Procedures and Data Collection – Realizing What I Don’t Know (part 3)

In this post we will continue looking at the developmental framework of Erik Erikson.

Phase 5: Identity vs. Identity Confusion. Given what we have seen in the first four phases of identity development, doesn’t it make sense that phase five should bring us to a crossroads? Is it any wonder then how pre-adolescence is a time for a lot of turmoil, particularly if the first four phases have been less than ideal? Some of the characteristics of this phase (according to Erikson) are:

• Task identification vs. Sense of futility
• Anticipation of roles vs. Role inhibition
• Will to be oneself vs. Self-doubt
• Mutual recognition vs. autistic Isolation

Phases 6-8 are part of what Erikson calls the “moratorium phase,” with adolescent risk taking and experimentation (can you say 1960s?). These phases form the main components of psychosocial vitality and ends typically when a person reaches the age where they are ready to make long-term commitments such as marriage or children.

Phase 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation. Erikson states that psychosocial intimacy is not possible without a firm sense of identity, where the ratio of masculinity and femininity is proportional to the identity being developed. It is a time of sexual polarization versus bisexual confusion.

Phase 7: Generativity vs. Stagnation. This is where an adolescent chooses subgroups other than family with which to identify. Whether that is Boy Scouts, the football team, Gangs, or chess club, this is a time where leader-followership (with peers) is established. In its absence is Authority confusion.

Phase 8: Integrity vs. Dispair. This final phase is where a person has (typically) become a young adult, maturing to an acceptance of their place and role in society. It is a time of Ideological commitment versus Confusion of values.

Given Erikson’s framework, is it any wonder that some of us reach adulthood without successful completion of each of these phases? What if something like death or divorce interrupts “normal” development? Do we go back and complete these phases once we have reached adulthood, or are many of us “muddling” through life with an underdeveloped sense of identity. Is it any wonder then, what the draw of an anonymous, virtual world as a place to experiment with roles might offer?