Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development

The Psychosocial Task: Trust versus Distrust

It is during the oral–sensory stage that the infant experiences the first of many interactions with the immediate environment and needs these outside influences to help regulate basic behaviors. The trust–mistrust continuum reflects the value of the child's experiences during the first year of life and how the child feels about interactions with outside forces. Erikson emphasized that it is not just the quantity of trustfulness that is important but the quality as well.

The Psychosocial Task: Autonomy versus Doubt

The muscular–anal stage deals with the child's ability to regulate or control his or her own physical behavior, including the functions associated with toilet training. Erikson notes that control of all the muscles becomes the focus of the child's surplus energy. Not only are children expected to develop control of the muscles that deal with elimination, they are also expected to develop some control of impulses in general. This change leads to a successful feeling of control over one's behavior, as opposed to feelings of less control.

The Psychosocial Task: Initiative versus Guilt

Erikson believed that the locomotor–genital stage is set by social expectations for independent movement and motivation as a result of new-found autonomy and [Page 190]control. The locomotor component of this stage represents the child's movement away from the dependency on parents and toward the ability to meet personal needs. Children become capable of initiating more complex actions on their own, resulting in more gratification than was possible earlier when they were more dependent on parents.

The Psychosocial Task: Industry versus Inferiority

Erikson believed that the latency time of development is crucial for the child's sense of industry, which is seen as the ability to master the social skills necessary to compete and function successfully in the society in which the child lives. At this stage of development, cultural expectations take precedence over other needs, and the ability to master certain skills and abilities becomes paramount. For children who are not even given the opportunity to master their own world or who have their efforts blocked, these unsuccessful experiences lead to a sense of inferiority, or lack of worthiness.

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