Social+and+Emotional

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Influencal Psychoanalyticist Erik Erikson (1902-1994) was influenced by Freud's theories on psychosexual aspects of development but used cultural, environmental, and social influences to help further develop, broaden and expand our understanding of personality as it develops and shapes over the course of our lifespan,(1) Erikson believed that the individual had natural temperament traits but also learnt personality traits based on challenges and support the individual received while growing up. Based on his study of the Sioux Indians on their reservation, Erikson became aware of the massive influences of culture on the behaviour and placed more emphasis on the external world such as determined by the interaction of the body (genetic biological programming), mind (psychological), and cultural (ethos) influences. Erikson organized life into eight developmental stages that extended from birth to death.(2) The fifth stage of the developmental stage focusses on adolescence and the ego development, as well as outcome identity v.s. role confusion. Up to this stage, according to Erikson, development mostly depends upon what is done to us. from here on out, development depends primarily upon what we do. While adolescence is a stage at which we are neither a child or adult, life is definitely getting more complex as we attempt to find our own identity, struggle with social interactions, and grapple with moral issues.(1)

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Our task is to discover who we are as individuals separate from our family of origin and as members of a wider society. Unfortunately for those around us, in this process many of us go into a period of withdrawing from responsibilities, which Erikson called the "psychological moratorium", a gap between the security of childhood and the autonomy of adulthood. Adolescents experiment with the numerous roles and identities they draw from the surrounding culture. Youth who successfully cope with these conflicting identities during adolscence emerge with a new sense of self that is both refreshing and acceptable (Moshman, 1999). Adolescents who do not successfully resolve this identity crisis are confused, suffering what Erikson calls "identity confusion." This confusion takes one of two courses: The individuals withdraw, isolating themselves from peers and family, or they lose their identity in the crowd. Identity is a self-portrait composed of many pieces. These pieces include:


 * The career and wok path a person wants to follow (vocational/career identity)
 * Whether a person is conservative, liberal, or a middle of the roader (poitical identity)
 * A person's spiitual beliefs (religious beliefs)
 * Whether a person is single, marrie, divorced, and so on (relationship identity)
 * The extent to which the person is motivated to achieve and is intellectual (achievement, intellectual identity)
 * Whether a person a heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual (sexual identity)
 * Which part of the world or country a person is from an how intensely the person identifies with his/her cultal heritage (cultural/ethnic identity)
 * The kind of things a person likes to do, which may include sports, music, hobbies, an so on (interest)
 * The individual's personality characteristics (such as being introverted or extroverted, anxious or calm, friendly or hostile, and so on) (personality)
 * The individuals body image (physical indentity) (3)

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(1) []. (2) [] (3) Leung, Mackenize-Rivers, Malcomson, Santrock (2005) LIFE-SPAN Development (2nd Canadian Ed.) Toronto:Mcgraw-Hill, Ryerson.