Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionII. Psychodynamic
Theories- Erikson: Post−Freudian
Theory
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Companies, 2009procreation of children, the production of work, and the creation of new things and
ideas that contribute to the building of a better world.
People have a need not only to learn but also to instruct. This need extends be-
yond one’s own children to an altruistic concern for other young people. Generativ-
ity grows out of earlier syntonic qualities such as intimacy and identity. As noted ear-
lier, intimacy calls for the ability to fuse one’s ego to that of another person without
fear of losing it. This unity of ego identities leads to a gradual expansion of interests.
During adulthood, one-to-one intimacy is no longer enough. Other people, especially
children, become part of one’s concern. Instructing others in the ways of culture is a
practice found in all societies. For the mature adult, this motivation is not merely an
obligation or a selfish need but an evolutionary drive to make a contribution to suc-
ceeding generations and to ensure the continuity of human society as well.
The antithesis of generativity is self-absorption and stagnation.The genera-
tional cycle of productivity and creativity is crippled when people become too ab-
sorbed in themselves, too self-indulgent. Such an attitude fosters a pervading sense
of stagnation. Some elements of stagnation and self-absorption, however, are neces-
sary. Creative people must, at times, remain in a dormant stage and be absorbed with
themselves in order to eventually generate new growth. The interaction of genera-
tivity and stagnation produces care, the basic strength of adulthood.
Care: The Basic Strength of Adulthood
Erikson (1982) defined careas “a widening commitment to take care ofthe persons,
the products, and the ideas one has learned to care for” (p. 67). As the basic strength
of adulthood, care arises from each earlier basic ego strength. One must have hope,
will, purpose, competence, fidelity, and love in order to take care of that which one
cares for. Care is not a duty or obligation but a natural desire emerging from the con-
flict between generativity and stagnation or self-absorption.
The antipathy of care is rejectivity,the core pathology of adulthood. Rejectiv-
ity is the unwillingness to take care of certain persons or groups (Erikson, 1982). Re-
jectivity is manifested as self-centeredness, provincialism, or pseudospeciation:that
is, the belief that other groups of people are inferior to one’s own. It is responsible
for much of human hatred, destruction, atrocities, and wars. As Erikson said, rejec-
tivity “has far-reaching implications for the survival of the species as well as for
every individual’s psychosocial development” (p. 70).
Old Age
The eighth and final stage of development is old age.Erikson was in his early 40s
when he first conceptualized this stage and arbitrarily defined it as the period from
about age 60 to the end of life. Old age need not mean that people are no longer gen-
erative. Procreation, in the narrow sense of producing children, may be absent, yet
old people can remain productive and creative in other ways. They can be caring
grandparents to their own grandchildren as well as to other younger members of so-
ciety. Old age can be a time of joy, playfulness, and wonder; but it is also a time of
senility, depression, and despair. The psychosexual mode of old age is generalized
sensuality;the psychosocial crisis is integrity versus despair,and the basic strength
is wisdom.
Chapter 9 Erikson: Post-Freudian Theory 261