Introduction
Erik Erikson, one of the most famous psychologists of the twentieth century, was born on June 15, 1902, in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, and died on May 12, 1994 at 92 (Erikson, 1994). Erickson was learning almost everything independently as a young child; he was curious and critically analyzed as any kid would be learning. Erikson played a critical role in helping humanity better comprehend what led Erickson to develop an interest in and expand psychoanalytic theory by exploring stages of development comprising childhood, adulthood, and old age life (Logan, 1983 Winter). He played a crucial role in influencing professional approaches to psychosocial problems, attracting popular interest through his writings on social psychology, individual identity, and how psychology interacted with culture, history, and politics. This paper evaluates Erik Erikson’s life, childhood, education, contributions, and later life.
Childhood Experience
Erickson was raised by Karla Abrahamsen, his young Jewish mother, and his stepfather, Dr Theodore Homberger, who married Erickson’s mother in 1905; as such, he never knew his biological father. Erik adopted the name Erickson in 1939, although he used Homberger, his stepfather’s surname when growing up. Erickson was learning almost everything independently as a young child. In his second stage of child development, at one and a half, he started working on management and control as he began to master his walking skills (Erikson, 1994). At the age of 4 years, Erickson was in his next stage of development, in which he started emulating what the adults were doing and started learning interesting and new activities. His mother and stepfather gave him a chance to enhance his sense of self-esteem by giving him an opportunity for free play. Erickson’s early life experience as a child sparked his interest in understanding identity since he struggled with his identity during his youth life (Carrey, 2010). During Erickson’s young age, he felt his stepfather accepted and loved his daughters, unlike him, whom his stepfather never accepted. He would later explain how he felt confused as a young person, how he fit in his community, and who he was growing up. The mystery of his father and his school experience played a significant part in Erickson’s interest in identity information. Erickson’s creativity and imagination helped him transition into his fourth and final stage of child development at about the age of 7 when he started questioning his life purpose and who he really was as a person. His mother allowed him to associate with other kids, putting him into social situations and understanding that he was Erik Erickson. However, little did he know he once lived through psychosocial development stages of his own life.
Education Background
It is fascinating to document that Erickson’s stepfather desired his stepson to major in the field of medicine because himself was a professional doctor. However, Erickson, who was one of the most celebrabed psychologists of the twentieth century, never studied medicine neither did he obtain a degree in either the field of psychology or medicine. Instead, of developing interest in his father’s field of medicine, Erickson developed interest in artwork, and later moved to France, to learn artwork in Florence town. After studying art in Florence, in 1927, Erickson started training at a psychoanalytically enlightened school as an art trainer. This move played a critical role in transforming Erickson’s career and his later life, during which he obtained a certificate from Maria Montessori School enabling him train in psychoanalytics after joining the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute. It is also noteworthy to document that his experience in school advanced his curiosity in identity information (Orenstein & Lewis, 2022). For instance, Erickson was able to stand out among his colleagues because he was the tallest boy; his height made other kids at Jewish Temple School continue teasing him based on his height and appearance. He was also to fight for being a Jewish because he was rejected at Grammar School as a Jewish student. He developed interest in identity information which was fueled by his early life experience when he was still a kid and during his learning, and throughout his life and career, it continued to influence his work.
Professional Research and Contributions
Erik Erickson played a significant role in expanding Freud’s original five stages through his highly influential eight stages of human development to incorporate his early life experiences after early childhood. Erickson’s eight-stage development is his best-known work elaborating on a person’s psychological struggle, which plays a crucial role in an individual’s personality. In his development theory, Erickson introduced significant aspects of human development by describing adolescent characteristics, the associated crisis of identity, and the crisis associated with a person’s adult midlife. Erickson focused on trust that formed his foundation (Stage one Infancy- trust vs. mistrust), autonomy (Toddler stage-autonomy vs. doubt and shame) an individual’s initiative (preschool-age stage encompassing initiative vs. quilt), school-age stage (industry vs. inferiority), adolescence (a person’s identity vs. identity confusion), young adulthood (intimacy vs. isolation life), middle age stage (generativity vs stagnation), and lastly older adulthood stage (human integrity vs despair) in his developmental progression that was considered as the chronological restructuring of character and ego structures (Markstrom-Adams, Ascione, Braegger, & Adams, 1993). Erickson’s stages of development played a critical role in expanding on Freudian thought, which represented a quantum leap that had previously stressed the development of psychosexual nature. Erik Erickson’s other long-lasting contribution was inserting childhood directly into the context of society. He argued that children are remarkable beings that the community needs to value and understand their life requirements rather than taking them simply as psyche products or biological beings that endure criticism and isolation. He further contributed to establishing a new education based on self-knowledge for children worldwide.
Later Life
Erickson married 1930 to Joan Serson, a Canadian dance instructor while working. The couples were later placed with three children. He was later offered a teaching position at Harvard Medical School after relocating to American in 1933 despite having no formal degree. Erickson later served at the Harvard Medical School, Harvard’s Psychological Clinic, and Guidance Center after he settled in Boston, where he served in child psychoanalysis, becoming the first male to practice it in the Boston region. Erickson met anthropologists Gregory Bateson, Margaret Mead, and psychologist Kurt Lewin while working in these institutions, who were important figures in his career life, maintaining his contact with these professionals. While working at Yale Institute between 1936 and 1939 as HR and a professor, he researched Sioux children, which took him a year at the South Dakota Indian reservation to conduct his study. Erik changed from his stepfather’s name, Erik Homberger, to Erik Erickson during this period. He moved to California in 1939, where he held teaching positions in various institutions, including the University of California, the Center for Advanced Studies of the Behavioral Sciences, the Austen Riggs Center, and the Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute, where he played a significant role in advancing his research and theories by publishing numerous books. Erikson retired in 1970 as professor Emeritus and the American Psychological Association listed him number twelve among one hundred most prominent psychologists of the twentieth century. Erik Erikson died at Harwich, Massachusetts on May 12, 1994 at 92 (Erikson, 1994).
Conclusion
Erik Erikson, one of the most famous psychologists of the twentieth century, was born on June 15, 1902, in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, and died on May 12, 1994 at 92. Despite his struggle with his identity at a younger age, it flued his interest in identity information since he was learning almost everything independently as a young child. The mystery of his father and school experience significantly influenced his interest in identity information. Erickson was an imaginative and creative individual, and these abilities helped him during his life and career to an extend he started interrogating the purpose of his life purpose and who he actually was as an individual. Despite Erickson did not have a formal degree, his imaginative and creative abilities helped him proficiently advance his developmental stages and theories to the extent of writing several books. He has played a significant role in the field of psychology and his contribution has remained a life-long contribution that saw him magnify on Freud’s initial five stages through his highly-ranking eight stages of human development. Erik Erickson stands out as one of the celebrated psychologists who have performed an essential role in this study area and continue to be eminent among many psychologists for his numerous contributions.
References
Carrey, N. (2010, November). The Two Ericksons: Forgotten Concepts and what Constitutes an Appropriate Professional Knowledge Base in Psychiatry. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2962535/
Erikson, H. E. (1994). Identity and the Life Cycle (Revised ed. ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.
Logan, R. (1983 Winter). A re-conceptualization of Erikson’s identity stage. Adolescence, 18(72), 943-946. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6229976/
Markstrom-Adams, C., Ascione, F. R., Braegger, D., & Adams, G. R. (1993, June). Promotion of ego-identity development: can short-term intervention facilitate growth? Adolescence, 16(2). doi:10.1006/jado.1993.1020
Orenstein, G. A., & Lewis, L. (2022, November 07). Eriksons Stages of Psychosocial Development. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556096/
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