Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionII. Psychodynamic
Theories- Erikson: Post−Freudian
Theory
© The McGraw−Hill^273
Companies, 2009one day for a 35% increase, one day for a 20% increase, and then for whatever
amount an arbitrator decided. The next day Gandhi ended his hunger strike, but his
passive resistance had helped shape his identity and had given him a new tool for
peaceful political and social change.
Unlike neurotic individuals whose identity crises result in core pathologies,
Gandhi had developed strength from this and other crises. Erikson (1969) described
the difference between conflicts in great people, such as Gandhi, and psychologically
disturbed people: “This, then, is the difference between a case history and a life-
history: patients, great or small, are increasingly debilitated by their inner conflicts,
but in historical actuality inner conflict only adds an indispensable momentum to all
superhuman effort” (p. 363).
Related Research
One of Erikson’s major contributions was to extend personality development into
adulthood. By expanding Freud’s notion of development all the way into old age,
Erikson challenged the idea that psychological development stops with childhood.
Erikson’s most influential legacy has been his theory of development and, in partic-
ular, the stages from adolescence into old age. He was one of the first theorists to
emphasize the critical period of adolescence and the conflicts revolving around one’s
search for an identity. Adolescents and young adults often ask: Who am I? Where am
I going? And what do I want to do with the rest of my life? How they answer these
questions plays an important role in what kinds of relationships they develop, who
they marry, and what career paths they follow.
In contrast to most other psychodynamic theorists, Erikson stimulated quite a
bit of empirical research, much of it on adolescence, young adulthood, and adult-
hood. Here we discuss recent research on development in middle adulthood, specif-
ically the stage of generativity.
Generativity and Parenting
Erikson (1982) defined generativity as “the generation of new beings as well as prod-
ucts and new ideas” (p. 67). Generativity is typically expressed not only in bringing
up children and fostering growth in young people but also in teaching, mentoring, cre-
ating, and storytelling activities that bring new knowledge into existence and pass on
old knowledge to the next generation. Dan McAdams and his colleagues (McAdams,
1999; McAdams & de St. Aubin, 1992; Bauer & McAdams, 2004b) have been major
figures in research on generativity and have developed the Loyola Generativity Scale
(LGS) to measure it. The LGS includes items such as “I have important skills that I
try to teach others” and “I do not volunteer to work for a charity.” The scale measures
several aspects of generativity, including concern for the next generation; creating and
maintaining objects and things; and person narration: that is, the subjective story or
theme that an adult creates about providing for the next generation.
Using the LGS scale, researchers have investigated the impact of parental gen-
erativity on the development of children. Theoretically, parents who have a high
sense of generativity should put a great deal of effort and care into raising children
Chapter 9 Erikson: Post-Freudian Theory 267