If an individual does indeed successfully reconcile these forces (favoring the first mentioned attribute in the crisis), they emerge from the stage with the corresponding virtue.
The first stage of Erik Erikson's theory centers around the infant's basic needs being met by the parents or caregiver and how this interaction leads to trust or mistrust.
If the parents expose their child to warmth, security, and dependable affection, the infant's view of the world will be one of trust.
[11] Should parents fail to provide a secure environment and to meet the child's basic needs; a sense of mistrust will result.
[18] According to Erik Erikson, the major developmental task in infancy is to learn whether or not other people, especially primary caregivers, regularly satisfy basic needs.
If caregivers are consistent sources of food, comfort, and affection, an infant learns trust — that others are dependable and reliable.
During early childhood, the child will start to have learning tasks and skills that instill personal responsibility, which allows the children to make choices that could help them develop a sense of autonomy and confidence.
[4] Initiative adds to autonomy the quality of planning, undertaking, and attacking a task for the sake of just being active and on the move.
Activities sought out by a child in this stage may include risk-taking behaviors, such as crossing a street alone or riding a bike without a helmet; both these examples involve self-limits.
But if instead, adults discourage the pursuit of independent activities or dismiss them as silly and bothersome, children develop guilt about their needs and desires.
The failure to master trust, autonomy, and industrious skills may cause the child to doubt their future, leading to shame, guilt, and the experience of defeat and inferiority.
They also get to form moral values, recognize cultural and individual differences and are able to manage most of their personal needs and grooming with minimal assistance.
Ideally, elementary school provides many opportunities to achieve the recognition of teachers, parents and peers by producing things—drawing pictures, solving addition problems, writing sentences, and so on.
If children are encouraged to make and do things and are then praised for their accomplishments, they begin to demonstrate industry by being diligent, persevering at tasks until completed, and putting work before pleasure.
If children are instead ridiculed or punished for their efforts or if they find they are incapable of meeting their teachers' and parents' expectations, they develop feelings of inferiority about their capabilities.
If not allowed to discover their own talents in their own time, they will develop a sense of lack of motivation, low self-esteem, and lethargy.
Given the right conditions—and Erikson believes these are essentially having enough space and time, a psychosocial moratorium, when a person can freely experiment and explore—what may emerge is a firm sense of identity, an emotional and deep awareness of who they are.
If society is too insistent, the teenager will acquiesce to external wishes, effectively forcing him or her to ‘foreclose' on experimentation and, therefore, true self-discovery.
they have established their identity:[28] Dependent on this stage is the ego quality of fidelity—the ability to sustain loyalties freely pledged in spite of the inevitable contradictions and confusions of value systems.
As suggested in the previous paragraphs, it seems that it could be very valuable for someone at this stage to let go of some of their fears in order to gain a solid relationship with another person.
"[36]During middle age, the primary developmental task is one of contributing to society and helping to guide future generations.
In contrast, a person who is self-centered and unable or unwilling to help society move forward develops a feeling of stagnation—a dissatisfaction with the relative lack of productivity.
[35] As people grow older and become senior citizens, they tend to slow down their productivity and explore life as a retired person.
Factors such as leisure activities and family involvement play a significant role in the life of a retiree and their adjustment to living without having to perform specific duties each day pertaining to their career.
[44] Erikson explains that it is also important for adults in this stage to maintain relationships with others of different ages in order to develop integrity.
Practices such as narrative therapy can help individuals reinterpret their minds pertaining to their past and allow them to focus on the brighter aspects of their lives.
This stage can occur out of the sequence when an individual feels they are near the end of their life (such as when receiving a terminal disease diagnosis).
[26] Living in the ninth stage, she wrote, "old age in one's eighties and nineties brings with it new demands, reevaluations, and daily difficulties".
[61] However, Erikson states that each of these processes occur throughout the lifetime in one form or another, and he emphasizes these "phases" only because it is at these times that the conflicts become most prominent.
Erikson attributed the development of the stages to the presence of specific tensions which may be present at any moment of a person's life.