As human beings age, according to Erik Erikson, they go through developmental stages that help to create and transform their personalities. If needs are met and the ego is gratified, then the individual is able to move on to the next challenge. Onward they march in life and in stage until they find the end level: integrity versus despair. This has been categorized as adults 65 years and older by Erikson. Here, people are to reminisce and judge their lives in terms of merit or disappointment. Erikson himself had a lot to comb through in his later years. Erik Erikson was born in Frankfurt, Germany just after the turn of the twentieth century. It is known that he was a product of an affair out of wedlock. He did not find this out …show more content…
The final stage, however, is a little different. One does not have a challenge to overcome so much as a lesson to learn. The person must look back on their life and see the mistakes they have made. They can also see the wise decisions reached and good times had. And it is at this point that most people either see meaning or resentment in their lives. Once an adult reaches retirement, they begin to slow down, if they have not already, and reflect upon a long life lived. They are at the mercy of many decades worth of memories, some good and some bad. The elder will feel a sense of wellbeing if they are satisfied with their life. This satisfaction roots itself in accomplishment. Humans usually want to undertake many things in their lives. Some are able to attain these and others are not. Those that do achieve their goals are filled with a sense of gratification. Arlene Handler says that Erikson calls this “integrity” (The Developmental Stages of Erik Erikson, 2002 (revised 2009)). This also allows for a quiet acceptance of death. People who accept death as inevitable do so with grace and ease. They look at their life and see an adventure with hills and valleys, but valleys that they were able to climb out of with might and determination. Erikson thought this to be remarkable and was amazed by elderly people’s resiliency. He found that the strength at this stage was wisdom and that all the experiences
The Erikson’s stage eight the Integrity versus Despair in late adulthood which is ages 65 plus years old. In this stage according to Erikson a person is reminiscing the past and finding satisfaction of what they had accomplished meaning happy
Eric Erikson was one of the most famous theorists of the twentieth century; he created many theories. One of the most talked about theories is his theory of psychosocial development. This is a theory that describes stages in which an individual should pass as they are going through life. His theory includes nine stages all together. The original theory only included eight stages but Erikson‘s wife found a ninth stage and published it after his death. The nine stages include: trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. identity confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, integrity vs. despair, and hope and faith vs. despair (Crandell and Crandell,
The journey through late adulthood can be experienced in different ways. One particular movie entitled “The Bucket List” exhibits an astounding portrayal of late adulthood. In fact, there are many accounts that the movie entails about late-adulthood. This includes the illustration of Erickson’s late adulthood stage – “Ego Integrity vs. Despair,” wisdom, marriage, friendship, parent-child relationship, and death and dying in late adulthood.
We create our own plot line. And that plot line soon turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy” (Sheehy, p. 169). By creating our own life plot lines, we can control the outcomes to be either progressive or degenerative. Erikson’s theory has only three stages that address the ages of 21-65 years and older, whereas Sheehy believes that the first adulthood stage ends around the mid-forties and the second adulthood begins. There is a change in the mind of people entering this stage and they will either progress through the stage and be ready to be reborn or they will have some struggles they will have to overcome. Even though Erikson’s stages have individual’s fulfill their stages in one way or another, Sheehy’s stage of second adulthood is based more on the ways we create our life path and how fulfilled we make our
It is during this time where we reminisce and contemplate the entirety of our existence. We are able to look back on our accomplishments and life goals and are able to develop integrity – the feeling that we did something with our lives. Yet if we look back on our life goals and realize that we did not accomplish them we become dissatisfied and develop despair. Success in this stage will lead to wisdom, wisdom will allow us to look back on life with a sense of closure allowing us to accept death without fear.
No matter who you are I believe that everyone will go through stages in their life that will get them to where they are on today. I am a person who has a very interesting story; this is the first time it will be told in full. We were asked to use Erik Erikson’s theory of development as a guideline to telling the story of our lives. At first I was very nervous; however, I soon realized that this would be a fun task. Erik Erikson has eight stages of Development (Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman). I will be walking you though my life using each one of his stages drawing out the map of my life. Within my life I have had some very interesting encounters. I have been through foster care, abuse, rape, molestation, starvation, adoption, depression, and
Each stage is presented as two opposing statements representing the challenges a person faces at a particular age. If the person does not overcome the challenges of
Erik Erikson is credited with being the first developmental theorists to cover development from birth to end of life (Robbins, Chatterjee, and Canda, 2012). His theory begins by addressing the early developing concepts of trust and autonomy. The theory wraps up by exploring the ideas of successful aging, including the concepts of generativity and integrity (Erikson Handouts, 2017). This paper will explore the last four stages of Erikson’s theory.
Erikson noted that people within their late adulthood stage of life cogitate and evaluate their lives, deeming their lives as satisfactory or a failure. This stage is called integrity versus despair because those who feel proud of their achievements have a sense of integrity, reflecting with minimum regrets. This is different than those who feel they are unsuccessful at this stage because they consider their life to have been wasted, focusing on “should have”, “could have”, and “would have” been, causing depression. This happens in the mid-60s of a person’s life when they begin to face
The last stage in Erikson’s theory is the integrity vs. despair important stage. This is the time in one’s life when they begin to look at their life and the role that they have played in life. As one reflects on their
The final psychological conflict in Erikson’s theory, ego integrity versus despair, involves coming to terms with one’s life. Adults who arrive at a sense of integrity
In Erik Erikson’s theory he explains that in every stage, a positive or a negative attitude is developed within an individual. During our developing stages we are either successful or we fail. Each stage will come to us whether or not we’re ready for them or not. You can think of the stages as learning stages where crisis occur .Only if we have learned from the previous crisis we are successful. You cannot avoid 1 stage and move to a next stage because of the developing process. The outcome of our lives depends on the way we chose to progress throughout each stage in life. Erikson had his own way in describing each stage in life that we all must go through.
After reading Chapter 15 that talks about the gains and losses in late adulthood and the dying process. It is Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair. The lifespan stage list Old Age as the 8th stage of life. The infant stage is listed as stage 1and from that stage young adult, adolescence, middle adulthood, then adult and finally old age where most seem to think death is imminent. This is the time in the adult life where they look back over the way they have lived their lives. Did they leave anything of value behind, did they accomplish anything and they began to help others to the best of their ability.
Knowing and having an understanding of what ageing stands for, remains an important step, growing-up or growing older and ageism are theories about older individuals. Ageism includes preconceptions that elderly are categorized for their age and perceived as weak, and incapable of performing tasks and needy of others (Quadagno, 2014). Another view about elderly individuals is the way they are looked down on by the younger society, i.e. elderly are not as intelligent as their younger competitive working force. People fear what they do not know and do not understand. Age transpires as something that must be lived through in order to understand what ageing means; looking back on one’s life and seeing accomplishments made,
Stagnation (40 to 65 years) and Identity vs Despair (65 to death). Erikson beliefs that each