Erikson proposed the theory of the person’s psychosocial development that is divided into phases associated with a certain age (Altman & Wohlwill, 2012). For the purpose of the analysis of stages, a 79-year-old man was contacted and interviewed. This paper aims to analyze the results of the interview with the focus on the interviewee’s life in the context of the psychosocial developmental phases, discuss the issue of diversity with references to the person’s experiences, and present the ideas on the person’s relationships with the environment.
Phases of Development
According to Erikson, there are eight phases of the person’s psychosocial development. These phases are based on the resolution of the certain conflict, and they are trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair (Henry & Stephens, 2013; Hutchison, 2010). The stages of the interviewee’s life are analyzed in this paper within the framework of the identified phases.
Trust vs. Mistrust
During this phase, the relationship with the interviewee’s mother played the key role. The man was the fourth child in the family has seven children, but the mother paid much attention to bringing up her children. The interviewee (personal communication, November 5, 2015) said that in spite of the fact that the elder brother was brought up by the grandfather, the mother “was always there” for him, as well as for his sister and brother. As a result, the crisis of trust vs. mistrust was resolved successfully because of the mother’s care, and the man was able to develop the feeling of trust and hope, as well as close positive interactions with the mother.
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
Speaking about the period when he was a toddler, the interviewee also did not mention any negative memories, pointing one more time in a close relationship with his mother, who was a very kind person. It is possible to conclude that growing in the loving family, the interviewee was able to cope with the crisis of autonomy vs. shame while developing his confidence related to the autonomous activities.
Initiative vs. Guilt
In 1942, when the interviewee was six years old, his family moved to East Spencer, North Carolina, to find jobs. This event influenced the resolution of the following crisis associated with finding the balance between initiative and guilt. The social factor of moving to another city and the necessity of adapting to the new conditions influenced the whole family. As a result, the crisis was not resolved appropriately because the child’s initiatives were not expected by parents at that stage, and the sense of guilt affected the following stages of the interviewee’s life.
Industry vs. Inferiority
The period when he was six-eleven years old was the most challenging for the interviewee. The first challenge was the fact that his father left the family and joined the Merchant Marine. The boy suffered significantly because of his close relationships with his father. The interviewee (personal communication, November 5, 2015) said that he “always waited for him to come home.” In addition, that period of life was challenging because the United States participated in World War II, and this factor caused the boy’s thoughts that something bad would happen to his father. The family lived in a house similar to a shack, his mother worked much, and the father sent money, but that was not enough, and they also received rations to buy food, meat, and gas to exchange gas rations for food rations.
However, the severe living conditions did not have such an impact on the interviewee as life without his father. The absence of the resolution of the initiative vs. guilt crisis led to the situation that the boy tried to do all possible to help his father return, and he thought that if he were good and received a good grade, this would make his father come home. Still, these complicated family and social situations also influenced his resolution of the crisis, and the boy could develop his confidence, become productive, help his mother, and learn well. According to the ecological theory, being a child, the interviewee did not perceive his living conditions as something affecting his vision of life (Rogers, 2013, p. 44). The emotional trauma associated with the father’s leave influenced the boy more significantly.
Identity vs. Role Confusion
When the interviewee was 14 years old, he remained focused on helping his mother, and he received his first job at the Open Kitchen. He started to earn 25 cents per hour, and he succeeded in the development of his relationship with the owner who trusted the young worker and purchased a car for him to guarantee that he could come to work early. That experience contributed to resolving the crisis associated with developing the feeling of identity in a young man. However, there were challenges connected with the issue of segregation developing in society.
The interviewee notes that the factor became the most challenging when he went to Price High School in Salisbury, North Carolina, where all teachers were blacks. Still, the interviewee succeeded in accepting his identity, and the young man joined the band that was so good that they played and marched in Washington, District Columbia, during President Eisenhower’s inauguration. From this point, the interviewee resolved the crisis of identity, and that period was associated with two such accomplishments as the first working experience and the playing in the High School band. Following the ecological theory, in segregated environments, the interviewee focused on an opportunity to join a band rather than feeling despair.
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Speaking about the period when the focus is on the development of intimate relationships, the interviewee concentrated on his sport and educational accomplishments. The interviewee was good at playing football, and he received scholarships to play for colleges. The man chose to enter Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina, in order not to move far from the family. At this stage, the crisis was resolved with references to developing close relationships within his family. The interviewee did not become centric on his sports achievements and other successes because he was focused on finding the opportunities to help the mother. As a result, the interviewee continued working at two part-time jobs, and he also concentrated on his study and had the high grades. From this perspective, the social factor of the family influenced the man most of all when he resolved his intimacy vs. isolation conflict.
Generativity vs. Stagnation
The concentration on the family values also helped the interviewee to resolve the main conflict of the adulthood. The man was able to achieve the generativity instead of stagnation because he always acted with the thought about his family. Moreover, his professional achievements were the results of his activities to contribute to the family’s welfare, but not the goals. Thus, the interviewee moved to Detroit, Michigan, in 1962. He started working at Carter Brother’s, a furniture factory. In 1970, the man opened his own business. The goal was to support his own family and children, as he married in 1964, and that motivation helped him succeed in his life and business. His mother passed away in 1971, and his father died in 1989. Those events affected the interviewee significantly, but he continued to focus on the well-being of his family while supporting his sister and other family members.
According to Erikson, in the process of resolving the adulthood crisis, much attention is paid to the social contribution of a person. The crisis resolution was influenced by the fact that the interviewee inducted into the football hall of fame at Livingstone College. In addition, there was a professional growth as the interviewee’s firm made the decorations for such movies as The Terminator and Batman. The firm also produced the furniture for Mr. Henry Ford and for Chrysler. The achieved balance between the family and professional work helped the interviewee coped with the crisis of the adulthood and address the associated challenges. According to the strengths theoretical perspective, the phase of maturity was the most productive for the interviewee when he succeeded to utilize all his personal qualities and resources in order to achieve his goals (Rogers, 2013). As a result, it is possible to claim that the interviewee cultivated his strengths and abilities independently, as the reaction to all challenges.
Integrity vs. Despair
According to the interviewee, he feels satisfaction at the current stage of his life. As a result, it is possible to speak about the achieved integrity. Having analyzed his life, the man noted that he completed the significant shift from living in the rural area to becoming a successful businessman. More importantly, he raised wonderful children who are sources of pride for him. The interviewee (personal communication, November 5, 2015) noted that he “tried to instill in them independence, respect, and a good work ethics.” Currently, the health factor influences his well-being, but the man understands that pain in knees is a result of football injuries and a successful career of the college sportsman. The health factor also influences his ability to work, but he still runs the business with his daughter. It is possible to note that the successful resolution of psychosocial crises in the case of the interviewee depends on his ability to adequately address the external factors and concentrate on the goal achievements without ignoring the personal, family, or professional interests.
The Importance of Differences
During the communication with the interviewee, the main difference that influenced the process was the age as the conversation was performed in the most respectful manner, and the questions were reformulated according to the interviewees’ answers. The simple and understandable language was used in questions to avoid any misunderstandings (Urdang, 2013). Having analyzed the interviewee’s life, it is possible to state that his racial and cultural identity or differences influenced his life path significantly because the man experienced the problems associated with the period of the racial segregation in the American society. The interviewee is of the mixed ethnical origin, as his paternal grandmother was a Cherokee Indian, and his paternal grandfather was a mulatto.
The interviewee’s mother had the dark skin. As a result, in spite of the interviewee did not notice any differences in relation to his gender, religion and education, he faced challenges associated with his race and culture. The interviewee mentioned the segregation associated with the impossibility to play football with teams from white schools, to visit restaurants and cafés for whites. This experience made the man strive to achieve the higher results in his educational and professional life to address discrimination. As a result, it is possible to speak about the personal oppression based on the sad experience and associated with the increased motivation to develop to change the social status.
The Person and Environment
Referring one more time to the ecological theory, it is important to note that the environments can have the considerable impact on the person’s life, and the man’s actions depend on his or her perceptions of the challenges caused by the family factor, community, or the large society. In terms of the interviewee, the family had the positive impact on the man, and it provided the additional motivation for him to achieve more goals. The only challenge was the father’s leave. The community also had a positive effect on the man because he could realize his potential in sports and career. He felt the support of his friends and partners. However, the social policy affected the person’s life significantly because he became a victim of the segregation in the America society. Still, that factor did not influence the man in terms of his educational and professional development.
While analyzing the life of the elderly person with references to Erikson’s theory, it is possible to identify such limitations as the impossibility to divide the personal development into the mentioned stages strictly. The reason is that individual differences have the significant effect on the personal development, and the determined stages are not often associated with the person’s age (Carter, 2011). In addition, it is a challenging task to identify crises associated with the developmental phases that can be effectively interpreted in the context of the theory. One more limitation is the necessity to analyze the person’s life only in relation to the identified stages in spite of the fact that the development of the social life led to changing the standards in relation to the person’s life and goals associated with the period of the young adulthood and maturity.
Conclusion
The results of the interview analysis indicate that the events in the person’s life, as well as his or her accomplishments, can be evaluated in the context of Erikson’s theory. However, there are limitations that need to be taken into account when a sociologist analyzes the effects of the personal, family, and social factors on the man’s life. Still, referring to the ecological and strengths perspectives, it is possible to receive the complete picture of the man’s life in order to conclude about his level of satisfaction with the past experiences. From this perspective, Erikson’s framework provides the effective background for such analyses and discussions.
References
Altman, I., & Wohlwill, J. F. (2012). Human behavior and environment: Advances in theory and research. New York, NY: Springer Science & Business Media.
Carter, I. (2011). Human behavior in the social environment: A social systems approach. New York, NY: AldineTransaction.
Henry, J. P., & Stephens, P. M. (2013). Stress, health, and the social environment: A sociobiologic approach to medicine. New York, NY: Springer Science & Business Media.
Hutchison, E. D. (2010). Dimensions of human behavior: The changing life course. New York, NY: Sage.
Rogers, A. T. (2013). Human behavior in the social environment. New York, NY: Routledge.
Urdang, E. (2013). Human behavior in the social environment: Interweaving the inner and outer worlds. New York, NY: Routledge.