Erikson, Erik Homburger (1902–94)

James E Marcia, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada

Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract

Erik Erikson is an ego psychoanalytic theorist who developed a psychohistorical approach to human development and
formulated an epigenetic sequence of ego developmental stages encompassing the human life span from infancy through old
age. His theory provides a linkage between intrapersonal Freudian theory and social–contextual approaches to personality
development. He emphasizes strengths accrued by the individual in the context of social institutions or rituals keyed to
individual physiological development.

Erik Erikson (1902–94) emigrated from Germany to the United a position at Yale with the Gesell clinic and Institute of Human
States in 1933. While working at institutions on both the east Relations, and began an important professional relationship
and west coasts of that country, he formulated his psychohis- with the anthropologist, Margaret Mead. In 1936 he became
torical approach, which, in contrast to most other psychoana- a father for the third time with the birth of his daughter, Sue.
lytic schools, emphasizes the impact of social factors on His fourth child, Neill, was born much later in 1944.
personality development. Most importantly he provides In 1938, Erikson, whose surname until this time had been
a schedule for ego development extending from infancy his stepfather’s (Homburger), changed his name to Erikson,
through old age. His life span developmental schema consists became a US citizen and moved to California to take a position
of eight age-specific ‘crises’ in ego growth. Each of these has at Macfarlane’s Institute of Child Welfare in Berkeley and
a somatic, social, and psychological component. The successful established a substantial private practice in San Francisco in
resolution of each crisis is important for optimal movement 1942–43. While working with returning veterans at the Mount
through the succeeding stages. The fifth psychosocial stage, late Zion Rehabilitation clinic, he began a friendship with the
adolescence, is characterized by the crisis of ‘ego identity vs Jungian analyst Joseph Wheelwright, who broadened Erikson’s
identity confusion’, the concept with which Erikson’s name is Freudian perspective. In 1949 he became a professor at Ber-
most closely linked. Some of his best-known books are keley, in spite of lacking the usual academic credentials, but
Childhood and Society, Young Man Luther, Gandhi’s Truth, and soon left after refusing to sign the McCarthy era loyalty oath –
Identity: Youth and Crisis. Although criticized by both ‘left’ and considered by some a ‘Here I stand’ gesture that may have
‘right’ wing psychoanalytic thinkers and by some feminists, prefigured his forthcoming book on Martin Luther.
Erikson’s theory remains one of the most influential, and In 1950 he presented his and Joan’s outline of the human
researched, psychoanalytic theories of development. His work life cycle to a White House Conference on Children and Youth
appears in almost all textbooks on human development as well and saw his most influential book, Childhood and Society,
as personality theory. published. He returned to the eastern US in 1951 to join the
Erik Erikson was born on 21 June 1902 in Frankfurt, Ger- Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, as clinician
many, to a Danish Jewish mother, Karla Salomonsen. He was and author. There he established important professional and
eventually given his stepfather’s name (Homburger) and later personal relationships with ego psychoanalysts Robert Knight
christened himself, Erikson. He grew up in Germany, and David Rapaport. At this time, he completed his second
completed his gymnasium in Karlsruhe and in 1921 enrolled in major book, Young Man Luther (1958). He published the
art school. However, he soon left this and, after a Wanderschaft monograph Identity and the Life Cycle in Psychological Issues
period, he secured his first professional position in the late (1959) expanding both on the life cycle outline and on ego
1920s as a teacher, together with Peter Blos, in Vienna’s identity, a concept, together with ‘identity crisis’ that was to
Heitzing School founded by Eva Rosenfeld, Dorothy Burling- become associated with his name in the mind of the public.
ham, and Anna Freud. The latter became Erikson’s analyst and The preface to this article by David Rapaport provides a valu-
supervisor in play therapy with children. Erikson married able introduction to ego psychology in general and locates
a Canadian dancer, Joan Serson, in 1930. She was to become Erikson within that tradition.
a significant influence upon, and contributor to, his life’s work. With help from David Riesman and Robert White, Erikson
In 1933, now the father of two sons, Kai and Jon, he left his moved from Stockbridge to Boston and Harvard in 1960 and
incompleted studies at the University of Vienna, was voted became a professor, but outside of any particular academic
a full member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society and department. In the midst of, and to some extent with reference
emigrated to the United States with his young family. He to, the student unrest of the 1960s, Erikson began work on his
established a private practice in Boston and was made second psychobiography, Gandhi’s Truth (1969) for which he
a member of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society despite that received both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
body’s parochial policy of limiting membership to physicians. In addition, Insight and Responsibility (1964), Identity: Youth and
During the next 5 years, Erikson worked at the Judge Baker Crisis (1968), and a revision of Childhood and Society (1963/
Center in Boston, the Murray Clinic at Harvard, secured 1985) were also completed during this period. These books

934 International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition, Volume 7 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.61031-0
 Erikson, Erik Homburger (1902–94) 935

reflected a growing shift in Erikson’s thinking from the devel- childhood extend beyond their foundational Freudian eroge-
opment of the individual, to the social context of individuals’ nous body zones to include the development of associated
development, to the moral and ethical implications of different modes of behavior (e.g., active and passive incorporation at
forms of social organization for humankind. In this transition, infancy). A further extension of development from body zones
the work of his friend, Paul Tillich, was influential. Clearly, and their behavioral modes is his description of specific stages
Erikson had begun to move quite a distance from his orthodox of ego growth. These stages reflect the individual’s senses of
psychoanalytic initiation by Anna Freud. oneself and of the world and are shaped by the child-rearing
By the beginning of the 1970s, Erikson had become one of practices of particular parents embedded within their partic-
the most respected and honored thinkers within the psycho- ular culture.
analytic developmental area, described by one reviewer as ‘the The description of life cycle stages after childhood consti-
most influential of living psychoanalysts’. He delivered two sets tutes one of Erikson’s unique contributions to psychoanalytic
of honorary lectures: the Godkin at the John F. Kennedy School developmental theory. He continues his outline of a sequential
for Government at Harvard in 1972, and the Jefferson for the ego development to extend beyond childhood through the
National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, DC, adult years: Industry vs inferiority (school age), identity vs
in 1973. These eventuated in two more books, Toys and Reasons identity confusion (adolescence), intimacy vs isolation (young
(1977) and Dimensions of a New Identity (1974). Another book, adulthood), generativity vs stagnation (middle adulthood), and
Life History and the Historical Moment (1975), occasioned integrity vs despair (old age). All of these ego developmental
significant criticism from both feminists and New Left sources stages have their basis in physiological changes and all occur
who found Erikson too politically and psychologically within the context of relevant social institutional ‘rituals’ (e.g.,
conservative. basic trust at infancy within ‘motherhood’; industry at school
Erikson’s most important final writings were on the last life age within ‘schools’ or other cultural child education practices,
cycle stage of Integrity. These were Reflections on Dr Borg’s Life etc.). It is this grounding in bodily changes and their psycho-
Cycle, a commentary on Bergman’s film, ‘Wild Strawberries’, logical significance for psychosocial growth that provides the
The Life Cycle Completed: A Review (1982), and Vital Involvement basis for the theory’s cross-cultural applicability. Finally, he also
in Old Age (1986) written with Joan Erikson and Helen Kivnick. noted a schedule of associated ‘virtues’, which emerge from the
A synthesis of Erikson’s unpublished conference papers and resolution of each stage: basic trust > ‘hope’, autonomy > ‘will’,
manuscripts has been published by Hoare (2002). Erikson initiative > ‘purpose’, industry > ‘competence’,
continued to do clinical work until 1990. He died on 12 May identity > ‘fidelity’, intimacy > ‘fidelity’, generativity > ‘care’,
1994, in Harwich, Massachusetts. and integrity > ‘wisdom’ (Figure 1).
Erikson lived through the world-shaping events of the The emergence of each of the eight stages in this sequence is
twentieth century: World War I, the Great Depression, World governed by an epigenetic principle comprising a built-in
War II, and the United States’ social–political Coming of Age in developmental progression of individual physical and
Vietnam. The national and ideological strands that the Erikson psychological change occurring within a social context of age-
gathered up and wove into his psychosocial developmental related ‘average expectable’ demands and provisions. Because
theory were numerous: Danish, German, North American, Erikson located personality development firmly within the
Jewish, Protestant, classical psychoanalytic, ego psychoanalytic, social context, he is to be credited with initiating psychosocial
existential, and even Jungian. His literary/theoretical excursions developmental theory. Optimal development in childhood
into a form of biography that he labeled ‘psychohistory’ further consists of a balance between the opposite poles described
widened his intellectual scope to include Luther in Reforma- above, tilted in favor of the more positive alternative. Begin-
tion Germany, Gandhi in preindependence India, Hitler in pre- ning in adolescence, resolution of a developmental crisis
World War II Germany, Gorky in Bolshevik Russia, and Jesus incorporates both poles into a synthesis. For example, identity
Christ in biblical Palestine. Although only one of a number of development necessarily includes an element of diffusion or
psychoanalytic thinkers who left Europe for America in the confusion; generativity formation incorporates some stagna-
1930s, only Erikson integrated and transformed these disrup- tion; and there is no integrity without some accompanying
tive experiences into a clinically, theoretically, and empirically despair.
useful outline of the stages of normal human development. The primarily positive resolution of each stage is considered
Two significant biographies on Erikson’s life and work have to be crucial for the resolution of the next stage. However,
been published: Coles (1970) and especially Friedman (1999). consistent with Erikson’s configurational approach, there is an
In the beginning of his work, Erikson took a ‘configura- aspect to the design of his developmental chart that allows for
tional’ approach to children’s play therapy, wherein he remediation of inadequately resolved issues or precocious
considered the spatial arrangement of items chosen by the resolution of ‘future’ developmental issues. Each stage is
child to be as important as the items themselves or the stories assumed to arise during every chronological period, although
linking them. He carried this configurational approach over the nature of that stage is shaped by the dominant issue of the
into his psychosocial developmental chart that portrays the period. For example, a basic trust vs mistrust crisis reoccurring
human life cycle as consisting of eight central developmental at intimacy will take a form configured by the adult nature of
crises, each having its more or less specific age-related time of relationships typical of early adulthood. Because they arise
ascendance. The first three stages: trust vs mistrust (infancy), again at each succeeding chronological period, previously
autonomy vs shame, doubt (early childhood), and initiative vs unresolved age-specific issues can be remediated through the
guilt (play age) emerge from the Freudian psychosexual stages: provision of ‘better-than-average expectable’ conditions (e.g.,
oral, anal, and phallic. Erikson’s stages of ego growth in counseling, psychotherapy, or enriched milieux). Similarly,
936 Erikson, Erik Homburger (1902–94)

Figure 1 Psychosocial developmental diagram. Note that Erikson’s original ‘vs’ has been replaced with ‘and’. This reflects his thinking that stages
are not a matter of ‘either–or’ resolution but involve a blend of the polar qualities, optimal development being a predominance of the positive pole. In
addition, all squares in the chart are filled in to indicate that every stage occurs at every other stage.

because forerunners of succeeding stages are present at every for women based upon their biological differences from men –
stage, the theory suggests the possibility of precocious resolu- in other words, too ‘Freudian’. Later feminists (e.g., Gilligan)
tion of stages not yet encountered at the suggested chrono- criticized him for paying insufficient attention to women’s
logical age. differences from men in terms of their capacities for care and
In the broadest view, Erikson proposes that there are crucial relationship. Object relations theorists (e.g., Fairbairn, Winni-
periods (‘crises’) of development characterizing the human life cott) and self-theorists (Kohut) felt that Erikson was somewhat
cycle for which societies have developed institutions that, more superficial in underemphasizing the importance of early
or less successfully, furnish a matrix within which these mother–child interactions and overemphasizing the impor-
developmental crises are resolved. Ideally, societal rewards and tance of social factors in personality development. By contrast,
demands mesh with individual needs and abilities at each of some historians and sociologists (e.g., Kushner, Weinstein, and
these stages. Whereas Freud furnished a view of personality Platt) have found Erikson’s theory too little concerned with
from the ‘inside out’, looking to the individual’s unconscious in underlying causative social factors and questioned the univer-
order to understand cultural products, Erikson, while accepting sality of his eight-stage model. Social critics from the left (e.g.,
the essential Freudian dynamic principles, added a perspective Fromm, Kovel) thought Erikson too conservative in his
from the ‘outside in’, beginning at the level of the whole apparent acceptance of the social status quo. And, finally, social
individual and describing a particular culture’s impact on scientists (e.g., J. McV. Hunt) found Erikson’s writing too
human development. Also, in contrast to Freud, Erikson saw imprecise to allow for empirical research. Erikson, himself, was
ego growth as continuous throughout the life cycle – from critical of attempts to validate his theory with experimental
infancy through old age. methods, preferring more clinical and social approaches. The
Erikson has been criticized from a number of quarters. abundance of research that has emerged in the past 30 years
Orthodox psychoanalytic theorists (e.g., Jones, Eissler) saw largely vitiates the criticism of nontestability of the theory.
Erikson’s emphasis on social factors and the ego in the devel- Erikson’s primary contribution, emerging from the smoke
opment of personality as paying insufficient attention both to of all the controversy noted above, has been a comprehensive
the causative role of early childhood experiences and to the overview of the human life cycle that incorporates somatic,
primacy of unconscious factors in determining later adult psychological, and social elements. The influence of his
personality. In short, they found him insufficiently ‘Freudian’. psychosocial approach has been pervasive throughout ego
Early feminist critics (e.g., Weisstein, Millett) took Erikson to psychoanalytic theory, developmental psychological research,
task for his assumption of a unique developmental trajectory and educational counseling, although there is no ‘Eriksonian’
 Erikson, Erik Homburger (1902–94) 937

school of psychotherapy. Almost every psychology textbook on Bibliography

personality theory and developmental psychology of children,
adolescents, and adults has a section devoted to Erikson. Bradley, C., Marcia, J.E., 1998. Generativity-Stagnation: a five category model. Journal
Although his descriptions of early developmental stages usually of Personality 66 (1), 39–64.
are covered, it is the identity issue at adolescence with which he Coles, R., 1970. Erik H. Erikson: The Growth of His Work, first ed. Atlantic Monthly
Press, Boston, MA.
is most closely associated, followed by his descriptions of adult Erikson, E.H., 1958. Young Man Luther: A Study in Psychoanalysis and History, first
life cycle stages. Even political theory, especially the ‘politics of ed. Norton, New York.
identity’, has been influenced by his approach. Erikson has Erikson, E.H., 1959. Identity and the Life Cycle: Selected Papers. Psychological Issues
amended Freudian theory to make it more understandable, 1. International Universities Press, New York.
Erikson, E.H., 1963/1985. Childhood and Society, second ed. Norton, New York.
‘experience near’, growth focused, researchable, and socially
Erikson, E.H., 1964. Insight and Responsibility: Lectures on the Ethical Implications of
useful. Although criticized by classical Freudians, Erikson’s Psychoanalytic Insight, first ed. Norton, New York.
extension of psychoanalytic theory into the realm of normal as Erikson, E.H., 1968. Identity, Youth and Crisis, first ed. Norton, New York.
well as optimal human development, may have saved that Erikson, E.H., 1969. Gandhi’s Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence, first ed.
theory from its excessive interiority, pessimism, and obscu- Norton, New York.
Erikson, E.H., 1974. Dimensions of a New Identity: The 1973 Jefferson Lectures in the
rantism. In addition, because of its essentially interpersonal Humanities, first ed. Norton, New York.
nature, Erikson’s theory has provided a valuable link between Erikson, E.H., 1975. Life History and the Historical Moment, first ed. Norton, New York.
drive-based classical and ego psychoanalytic theory and Erikson, E.H., 1976. Reflections on Dr Borg’s life cycle. Daedalus 105, 1–28.
relationship-based object relations theory. From a social– Erikson, E.H., 1977. Toys and Reasons: Stages in the Ritualization of Experience, first
ed. Norton, New York.
political perspective, the psychosocial developmental outline
Erikson, E.H., 1982. The Life Cycle Completed: A Review. Norton, New York.
proposed by Erikson is sufficiently clear and putatively Erikson, E.H., Erikson, J.M., Kivnick, H.Q., 1986. Vital Involvement in Old Age. Norton,
universal that it can provide a guide for social programs that New York.
focus on establishing optimal conditions for human develop- Friedman, L.J., 1999. Identity’s Architect: A Biography of Erik H. Erikson. Scribner,
ment across the life cycle. New York.
Hearn, S., Saulnier, G., Strayer, J., Glenham, M., Koopman, R., Marcia, J.E., 2012.
To date, research has established validity for the last five Between integrity and despair: toward construct validation of Erikson’s eighth
Eriksonian stages: industry (Kowaz and Marcia, 1991); identity stage. Journal of Adult Development 19 (1), 1–20.
(Marcia, 1966; Marcia et al., 1993); intimacy (Orlofsky et al., Hoare, C.H., 2002. Erikson on Development in Adulthood: New Insights from the
1973); generativity (Bradley and Marcia, 1998; McAdams and Unpublished Papers. Oxford University Press, New York.
Hoover, K., 1997. The Power of Identity: Politics in a New Key. Chatham House,
de St. Aubin, 1992); and integrity (Hearn et al., 2012; Walasky
Chatham, NJ.
et al., 1983–1984). Kroger (2007) has authored a textbook on Kowaz, A., Marcia, J.E., 1991. Development and validation of a measure of Eriksonian
adult development. As well, two handbooks on identity theory industry. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 60, 390–397.
and research have been published: (Marcia, et al., 1993) and Kroger, J., 2007. Identity Development: Adolescence through Adulthood, second ed.
(Schwartz, et al., 2012). Extension of Eriksonian theory into Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Marcia, J.E., 1966. Development and validation of ego identity status. Journal of
political psychology has been undertaken by Hoover (1997). Personality and Social Psychology 3, 551–558.
A graduate school and treatment center based upon Erikson’s Marcia, J.E., Waterman, A.S., Matteson, D.R., Archer, S.A., Orlofsky, J.S., 1993. Ego
theory, the Erikson Institute, has been established in Chicago. As Identity: A Handbook for Psychosocial Research. Springer-Verlag, New York.
well, an international society (Society for Research in Identity McAdams, D., de St. Aubin, E., 1992. A theory of generativity and its assessment
through self-report, behavioural acts, and narrative themes in autobiography.
Development) and a related research journal (Identity: An
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 62, 1003–1015.
International Journal of Theory and Research), both having their Orlofsky, J., Marcia, J.E., Lesser, I., 1973. Ego identity status and intimacy versus
impetus in Erikson’s work, have been in existence since 1998. isolation crisis in young adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 3,
Research on this theory continues into the present, much of it 415–423.
having to do with applications to child and adult development. Schlein, S. (Ed.), 1987. A Way of Looking at Things: Selected Papers from
1930–1980, first ed. Norton, New York.
Schwartz, S.J., Luyckx, K., Vignoles, V.L. (Eds.), 2012. Handbook of Identity Theory
See also: Ethnic Identity, Psychology of; Infancy and Childhood: and Research, vols. I and II. Springer, New York.
Walasky, M., Whitbourne, S.K., Nehrke, M., 1983–1984. Construction and validation
Emotional Development; Psychohistory; Self and Identity of an ego integrity status interview. International Journal of Aging and Human
Development During Adolescence across Cultures. Development 18 (1), 61–72.