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Kate Rzucidlo Introduction to Personality Case Study #2 Psychosocial Perspective 21 May 2015 Psychosocial Perspective - Betty

1. What is the crisis experienced in Erikson’s fourth stage of psychosocial development. How did Betty resolve this stage? What was the outcome of the crisis? Was it favorable or unfavorable? Erikson’s fourth stage of psychosocial development is school age, Industry vs. Inferiority. Children, ages 5 to 12, develop a sense of feeling confident in their ability to thrive from identifying with their parents and teachers. They see these people as ones who will constructively teach them how to be confident in their own innate abilities. If they do not resolve this problem, they gain a sense of feeling self-conscious towards their abilities, feeling that they cannot be an effective member in society in later life and inferiority. Focusing on the information given in the case study by Erikson, Betty did not resolve this conflict in a favorable manner. Betty views herself as a “Plain Jane”. Which to her means there is not anything special about her that makes her stand out or her own person. Betty sees herself as just another girl trying to live life and create something to live on. She was just looking to support herself financially, not so much of anything else. This demonstrates the stage of inferiority shown by Erikson, being unfavorable.

2. What is the crisis experienced in Erikson’s fifth stage of psychosocial development. How did Betty resolve this stage? What was the outcome of the crisis? Was it favorable or unfavorable? Erikson’s fifth stage of psychosocial development is adolescence, Identity vs. Role Confusion. Adolescents, ages 12 to 18, develop a sense of who they are and identity of themselves. Those individuals, who progressively develop through the all of the stages, from the start, in a healthy manner, develop a sense of wanting to “be somebody”. Also there is a sense of wanting uniqueness to them, their own identity. Adolescents, who progress through the crisis in stage five according to Erikson, in an unhealthy manner, develop a sense of role confusion. This is usually characterized by feelings of incompetence and inadequacy. In the case study of Betty, she progressed through stage five in an unhealthy manner. According to Erikson, healthy individuals gain a feel of selfconfidence. They believe in who they are and who/what they want to become in later stages. This is not the same for Betty. “She went to school for education, which was the acceptable major for girls at that time”, taken from the case study, shows that Betty did not strive to have uniqueness or her own identity. Instead she strived only to have a role in creating a living for herself. She did not feel like she previously had a role in life so she continued to play the most common role for other ladies in her situation. This shows that Betty was lead to role-confusion, which tells that Betty’s resolution of this stage was unfavorable.

3. What is the crisis experienced in Erikson’s sixth stage of psychosocial development. How did Betty resolve this stage? What was the outcome of the crisis? Was it favorable or unfavorable?

Erikson’s sixth stage of psychosocial development is young adulthood, Intimacy vs. Isolation. Young adults, ages 18 to 40, who have progressed their development through all of the previous stages, in a healthy manner, come across this conflict. These young adults can go down two different paths to solve this conflict for themselves. They can either gain a sense of intimacy and obtain the ability to have a true relationship based on common values and interests, or obtain a sense of isolation. A sense of isolation is defined by the inability to be in an intimate relationship and the inability to take chances with their identity. In the case study, Betty did not resolve this conflict favorably. She did not date while she was in college. She only became interested in one person and the only person she had interest in did not show he mutually had an interest in her as well. Therefore, these actions caused her to believe she was not worth or see as anything in other peoples’ eyes. Until she met Cole, then her feelings had shifted slightly. But it wasn’t until she met Cole that she felt a slight bit of feelings towards someone else and had thought that they felt them back. After Cole proposed to Betty in a letter, Betty says she accepted the proposal because she thought she would never find someone who would want to marry her again. In the end, this relationship never became intimate. This led Betty to a life of isolation and aloneness.

4. What is the crisis experienced in Erikson’s seventh stage of psychosocial development. How did Betty resolve this stage? What was the outcome of the crisis? Was it favorable or unfavorable? Erikson’s seventh stage is adulthood, Generativity vs. Stagnation. Adults, ages 40 to 65, who progress through all of the previous stages and reach this conflict, in a healthy manner, gain a strong ego identity and mature relationships with others. Generativity

contains the process of establishing and/or enhancing a creative and productive career while being concerned with the well being of the generation after that. Stagnation associates a lack of productivity, boredom, and interpersonal impoverishment. Betty did not resolve this conflict healthily. Instead of obtaining a sense of generativity, she leaned towards stagnation because she did not enhance her relationship with her husband. She said it never truly escalated to anything more than what it was when they were married. She quit her teaching job to become a stay-at-home mother. That which also led to an even more heightened sense of stagnation.

5. What could be expected in the eight stage of Betty’s life according to Erikson’s theory? Stage eight according to Erikson is late adulthood, Ego Integrity vs. Despair. Mature adults, ages 65+, who reach this stage by going through all of the previous stages, in a healthy manner, look at their life in dignity and do not have much fear of death. This is considered a sense of ego integrity. The mature adults, who do not reach this stage in a healthy manner, look at their life with disappointment. They wish to do it over it over again because they believe they can now do better. They fear death, unlike those who reach this stage in a healthy manner because they do not want to die having lived a meaningless life. Based on the information known from the case study, Betty will most likely reach this stage and drift towards despair. She will not like the outcome of her life. She will wish she could go back and do it again. The case study says that Betty wants to divorce her husband because she is simply unsatisfied. This will cause a sense of despair in her life....