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advance through the eight developmental stages in the same order, myriad
differences are found in the pace of that journey. Each person resolves
psychosocial crises in a unique manner, and each uses the basic strengths
in a way that is peculiarly theirs.Key Terms and Concepts
∙ (^) Erikson’s stages of development rest on an epigenetic principle, meaning
that each component proceeds in a step-by-step fashion with later growth
building on earlier development.
∙ (^) During every stage, people experience an interaction of opposing syntonic
and dystonic attitudes, which leads to a conflict, or psychosocial crisis.
∙ (^) Resolution of this crisis produces a basic strength and enables a person
to move to the next stage.
∙ (^) Biological components lay a ground plan for each individual, but a
multiplicity of historical and cultural events also shapes ego identity.
∙ (^) Each basic strength has an underlying antipathy that becomes the core
pathology of that stage.
∙ (^) The first stage of development is infancy, characterized by the oral-
sensory mode, the psychosocial crisis of basic trust versus mistrust, the
basic strength of hope, and the core pathology of withdrawal.
∙ (^) During early childhood, children experience the anal, urethral, and
muscular psychosexual mode; the psychosocial conflict of autonomy
versus shame and doubt; the basic strength of will; and the core
pathology of compulsion.
∙ (^) During the play age, children experience genital-locomotor psychosexual
development and undergo a psychosocial crisis of initiative versus guilt,
with either the basic strength of purpose or the core pathology of inhibition.
∙ (^) School-age children are in a period of sexual latency but face the
psychosocial crisis of industry versus inferiority, which produces either
the basic strength of competence or the core pathology of inertia.
∙ (^) Adolescence, or puberty, is a crucial stage because a person’s sense of
identity should emerge from this period. However, identity confusion may
dominate the psychosocial crisis, thereby postponing identity. Fidelity is
the basic strength of adolescence; role repudiation is its core pathology.
∙ (^) Young adulthood, the time from about age 18 to 30, is characterized by the
psychosexual mode of genitality, the psychosocial crisis of intimacy versus
isolation, the basic strength of love, and the core pathology of exclusivity.
∙ (^) Adulthood is a time when people experience the psychosexual mode of
procreativity, the psychosocial crisis of generativity versus stagnation,
the basic strength of care, and the core pathology of rejectivity.
∙ (^) Old age is marked by the psychosexual mode of generalized sensuality,
the crisis of integrity versus despair, and the basic strength of wisdom
or the core pathology of disdain.
∙ Erikson used psychohistory (a combination of psychoanalysis and history)
to study the identity crises of Martin Luther, Mahatma Gandhi, and others.
226 Part II Psychodynamic Theories