-
Early Childhood
Mercedes (age 5) asked her mother if she could look at her drawings of her dream house.
Erikson's 3rd stage is initiative vs. guilt. This stage is where young kids making up their own ideas and want to show them off to friends and family. If their ideas with positive praise and interest from others, then kids start taking more initiative with more ideas. If no one takes much interest in the kid's ideas, then the kid will feel guilt in a way that their ideas are not good enough. -
Middle Childhood
Mercedes is learning how to ride a bike so she can ride her bike to school with all of her friends.
This is the 4th stage of Erikson's psychological theory and this stage's crisis is industry vs. inferiority. With this crisis, the children are becoming more independent from their parents, along with having more responsibility. Industry comes from this when they successfully learn something; whereas, inferiority comes from opposite of industry, where they get negative thoughts on their skills. -
Adolescence
Mercedes has moved to a new high school during the middle of the year. As she tries adjusting, she's having a hard time finding a group to fit in with. In Erikson's 5th stage, the crisis is identity vs. identity confusion. This stage is all about having a sense of who they are and has a circle of friends to be evidence of that. Teens who don't have this have identity confusion, which is where they are unsure of who they are and are most likely having mixed emotions over themselves especially. -
Early Adulthood
Mercedes (age 27) is in a relationship, but due to a string of bad relationships in the past she is having doubts and wondering if she will every be ready to settle down. This is the 6th stage, intimacy vs. isolation. Intimacy involves being ready to eventually move ahead in life, in ways of proposing and marriage, with someone. Isolation is where it's hard to think of settling down and there are worries of never finding someone to love enough to move forward with.
