1. Stage 8 – Ego integrity vs. Despair – Robert McNamara
Erikson describes stage 8, ego integrity, as the ‘fruit’ of the first seven stages. We can describe this as normal, healthy self-love, self-knowledge, acceptance, and being comfortable in one’s skin. This stage occurs in the midst of facing death, where people are likely retired, and are no longer seeking to make another contribution. This reflection period often consists of one asking whether they accomplished what they hoped to, ideally leading to feelings of wisdom. The opposite of integrity is despair – the inability to accept failures, mistakes, or oneself. Robert McNamara was the Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War. Long after the war, in the late 90s and 2000s, McNamara …show more content…
Stage 1 – Trust vs. Mistrust – Theodore Kaczynski, (also known as the UNABOMBER) Stage one is about comfort. Erikson argued that the mother becomes an inner and outer predictability. The infant quickly trusts the mother, and learns that the mother also trusts her or him. This trust is crucial for the ego, which depends on the mother. Without it, schizophrenia and depression result as a coping mechanism to deal with the lack of trust. If this stage goes wrong, there can be a crisis in adulthood, where the lack of trust is projected towards others. When Ted Kaczynski was just a few months old, he was sequestered in a hospital for a severe case of urticaria. He was restrained in a “spread-eagle” manner, and was unable to relieve itches, while at the same time being separated entirely from nurturance of his mother. His mother was not allowed to visit Ted, and after Ted returned from the hospital, his mother stated that “he was a different baby”, and that he seemed like he was dead. After all, he had just gone a few weeks stuck in a hospital room alone. Ted had experienced a huge change in temperament, which affected his interpersonal reactions for the rest of his life. After mailing bombs to over twenty different people, Kaczynski was arrested, and diagnosed as being schizophrenic. They had found him in a cabin in the woods of Montana, where he wrote about his hatred for technology and society at large. He obviously had no friends, and grew increasingly disconnected from the …show more content…
Stage 5 – Identity vs. role confusion – Rachel Dolezal Erikson argues that puberty and the end of childhood arrives, and the period of youth begins. At this stage, youths become more concerned with what others think of them, rather than how they view themselves. Idols also frequently become crucial, with youths trying to copy them. Without having an identity, people over-identify with heroes or crowds. Erikson wrote that adolescents often use in-groups and out-groups in order to defend against identity confusion. By forming cliques, they stereotype themselves, their ideals, and their enemies, and test each other’s capacity to pledge fidelity.
Rachel Dolezal was the NAACP employee, who was born “white”, but pretended to be Black. She claimed that she, from an early age, identified as “Black” by choosing brown rather than peach to draw herself. Her adopted siblings and parents resided in South Africa for a period of time, and she attended Howard University, which is known as a Black college. She worked extensively on “African American Art”, and told the admissions process that she was Black. Just recently, Dolezal’s parents outed her as white, but she responded by saying that she continues to identify as
Erikson describes stage 8, ego integrity, as the ‘fruit’ of the first seven stages. We can describe this as normal, healthy self-love, self-knowledge, acceptance, and being comfortable in one’s skin. This stage occurs in the midst of facing death, where people are likely retired, and are no longer seeking to make another contribution. This reflection period often consists of one asking whether they accomplished what they hoped to, ideally leading to feelings of wisdom. The opposite of integrity is despair – the inability to accept failures, mistakes, or oneself. Robert McNamara was the Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War. Long after the war, in the late 90s and 2000s, McNamara …show more content…
Stage 1 – Trust vs. Mistrust – Theodore Kaczynski, (also known as the UNABOMBER) Stage one is about comfort. Erikson argued that the mother becomes an inner and outer predictability. The infant quickly trusts the mother, and learns that the mother also trusts her or him. This trust is crucial for the ego, which depends on the mother. Without it, schizophrenia and depression result as a coping mechanism to deal with the lack of trust. If this stage goes wrong, there can be a crisis in adulthood, where the lack of trust is projected towards others. When Ted Kaczynski was just a few months old, he was sequestered in a hospital for a severe case of urticaria. He was restrained in a “spread-eagle” manner, and was unable to relieve itches, while at the same time being separated entirely from nurturance of his mother. His mother was not allowed to visit Ted, and after Ted returned from the hospital, his mother stated that “he was a different baby”, and that he seemed like he was dead. After all, he had just gone a few weeks stuck in a hospital room alone. Ted had experienced a huge change in temperament, which affected his interpersonal reactions for the rest of his life. After mailing bombs to over twenty different people, Kaczynski was arrested, and diagnosed as being schizophrenic. They had found him in a cabin in the woods of Montana, where he wrote about his hatred for technology and society at large. He obviously had no friends, and grew increasingly disconnected from the …show more content…
Stage 5 – Identity vs. role confusion – Rachel Dolezal Erikson argues that puberty and the end of childhood arrives, and the period of youth begins. At this stage, youths become more concerned with what others think of them, rather than how they view themselves. Idols also frequently become crucial, with youths trying to copy them. Without having an identity, people over-identify with heroes or crowds. Erikson wrote that adolescents often use in-groups and out-groups in order to defend against identity confusion. By forming cliques, they stereotype themselves, their ideals, and their enemies, and test each other’s capacity to pledge fidelity.
Rachel Dolezal was the NAACP employee, who was born “white”, but pretended to be Black. She claimed that she, from an early age, identified as “Black” by choosing brown rather than peach to draw herself. Her adopted siblings and parents resided in South Africa for a period of time, and she attended Howard University, which is known as a Black college. She worked extensively on “African American Art”, and told the admissions process that she was Black. Just recently, Dolezal’s parents outed her as white, but she responded by saying that she continues to identify as