Erik Erikson's Life Cycle Stages

Erik Erikson (1902-1994) used psychologist, Sigmund Freud's work as a starting place to develop a theory about human stage development from birth to death. In contrast to Freud's focus on sexuality, Erikson focused on how peoples' sense of identity develops; how people develop or fail to develop abilities and beliefs about themselves which allow them to become productive, satisfied members of society. Because Erikson's theory combines how people develop beliefs psychologically and mentally with how they learn to exist within a larger community of people, it’s called a 'psychosocial' theory.

Each stage is associated with a time of life and a general age span. For each stage (below), Erikson's theory explains what types of stimulation children need to master that stage and become productive and well-adjusted members of society and explains the types of problems and developmental delays that can result when this stimulation does not occur.