Generativity Vs. Stagnation

Erik Erickson dissimilar to human behaviorist Urie Bronfenbrenner theorized that humans had a discontinuous development which occurred in eight stages, each one corresponding to the individual’s age. Much like Sigmund Freud Psychosexual stages, within each stage, there is a psychosocial crisis, a tension between two extremes that will generally have one outcome. But unlike Freud Erikson focused more upon interactions with society, emotions, and mental states rather than biology and in some instances, the success of the individual is aided and solely dependent upon the parent. If an individual can successfully navigate through the crisis then they are on the path to healthy development and acquire skills or virtues that will be helpful later …show more content…
Stagnation is a psychosocial crisis which begins in adulthood, from forty and ending at the age of sixty-four. An individual negotiating this stage of development may become less egocentric and show great care about their community, children, and generally take actions to better the world around them which will lead to generativity. The other path would be the individual focusing on their own happiness, oblivious to any problems except their own and looking back on their lives with bitterness, regret, and finding others to be at fault for their perceived lack of success, leading to the feeling of …show more content…
The subject has children as well as grandchildren and expressed a desire to nurture them and “help them grow into independent and college educated men and women”. She acknowledged that paying tuition is a large burden on college students, stated that “job security” and “homeless” are important problems in the world with very little hesitation, and when asked what contributions she would like to make in the future she expressed her desire to give large donations to multiple organizations, all of which are adaptive behaviors. But the subject also stated that she does often feel regret when the subject of her past is discussed because she does not own a home nor did she have a happy or fulfilling childhood because of her illness (lupus), family’s low SES and alcoholic father. When asked why she did not want to change places with teens today, she stated: “the generation is lost”. She was then asked to elaborate, after a long moment of silence she stated that she wanted to “help the younger generations” but did not have a plan on how she would achieve this task, the subject may have felt obligated to express a desire to help her community because societal and cultural pressures as a woman and Christian to appear unselfish. The previous responses are all examples of maladaptive behavior. Overall, the subject seems to be coping well but some of her responses to questions and behaviors suggest a leaning towards