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Initiative vs. guilt - Early Childhood
It's John's 7th Birthday and he is excited that him and his mom made cookies for his entire class. He gives them out, but soon learns that one of the kids was allergic and had to be taken to the hospital. After receiving a scolding from both his teacher and principle, he was scared and discouraged from anything similar to this. The crisis in this case is John was excited at a new prospect, but after it went wrong he feels guilty and scared to try anything like it again. -
Generativity vs. stagnation - Middle Adulthood
John (32) lost his job and feels pressured because he knows that he needs to be able to support his wife and kids. He has money saved up and debates using it to make life a bit easier for him while he looks for a new job, but he also knows that this money is being saved for his children's College Fund. The crisis here is John struggling for money to fund a future for his kids, and also debating whether or not he should dip into their College funds to make his life a bit easier at that moment. -
Ego integrity vs. despair - Late Adulthood
John (79) is near death, with his family, telling stories about his different adventures through life. He mentions feeling regret about events of his life, not doing everything he wanted to do, but his family assures him that he is exceptional and did everything right. He agrees with them, not wanting to hurt them, but still holds regret in his mind. The crisis here is John debating whether or not he lived his live to the fullest, but he ultimately dies in despair, wishing he could start over.