development of these innate drives are associated with methods of upbringing and education, which vary from culture to culture and are predetermined by traditions. Each society develops its own institutions of socialization in order to help children with different individual qualities become full members of a given social group.

The main ones for Erikson are the provisions on the role of the environment, the integrity of the individual and the need for constant development and creativity of the individual in the process of his life. He believed that personality development continues throughout life, in fact until a person’s death, and not only in the first years of life, as Freud believed. This process is influenced not only by parents and people close to the child, i.e. not only a narrow circle of people, as is customary in traditional psychoanalysis, but also friends, work, society as a whole. Erikson called this process itself the process of identity formation, emphasizing the importance of preserving and maintaining the integrity of the personality, the integrity of the Ego, which is the main factor in resistance to neuroses.

He identified eight main stages in the development of identity, detailed description which are given in Chap. 4.

Emphasizing the importance of developing an active, open and creative position in a person, Erickson constantly spoke about the importance of maintaining integrity, consistency of personality structure, wrote about the harmfulness of internal conflicts. Not a single psychologist before him questioned the need to develop independence or overcome feelings of inferiority or guilt. Erikson, although he does not consider these qualities positive, nevertheless argues that for children with a developed sense of basic mistrust and dependence, it is much more important to remain in line with an already given path of development than to change it to the opposite, unusual for them, since it can disrupt the integrity of their personality, their identity. Therefore, for such children, the development of initiative and activity can be disastrous, while lack of self-confidence will help them find an adequate way of life for them and develop a role identity. In principle, these views of Erikson are especially important for practical psychology, for the correction and formation of people’s characteristic, individual style of behavior.

Erickson also attached great importance to the external stability of the system in which a person lives, since a violation of this stability, a change in guidelines, social norms and values ​​also violates identity and devalues ​​a person’s life. Based on the materials obtained in his research, Erickson came to the conclusion that the structure of identity includes three parts: 1) somatic identity, since the organism seeks to maintain its integrity when interacting with the outside world, 2) personal identity, which integrates external and a person’s internal experience, and 3) social identity, which consists in the joint creation and maintenance by people of a certain order and stability. An acutely experienced identity crisis pushes a person to solve not only his own, but also socio-historical problems. Substantiating the provisions of his psychohistory, Erickson sought to analyze historical events from the point of view of the biography of outstanding people. Thus, in his books about M. Luther and M. Gandhi, he connects their personal problems associated with experiencing an identity crisis with historical problems and the crisis of an entire generation. Describing the activities of outstanding people, Erikson emphasized that the significance of this activity is due to the fact that the new identity that they developed subsequently became the property of society, moving from the personal to the social sphere.

Erikson's personality theory demonstrates the productivity of combining several approaches, several points of view on personality, which make it possible to see the process of its development from different angles.

3. Epigenetic theory of personality development. Eric Ericson

Erik Erikson's theory is like this. The same, like Anna Freud's theory, arose from the practice of psychoanalysis. As E. Erikson himself admitted, in post-war America, where he lived after emigrating from Europe, phenomena such as anxiety in young children, apathy among Indians, confusion among war veterans, and cruelty among the Nazis required explanation and correction. In all these phenomena, the psychoanalytic method reveals conflict, and the work of S. Freud made neurotic conflict the most studied aspect of human behavior.

E. Erikson, however, does not believe that the listed mass phenomena are only analogues of neuroses. In his opinion, the foundations of the human “I” are rooted in the social organization of society.

E. Erikson created a psychoanalytic concept about the relationship between the “I” and society. At the same time, its concept is the concept of childhood. It is human nature to have a long childhood. Moreover, the development of society leads to a lengthening of childhood. “A long childhood makes a person a virtuoso in the technical and intellectual senses, but it also leaves a trace of emotional immaturity in him for life,” wrote E. Erikson.

E. Erikson interprets personality structure in the same way as S. Freud. If at some point in our daily life, he wrote, we stop and ask ourselves what we just dreamed about, then a number of unexpected discoveries await us: we are surprised to notice that our thoughts and feelings make constant fluctuations then in the other direction from the state of relative equilibrium. By deviating to one side from this state, our thoughts give rise to a number of fantastic ideas about what we would like to do; deviating in the other direction, we suddenly find ourselves under the power of thoughts about duty and obligations, we think about what we must do, and not about what we would like; the third position, a kind of “dead point” between these extremes, is more difficult to remember. Here, where we are least aware of ourselves, according to E. Erikson, we are most ourselves. Thus, when we want it is “It”, when we have to it is “Super-I”, and the “dead point” is “I”. Constantly balancing between the extremes of these two instances, the “I” uses defense mechanisms that allow a person to come to a compromise between impulsive desires and the “overwhelming force of conscience.”

As emphasized in a number of publications, the works of E. Erikson mark the beginning of a new path in the study of the psyche - the psychohistorical method, which is the application of psychoanalysis to history. Using this method, E. Erickson analyzed the biographies of Martin Luther, Mahatma Gandhi, Bernard Shaw, Thomas Jefferson and other prominent people, as well as the life stories of contemporaries - adults and children. The psychohistorical method requires equal attention to both the psychology of the individual and the nature of the society in which the person lives. E. Erikson's main task was to develop a new psychohistorical theory of personality development, taking into account the specific cultural environment.

In addition to clinical studies, E. Erickson conducted ethnographic field studies of child rearing in two Indian tribes and compared them with child rearing in urban families in the United States. He discovered, as already mentioned, that each culture has its own special style of motherhood, which each mother perceives as the only correct one. However, as E. Erikson emphasized, the style of motherhood is always determined by what exactly the social group to which he belongs - his tribe, class or caste - expects from the child in the future. According to E. Erikson, each stage of development has its own expectations inherent in a given society, which the individual can justify or not justify, and then he is either included in society or rejected by it. These considerations by E. Erikson formed the basis of two of the most important concepts his concepts are “group identity” and “ego-identity”. Group identity is formed due to the fact that from the first day of life, the upbringing of a child is focused on his inclusion in a given social group, on the development of a worldview inherent in this group. Ego-identity is formed in parallel with group identity and creates in the subject a sense of stability and continuity of his “I”, despite the changes that occur with a person in the process of his growth and development.

The formation of ego-identity or, in other words, the integrity of the individual continues throughout a person’s life and goes through a number of stages, moreover, stages 3. Freud are not rejected by E. Erikson, but become more complex and, as it were, re-thought from the position of a new historical time.

In his first major and most famous work, E. Erikson wrote that the study of personal individuality is becoming the same strategic task of the second half of the 20th century as the study of sexuality was during the time of Z. Freud, at the end of the 19th century. “Different historical periods,” he wrote, “give us the opportunity to see in temporary sharpenings different aspects of essentially inseparable parts of the human personality.” In table Figure 2 shows the stages of a person’s life path according to E. Erikson. 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 different stages life cycle. However, the solution to the problem, according to E. Erikson, depends both on the already achieved level of psychomotor development of the individual, and on the general spiritual atmosphere of the society in which this individual lives.

The task of infancy is the formation of basic trust in the world, overcoming the feeling of disunity and alienation. The task of an early age is to fight against feelings of shame and strong doubt in one’s actions for one’s own independence and self-sufficiency. The task of the playing age is to develop active initiative and at the same time experience feelings of guilt and moral responsibility for one’s desires. During the period of schooling, a new task arises - the formation of hard work 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 uncertainty in understanding one’s own “I” (“diffusion of identity”). The task of the end of adolescence and the beginning of maturity is to find a life partner and establish close friendships that overcome the feeling of loneliness. The task of the mature period is the struggle of human creative forces 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.

Table 2. Stages of a person’s life path according to E. Erikson

The solution to each of these problems, according to E. Erikson, comes down to establishing a certain dynamic relationship between the two extreme poles. Personal development is the result of the struggle of these extreme possibilities, which does not fade during the transition to the next stage of development. This struggle at a new stage of development is suppressed by the solution of a new, more urgent task, but incompleteness makes itself felt during periods of failure in life. The balance achieved at each stage marks the acquisition of a new form of ego-identity and opens up the possibility of inclusion of the subject in a wider social environment. When raising a child, we must not forget that “negative” feelings always exist and serve as dynamic counter members to “positive” feelings throughout life.

The transition from one form of self-identity to another causes identity crises. Crises, according to E. Erikson, 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.”

Psychoanalytic practice convinced E. Erikson that the development of life experience is carried out on the basis of the child’s primary bodily impressions. That is why he attached such great importance to the concepts of “modus of organ” and “modality of behavior.” The concept of “organ mode” is defined by E. Erikson following Z. Freud as a zone of concentration of sexual energy. The organ with which sexual energy is associated at a specific stage of development creates a certain mode of development, that is, the formation of a dominant personality quality. According to the erogenous zones, there are modes of retraction, retention, invasion and inclusion. Zones and their modes, E. Erikson emphasizes, are the focus of any cultural system of child rearing that attaches importance to the child’s early bodily experience. Unlike Z. Freud, for E. Erikson the organ mode is only the primary point, the impetus for mental development. When society, through its various institutions (family, school, etc.), gives a special meaning to a given mode, then its meaning is “alienated,” separated from the organ and transformed into a modality of behavior. Thus, through modes, the connection between psychosexual and psychosocial development occurs.

The peculiarity of modes, determined by the mind of nature, is that for their functioning another, an object or a person, is necessary. Thus, in the first days of life, the child “lives and loves through his mouth,” and the mother “lives and loves through her breast.” In the act of feeding, the child receives the first experience of reciprocity: his ability to “receive through the mouth” meets a response from the mother.

It should be emphasized that for E. Erickson it is not the oral zone that is important, but the oral method of interaction, which consists not only in the ability to “receive through the mouth,” but also through all sensory zones. For E. Erikson, the mouth is the focus of a child’s relationship to the world only at the very first stages of its development. The mode of the organ - “receive” is detached from the zone of its origin and spreads to other sensory sensations (tactile, visual, auditory, etc.), and as a result of this, the mental modality of behavior is formed - “to absorb”.

Like Z. Freud, E. Erikson associates the second phase of infancy with teething. From this moment on, the ability to “absorb” becomes more active and directed. It is characterized by the “bite” mode. Alienating, the mode manifests itself in all types of activity of the child, displacing passive reception. “The eyes, initially ready to receive impressions as they come naturally, learn to focus, isolate and “snatch” objects from a more vague background, and follow them,” wrote E. Erickson. “Similarly, the ears learn to recognize significant sounds, localize them and control the search rotation towards them, just as the arms learn to purposefully extend and grasp the hands tightly.” As a result of the spread of the mode to all sensory zones, the social modality of behavior “taking and holding things” is formed. It appears when the child learns to sit. All these achievements lead to the child identifying himself as a separate individual.

The formation of this first form of ego-identity, like all subsequent ones, is accompanied by a developmental crisis. His indicators at the end of the first year of life: general tension due to teething, increased awareness of oneself as a separate individual, weakening of the mother-child dyad as a result of the mother’s return to professional activities and personal interests. This crisis is more easily overcome if, by the end of the first year of life, the ratio between the child’s basic trust in the world and basic mistrust is in favor of the former. Signs of social trust in an infant are manifested in easy feeding, deep sleep, and normal bowel function. The first social achievements, according to E. Erikson, also include the child’s willingness to allow the mother to disappear from sight without excessive anxiety or anger, since her existence has become an internal certainty, and her reappearance is predictable. It is this constancy, continuity and identity of life experience that forms in a young child a rudimentary sense of his own identity.

The dynamics of the relationship between trust and distrust in the world, or, in the words of E. Erikson, “the amount of faith and hope taken from the first life experience,” is determined not by the characteristics of feeding, but by the quality of child care, the presence of maternal love and tenderness manifested in care about the baby. An important condition At the same time, the mother is confident in her actions. “A mother creates a sense of faith in her child by a type of treatment that combines sensitive concern for the child’s needs with a strong sense of complete personal trust in him within the framework of the life style that exists in her culture,” E. Erikson emphasized.

E. Erikson discovered different “trust patterns” and traditions of child care in different cultures. In some cultures, the mother shows tenderness very emotionally, feeds the baby whenever he cries or is naughty, and does not swaddle him. In other cultures, on the contrary, it is customary to swaddle tightly and let the child scream and cry, “so that his lungs are stronger.” The last method of leaving, according to E. Erikson, is characteristic of Russian culture. They explain, according to E. Erikson, the special expressiveness of the eyes of Russian people. A tightly swaddled child, as was customary in peasant families, has a primary way of communicating with the world through his gaze. In these traditions, E. Erikson finds a deep connection with how society wants its member to be. Thus, in one Indian tribe, notes E. Erickson, every time a child bites her breast, a mother hits him painfully on the head, causing him to cry furiously. The Indians believe that such techniques contribute to the education of a good hunter. These examples clearly illustrate E. Erikson's idea that human existence depends on three processes of organization that must complement each other: this is the biological process of the hierarchical organization of the organic systems that make up the body (soma); a mental process that organizes individual experience through egosynthesis (psyche); social process of cultural organization of interconnected people (ethos). Erickson emphasizes that all three approaches are necessary for a holistic understanding of any human life event.

In many cultures, it is customary for a child to be weaned at a certain time. In classical psychoanalysis, as is known, this event is considered one of the most profound childhood traumas, the consequences of which remain for life. E. Erikson, however, does not assess this event so dramatically. In his opinion, maintaining basic trust is possible with another form of feeding. If a child is picked up, rocked, smiled at, and talked to, then all the social achievements of this stage are formed. At the same time, parents should not lead the child only through coercion and prohibitions; they should be able to convey to the child “a deep and almost organic conviction that there is some meaning in what they are doing with him now.” However, even in the most favorable cases, prohibitions and restrictions are inevitable, causing frustration. They leave the child feeling rejected and create the basis for a basic mistrust of the world.

Second stage Personal development, according to E. Erikson, consists of the child’s formation and defense of his autonomy and independence. It begins from the moment the child begins to walk. At this stage, the pleasure zone is associated with the anus.

The anal zone creates two opposite modes: the mode of retention and the mode of relaxation. Society, attaching special importance to teaching a child to be neat, creates conditions for the dominance of these modes, their separation from their organ and transformation into such modalities of behavior as preservation and destruction. The struggle for “sphincteric control,” as a result of the importance attached to it by society, is transformed into a struggle for mastering one’s motor capabilities, for establishing one’s new, autonomous “I.” A growing sense of independence should not undermine the existing basic trust in the world. “External firmness should protect the child from potential anarchy on the part of an untrained sense of discrimination, his inability to carefully hold and let go,” writes E. Erickson. These restrictions, in turn, create the basis for negative feeling

shame and doubt.

The struggle of a sense of independence against shame and doubt leads to the establishment of a relationship between the ability to cooperate with other people and insist on one's own, between freedom of expression and its restriction. At the end of the stage, a fluid balance develops between these opposites. It will be positive if parents and close adults do not overly control the child and suppress his desire for autonomy. “From a sense of self-control while maintaining positive self-esteem comes a stable feeling of goodwill and pride; from a feeling of loss of self-control and alien external control, a stable tendency to doubt and shame is born,” emphasized E. Erikson.

The modes of invasion and inclusion create new modalities of behavior on third, infantile-genital stage personality development. “Invasion of space through energetic movements, into other bodies through physical attack, into the ears and souls of other people through aggressive sounds, into the unknown through devouring curiosity,” such, as E. Erikson describes, a preschooler is at one pole of his behavioral reactions, while on the other, he is receptive to his surroundings, ready to establish gentle and caring relationships with peers and small children. In Z. Freud this stage is called phallic, or Oedipal. According to E. Erikson, a child’s interest in his genitals, awareness of his gender and the desire to take the place of his father (mother) in relations with parents of the opposite sex are only a particular moment of the child’s development during this period. The child eagerly and actively learns the world

The feeling of initiative, according to E. Erikson, is universal. “The very word initiative,” writes E. Erikson, “for many has an American and entrepreneurial connotation. Nevertheless, initiative is a necessary aspect of any action, and initiative is necessary for people in everything they do and learn, from picking fruits and ending with the free enterprise system."

A child’s aggressive behavior inevitably entails a limitation of initiative and the emergence of feelings of guilt and anxiety. Thus, according to E. Erikson, new internal institutions of behavior are established: conscience and moral responsibility for one’s thoughts and actions. It is at this stage of development, more than any other, that the child is ready to learn quickly and eagerly. “He can and wants to act cooperatively, to unite with other children for the purposes of design and planning, and he also strives to benefit from communication with his teacher and is ready to surpass any ideal prototype,” noted E. Erickson.

Fourth stage personality development, which psychoanalysis calls the “latent” period, and E. Erikson - the time of “psychosexual moratorium”, is characterized by a certain dormancy of infantile sexuality and a delay in genital maturity, necessary for the future adult to learn technical and social foundations labor activity.

The school systematically introduces the child to knowledge about future work activity, conveys the “technological ethos” of culture in a specially organized form, and forms diligence.

E. Erikson emphasizes that at each stage, the developing child must come to a vital sense of his own worth, and he should not be satisfied with irresponsible praise or condescending approval. His ego-identity reaches real strength only when he understands that his achievements are manifested in those areas of life that are significant for a given culture.

Fifth stage in personality development is characterized by the deepest life crisis. Childhood is coming to an end. The completion of this large stage of life's journey is characterized by the formation of the first integral form of ego-identity. Three lines of development lead to this crisis: rapid physical growth and puberty (“physiological revolution”); preoccupation with “how I appear in the eyes of others”, “what I am”; the need to find one’s professional calling that meets acquired skills, individual abilities and the requirements of society. In a teenage identity crisis, all past critical moments of development arise anew. The teenager must now solve all the old problems consciously and with the inner conviction that this is the choice that is significant for him and for society. Then social trust in the world, independence, initiative, and mastered skills will create a new integrity of the individual.

Adolescence is the most important period development, which accounts for the main identity crisis. This is followed by either the acquisition of an “adult identity” or a delay in development, that is, “identity diffusion.”

The interval between adolescence and adulthood, when a young person strives (through trial and error) to find his place in society, E. Erikson called mental moratorium". The severity of this crisis depends both on the degree of resolution of earlier crises (trust, independence, activity, etc.), and on the entire spiritual atmosphere of society. An unresolved crisis leads to a state of acute diffusion of identity, which forms the basis of the social pathology of adolescence. Identity pathology syndrome according to E. Erikson: regression to the infantile level and the desire to delay the acquisition of adult status as long as possible; a vague but persistent state of anxiety; feeling isolated and empty; constantly being in a state of something that can change life; fear of personal communication and inability to emotionally influence people of the other sex; hostility and contempt for all recognized social roles, including male and female (“unisex”); contempt for everything American and an irrational preference for everything foreign (according to the principle “it’s good where we are not”). In extreme cases, there is a search for negative identity, the desire to “become nothing” as the only way of self-affirmation.

Let us note a few more important observations by E. Erikson relating to the period of his youth. Falling in love that occurs at this age, according to E. Erikson, is initially not of a sexual nature. “To a large extent, youthful love is an attempt to come to a definition of one’s own identity by projecting one’s own initially unclear image onto someone else and seeing it in a reflected and clarified form,” says E. Erickson. That is why the manifestation of youthful love largely comes down to conversations ", he wrote. According to the logic of personality development, young people are characterized by selectivity in communication and cruelty towards all “strangers” who differ in social origin, tastes or abilities. “Often, special details of costume or special gestures are temporarily chosen as signs to help distinguish “insider” from “outsider” ... such intolerance is a defense for the sense of one’s own identity against depersonalization and confusion,” he wrote.

The formation of an ego identity allows a young person to move on to sixth stage of development, the content of which is the search for a life partner, the desire for close cooperation with others, the desire for close friendly ties with members of one’s social group. Young. a person is no longer afraid of losing his “I” and depersonalization. The achievements of the previous stage allow him, as E. Erikson writes, “to readily and willingly mix his identity with others.”

The basis for the desire to get closer to others is the complete mastery of the main modalities of behavior. It is no longer the mode of some organ that dictates the content of development, but all the considered modes are subordinated to the new, holistic formation of ego-identity that appeared at the previous stage. .The young person is ready for intimacy, he is able to commit himself to cooperation with others in specific social groups, and he has sufficient ethical strength to firmly adhere to such group affiliation, even if it requires significant sacrifices of compromise.

Erik Erikson, a unique scientist who combined psychoanalytic and humanistic views on development, developed a periodization of mental development from birth to old age, including eight stages. He based his theory on a three-part personality structure (id, ego, superego), but he saw the main factor of development not as biological sexuality, but as the social influence of family and society. Erikson's concept originated as a psychoanalytic one, but has become an independent and unique theory that underlies most modern experimental studies of developmental psychology.

Adhering to the Freudian interpretation of personality, Erikson built his theory around the task of consistent formation and strengthening of the ego, highlighting such basic components of the structure of the Self as trust, will, determination and competence, which constitute the concept of holistic identity (Fig. 3.1). Because of its emphasis on ego structure and development, Erikson's concept is sometimes called ego psychology.

Erik Homburger Erikson (1902-1994) - American psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, founder of ego psychology. Professor at Harvard University, student of 3. Freud. In the USA, he conducted a private practice in a general hospital, and was engaged in child psychoanalysis. He developed the concept of epigenetic personality development and was involved in the treatment of military neuroses; explored the relationship between culture and identity, the relationship between social upheavals and mass neuroses.

The most significant works: “Childhood and Society” (1950), “Young Luther. Historical and psychoanalytic study" (1958), "The Truth of Mahatma Gandhi: On the Origin of Militant Nonviolence" (1969), "Adulthood" (1978), "Life Involvement in Old Age" (1986), " Life cycle completed" (1987).

Rice. 3.1.

Erikson understood development stepwise, as a transition from one stage to another in the direction of expanding the social space of the individual and radius social interactions. This is an epigenetic principle of development. Society supports the social development of the individual and determines the pace and sequence of this process.

Erikson identified eight stages of the life path, at each of which a specific development task is solved and a conflict is resolved. Conflict resolution is aimed at synthesizing the ego, ordering and integrating the individual’s experience. Development tasks are determined by the logic of internal maturation and the expectations of society. Society not only makes demands for development, but also equips the individual with certain development mechanisms - ritualizations. Sexual energy (or “organ mode”), according to Erikson, sets the primary acceleration of development, and its direction is determined by the sociocultural environment, the role of which at each stage consistently expands - from maternal influence in infancy to integration with all of humanity in old age.

Ego identity is understood as the identity of a person with himself (internal identity of the individual in time and space), the ideas of others (identity with the social environment) and the identity of internal and external sides identity. A holistic identity is built along all three lines, uniting them into some kind of unity.

Identity is a systemic quality of an individual, including awareness of oneself through the integration of individual experience, the extent of the Self and the ability to maintain the identity of the Self in changing social situations.

Unlike Freud, who was pessimistic about the possibility of achieving harmony and contentment, since numerous unresolved conflicts in childhood are forever buried in the depths of the psyche, Erikson was an optimist. Unsuccessful resolution of the conflict at any stage can be overcome in the future (although this is not easy), and a person always retains the opportunity to achieve a holistic identity as a guarantee of a harmonious existence. The formation of ego identity continues throughout life.

Ego-identity at each stage, resolving the crisis, allows you to reach a new level of interaction with the social environment. Erikson's concept emphasizes the deep connection between the nature of identity development and the way society wants an individual to be. Conducting a comparative study of different cultures, Erikson discovered significant differences in the traditions and rituals of personality formation at different stages. Society supports the development of personality through the mechanism of ritualization.

Ritualization ( ritual action) - actions that have a common cultural meaning, are implemented in stable but flexible forms and are aimed at helping the individual resolve a psychosocial crisis.

An example of ritualization in preschool age is a game that, in understandable ways, but each time with elements of novelty, allows the child to be successful and achieve results in the imaginary space of adult relationships. Play and fantasy space protect the child from failure (feelings of guilt), but allow him to be active and proactive in a variety of variations (in different roles).

The opposite of ritualizations are ritualisms, which are rigid, rigid patterns that prescribe certain interactions in society. Ritualisms limit development and prevent the resolution of the crisis.

Development is carried out in accordance with the principle of epigenesis, i.e. each stage is universal, mandatory and based on the resolution of conflicts of the previous stage. For every crisis there is a sensitive time when its onset is predetermined by its genesis. The stages of psychosocial development are presented in table. 3.2.

Stages of psychosocial development according to E. Erikson

Table 3.2

Without dwelling on all ages, let us consider in more detail only the content of development in the early, childhood stages of growing up.

1.Oral-sensory stage. In infancy, the conflict lies in the area of ​​basal trust in those who care for the child, providing for his needs. Relationships with the mother are projected onto the outside world and become a model of interaction between the individual and society in the future. “A mother creates a sense of faith in her child by a type of treatment that combines sensitive concern for the needs of the child with a strong sense of complete personal trust in him within the framework of the life style that exists in her culture.” If the mother or other caregivers turn out to be rejecting and inconsistent, then the child assigns a negative personality trait - distrust of the world. If the parent consistently satisfies the child’s needs and his reactions to the baby are predictable and adequate, a positive, strong personality quality is formed - basic trust in the world.

The key social agent, i.e. The representative of the social environment who plays a decisive role at each specific stage of development is the mother or her guardian. The ritualization of this stage becomes “deifying” ritualization, aimed at highlighting the special, sacramental role of the mother in the relationship with the baby. She emphasizes the mother’s ability to form in the child faith in justice, rationality and the positive structure of this world, which will allow him to cope with a variety of stress and frustrations in the future.

2. Anal-muscular stage. The child is faced with the task of learning to be “autonomous.” Autonomy initially manifests itself in toilet behavior, when personal hygiene becomes the first form of self-regulation. The child must also learn to eat and dress independently, which forms in him such a structural personality quality as will. Otherwise, subordination to the will of others develops, obsession, which manifests itself in repeated actions, dependence, inability to separate from the parent, and compulsivity.

If a child is constantly given negative epithets and feels that he cannot cope with any task, shame and doubt become the dominant feelings. Parents play a leading role in resolving autonomy conflicts by helping the child acquire independence skills and supporting his or her self-confidence. A special role is played by the father, who usually implements the position of normativity and rule-following in the family and sets this model for the child. Ritualization that helps resolve conflict at this age is reasonable, i.e. orientation towards order, rules, separation of general ideas about good and evil.

3. Locomotor-genital stage. At the age of play, children strive to act like adults and show initiative in a variety of areas. Imperfect skills lead to failure and conflicts between the child and others, which can give rise to feelings of guilt. Successful resolution of the conflict is achieved if the child manages to preserve and make initiative a structural personality trait, but learns to be proactive without infringing on the interests of others. Exploring the world through real and imaginary situations opens up various opportunities for a child’s proactive actions.

Much in resolving the contradiction depends on the parents and the wider family environment. The child learns to respect the rights of brothers and sisters and grandparents. The ritualization of this age is dramatic, i.e. the ability to model relationships through playback and dramatization and take initiative in a variety of roles and games. The game does not threaten feelings of guilt and allows you to put forward the most daring goals.

However, if the immediate environment, especially significant adults, constantly criticize the child or punish him, he develops a feeling of guilt for his failure, for his actions. An extreme version of such passive helplessness is the “learned helplessness phenomenon,” which can develop both in preschool and school age.

Experiment

The phenomenon of learned helplessness was first discovered in experiments by behaviorists on rats. The rat, being an intellectually developed animal, is active and focused on achieving goals in any conditions, constantly trying new options for solving problems. But if you beat her constantly and for no reason electric shock, then at first she resists, trying a variety of strategies (run, attack, hide, etc.), and then becomes completely passive. In the natural environment, such an animal quickly dies. In the animal laboratory different types exposed to systematic unreasonable stress develop as physiological abnormalities (multiple ulcers of the gastrointestinal tract, disturbances in activity of cardio-vascular system, hair loss, decreased resistance to infections and tumors), and psychological: motor passivity, decreased motivation, lethargy, inability to develop new skills.

For a child who is constantly the target of criticism, punishment and does not see opportunities to prove himself or find a positive way of self-realization, the phenomenon of learned helplessness manifests itself in refusal to achieve goals, total passivity, and lack of faith in one’s own strengths: “I still won’t succeed,” “ I can’t”, “I can’t”. Emotional disorders and neurotic deviations appear. Learned helplessness is subject to the principle of generalization, i.e. extends to most situations and becomes the dominant behavior pattern.

4. Latent stage. The period of mastering social and academic skills is extremely important for the emergence of a sense of productivity, the ability to implement truly important skills, which allows you to develop competence and self-confidence as a person of value. Ego competence grows through real achievements in a variety of areas. If a child's school life turns out to be unsuccessful, then the opposite quality may develop - a feeling of low value or inertia.

The leading social agents of this stage are teachers and peers. The latter play a special role as an object for comparing levels of competence and a realistic criterion for assessing one’s own achievements. The ritualization offered by society is technological, i.e. systematic, purposeful (based on social technologies) training, formation of knowledge, skills (mastery of subject disciplines).

The most important advantages Erikson's psychosocial developmental theories are as follows:

• - the stages of life’s journey correctly reflect the central problems of an individual’s development;
• - the adaptive, social nature of the individual is emphasized;
• - analyzes the dynamics of relations between the family and the sociocultural environment;
• - genetic possibilities for positive resolution of crises are determined.

Nevertheless, Erickson's approach retains certain restrictions:

• - the theory lacks certainty of the determinants of development;
• - methods for resolving conflicts are not defined;
• - the influence of a resolved conflict of one stage on the passage of another is not shown;
• - a number of provisions, for example regarding ritualizations, require empirical verification.

• See: Erickson E. Childhood and Society. SPb.: Summer garden, 2000.
• Cited from: Obukhova L.F. Developmental psychology. M., 2003.

The famous American psychologist E. Erikson proposed his psychosocial concept of personality development according to age stages. He also introduced the concept of “group identity” into scientific circulation.

In E. Erikson’s view, group identity is formed from the first days of a person’s life: as soon as a child joins a certain group, he begins to understand the world as this group and subsequently focuses on it.

At the same time, the child gradually develops his own “ego-identity”, a sense of stability and continuity of his “I”, although this process is complex and dynamic. The formation of identity includes a number of stages, or phases, in the development of the individual, each of which is characterized by tasks of a certain age put forward by society. However, the solution to these problems is determined exclusively by the individual level. psychological development a person, on the one hand, and the spiritual atmosphere of the society in which he lives, on the other. The main stages of an individual's psychosocial development are as follows.

Infancy. The period is characterized by the fact that main role His mother plays in a child’s life - she feeds the child, takes care of him, gives him affection and care. As a result, the child develops basic trust in the world.

Early childhood(from 1 year to 3 years). This period is associated with the formation of autonomy and independence of the child. He begins to walk, learns hygienic self-control; gradually meets with acts of approval or disapproval from society, which open the child’s eyes to himself. For the first time, one of the most important feelings is formed - a feeling of shame.

Preschool childhood (from 3 to 6 years). At this stage, the child begins to recognize himself as an individual and explores the world even more actively. He develops a sense of enterprise and initiative, which is embedded in his games. He masters relationships between people more deeply, develops his mental capabilities, primarily cognitive ones.

Jr school age . By this period, communication in the family is not enough for the development of the child; other social institutions are involved in subsequent development, primarily the school. Here society introduces the child to knowledge about future activities and transfers to him the technological egos of culture. At this stage, the child’s in-depth mental development occurs, and the mental make-up of his personality is formed.

During the same period, persistent neurotic reactions are acquired, the child experiences a feeling of anxiety due to fear of:

Any misfortune with parents;

Lack of money in the family;

Physical violence;

Personal insolvency;

Uncertainty in the future.

An anxious child may have less success at school, it is difficult for him to adapt to society, to develop in himself a spirit of healthy conformism and a sense of freedom-responsibility.

Adolescence (in Russia: from 10 to 17 years; conscription age for the army - 18 years; in some civilized countries: from 10 to 20 years, conscription age for the army - 21 years). The period of formation of the central form of ego-identity. Rapid physiological growth, puberty, hypersexuality. The agony of comparing yourself to others. Searching for the meaning of life. Love and disappointments. Confusion of the soul. Professional self-determination.

Basic psychological problems teenagers:

Future;

Stress;

Communication incompetence;

Resistance to manipulation;

Relationships with parents;

Love and intimacy;

Accepting your own anger;

Acceptance of one's own body;

Accepting your character.

Basic psychological reactions of adolescents:

Opposition;

Grouping;

Confrontation;

Emancipation.

The maturation of cognitive and emotional functions can lead to adolescents using new abilities in the form of criticism, doubt, and opposition to the values, attitudes and behavior of adults. This often causes conflict with parents, especially if an authoritarian and restrictive parenting style dominates in the family. In the process of socialization, a group of peers largely replaces a teenager’s parents and becomes a reference group for him. The transfer of the center of socialization from the family to the peer group leads to a weakening of emotional ties with parents, to their replacement by relationships with many people who have less influence on the individual as a whole, but form certain forms of his behavior. Special meaning purchased for a teenager appearance and the impression he makes, which also often leads to conflicts with family members.

Despite this, leaving the parental home does not affect all forms of behavior, views and attitudes. Although for many teenagers parents fade into the background as a center of orientation and identification, this does not apply to all areas of life. The influence of the family decreases during adolescence, but it still remains an important reference group for the teenager. Emotional ties remain relatively stable; even after a break with the family, in most cases they are maintained, especially with the mother.

Youth. At this stage, the search for a life partner, close cooperation with people, strengthening ties with one’s social group. During this period, the individual is stable in a situation of depersonalization; he is able to mix his identity with other people without damaging his personality.

Adulthood.Identity development occurs throughout life. A person is influenced by other people, especially his own children. By investing yourself in your favorite work, in caring for children, a person can be psychologically satisfied with himself and his life.

Old age.Based on the entire life path of the individual, ego identity takes on a completed form. A person rethinks his life with it, realizes his “I” in reflecting on the years he has lived. A psychologically adequate person accepts himself and his life, realizes the need for its logical conclusion, and is able to show wisdom. There is a detached interest in life in the face of death. The direction of formation of the individual’s psyche at all its stages can be positive and negative. The dynamics of this orientation depend on all institutions of socialization, primarily the family, especially in early stages socialization. Suffice it to note that a severe deficit in emotional communication between mother and baby leads to a sharp slowdown in the child’s mental development.

Transitions from one period to another are a change in the individual’s consciousness and attitude to the surrounding reality and leading activities, breaking a person’s social relationships with other people.