Psychodynamic Theory

1
Theories of Development

• Psychodynamic Theory
• Epigenetic Theory
• Genetic Epistemology
• Cognitive-Mediation Theory
• Individual Psychology
• Social-Cognitive Learning Theory

2
Epigenetic Theory

• Creator Erick Erickson
• AKA Psychosocial Theory
• Considered Neo-Freudian
• Focus of Theory Ego development.
• Main Topic Identity
• Main Tenants
• Emphasized our social interaction with other
  people.
• Society and culture both shape and challenge
  people.
• His stage covered the entire life-span (8
  stages).
• Each stage represents a crisis that must be
  resolved.
• Epigenetic Non-genetic causes of a phenotype.
• Change of a phenotype without change in a
  genotype.

3
Epigenetic Theory

• Stage 1 - Basic Trust vs. Mistrust
• (0-1 ½ )
• Developing trust is the first task of the ego.
• It is never complete.
• The child will let mother out of sight without
  anxiety and rage when
• She has become an inner certainty.
• Outer predictability.
• Quality of maternal relationship is everything.

4
Epigenetic Theory

• Stage 2 - Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
• (1-2)
• If denied autonomy (ability to make independent
  choices)
• Child will resist urges to manipulate and
  discriminate.
• Shame develops.
• Left over doubt may become paranoia.
• The sense of autonomy serves the preservation in
  economic and political life of a sense of
  justice.

5
Epigenetic Theory

• Stage 3 - Initiative vs. Guilt
• (2-6)
• Initiative adds to autonomy the quality of
  (tasks for the sake of being active and on the
  move)
• Undertaking
• Planning
• Attacking
• The child feels guilt over the goals contemplated
  and the acts initiated in exuberant enjoyment of
  new loco motor and mental powers.
• The castration complex
• Due to the child's erotic fantasies.
• They will get in trouble for feeling that way.
• A residual conflict over initiative may be
  expressed as
• Hysterical denial.
• May cause the repression of the wish or
  destruction of the ego.
• Results in paralysis and inhibition, or
  overcompensation and showing off.
• The Oedipal stage
• Results in oppressive establishment of a moral
  sense

6
Epigenetic Theory

• Stage 4 - Industry vs. Inferiority
• (7-12)
• Bringing a productive situation to completion.
• Gradually supersedes the whims and wishes of
  play.
• The fundamentals of technology are developed.
• To lose the hope of such "industrious"
  association may pull the child back and cause
  them to become
• More isolated
• Less conscious
• The child can become a conformist and thoughtless
  slave whom others exploit.

7
Epigenetic Theory

• Stage 5 - Identity vs. Role Confusion
• (13-21)
• AKA Diffusion
• The adolescent is newly concerned with how they
  appear to others.
• Ego identity
• Accrued confidence that the inner sameness and
  continuity prepared in the past are matched by
  the sameness and continuity of one's meaning for
  others.
• Evidenced in the promise of a career.
• The inability to settle on a school or
  occupational identity is disturbing.

8
Epigenetic Theory

• Stage 6 - Intimacy vs. Isolation
• (21-35)
• Body and ego must be masters of organ modes.
• This is in order to face the fear of ego loss.
• In situations which call for self-abandon.
• The avoidance of these experiences leads to
  isolation and self-absorption.
• The counterpart of intimacy is distantiation
• Readiness to isolate and destroy forces and
  people whose essence seems dangerous to one's
  own.
• Now true genitality can fully develop.
• Danger
• Isolation which can lead to severe character
  problems.

9
Epigenetic Theory

• Stage 7 - Generativity vs. Stagnation
• (35-60)
• Generativity is the concern in establishing and
  guiding the next generation.
• Simply having or wanting children doesn't achieve
  generativity.
• Socially-valued work and disciples are also
  expressions of generativity.

10
Epigenetic Theory

• Stage 8 - Ego Integrity vs. Despair
• (60)
• Ego integrity is the ego's accumulated assurance
  of its capacity for order and meaning.
• Despair is signified by a fear of one's own
  death, as well as the loss of self-sufficiency,
  and of loved partners and friends.
• Healthy children won't fear life if their elders
  have integrity enough not to fear death.