ATENEO DE DAVAO UNIVERSITY

Senior High School Department

Bangkal, Davao City

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
LECTURE NOTES
TOPIC 3 – Developmental Stages of Middle and Late
Adolescents

PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

ERIK ERIKSON’S PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY

Source: https://www.jing.fm/iclip/bhxhbw_vector-illustration-of-high-school-students-walk-by/

Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

● Coined the term psychosocial - an interplay between our inner, emotional lives (psycho),
and our outer social circumstances (social).
● Believed that individuals develop in stages; focused on how children socialize with other
people and how this affects his/her development as a human being.
● Came up with 8 stages of identity formation which revolve around conflict and resolution.
● Stressed on the importance of completing each stage so that an individual will have a
healthy development as a human being. Failure to successfully complete a stage can result
in a conflict where one finds himself/herself problematic in dealing with other people.

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 ATENEO DE DAVAO UNIVERSITY
Senior High School Department
Bangkal, Davao City

Source: https://sites.google.com/site/erikeriksondl825/home/stages-of-psychosocial-development

Infancy (0-1 year old) - Trust vs. Mistrust

● Trust – this will develop if the caregiver provides food regularly to the infant
● Mistrust – this will develop if the caregiver does not provide food regularly to the infant.
The infant must develop both attitudes, because if one has too much trust, then they will be gullible,
and if they have too much mistrust, then they will be hostile and too critical. These two will clash,
but if people will successfully overcome this crisis, a person acquires the first basic strength called
hope.
Early Childhood (1-3 years old) - Autonomy vs. Shame

● Autonomy – this will develop once a child successfully learn to do things by themselves
● Shame and Doubt – this will develop if a child feels self-conscious and is always uncertain
about him/herself.
The child in this stage learns how to control one’s body in aspects like cleanliness and mobility.
“Potty training” starts in this stage, in the event that the child soils his/her pants and consequently
being shamed by their parents about the incident, he/she feels shame and is now doubtful about
one’s ability to control his/her body. The parents should also let the child explore their abilities
and limits and be tolerant of failure. Success in this stage will help develop the basic strength of
will, where a child will grow to be confident in his/her own ability.
Play Age (3-6 years old) - Initiative vs. Guilt
● Initiative – feel secure in their ability to lead and make their own decisions
● Guilt – this happens if there is too much criticism or control over the child
In this stage, the child begins to explore interpersonal relationships through different activities,
and this provides opportunity for the child to initiate such activities. If a parent allows the child to
do just that, then the child will develop initiative. On the other hand, if a parent is too restricting
and controlling of the child, then it will develop a sense of guilt. A healthy balance of the two
needs to develop the basic strength of purpose, which helps them do things, set goals, play games
not just for fun, but for a certain purpose.
School Age (6-12 yrs old) - Industry vs. Inferiority
● Industry – develops when a child is able to do things well
● Inferiority – develops when a child feels insufficient in accomplishing their goal

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 ATENEO DE DAVAO UNIVERSITY
Senior High School Department
Bangkal, Davao City

Learning to read, write, and doing things on their own, children at this stage needs to feel reinforced
and encouraged for them to be able to be confident in their own ability to reach their goals. When
a child fails to develop skills that the society demands, then the child might develop inferiority.
The feeling of industriousness should overpower the feeling of inferiority so that the child will
develop the basic strength of competence, the confidence in one’s abilities to solve problems that
these children encounter.
Adolescence (12-19 years old) - Identity vs. Role Confusion

● Identity – develops when one has a clear view of who you are and who you are not.
● Role Confusion – a divided self-image.
In this stage, the child must learn the roles he/she needs to occupy, thus, the adolescent needs to
identify who he/she really is through an intense exploration of their beliefs, values, morals, and
goals. They start to look into the future and starts making goals independently. The most important
thing that the adolescent has to realize at this point is one’s role in the future and solidify one’s
identity (sexual and occupational). Successfully overcoming the crisis at this stage will lead to the
virtue of fidelity – committing one’s self to others, and despite the differences, you are able to
accept others.

Source: https://www.jing.fm/iclip/iibbTmx_love/

Young Adulthood (20-25 yrs old) - Intimacy vs. Isolation

● Intimacy – being completely open to a person, able to maintain a good relationship
● Isolation – shuns away from other people/relationships.
People in this stage starts to form relationships and get more intimate with other people, successful
completion of this stage leads to the virtue of love, otherwise a person would isolate him/herself
from others and sometimes depression.
Adulthood (26-64 yrs old) - Generativity vs. Stagnation

● Generativity – creating or nurturing things that will outlast you

● Stagnation – failing to contribute to the next generation
In this stage, the primary concern is making your mark in the world, leaving something behind,
making something that will outlast you. Usually, the people in this stage contribute to their family,

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 ATENEO DE DAVAO UNIVERSITY
Senior High School Department
Bangkal, Davao City

teaching and guiding the younger generation. People also become more involved in their own
community. Success in this stage creates the virtue of care.
Old Age (65 yrs old onwards) - Ego Identity vs. Despair

● Ego Identity – the feeling of wholeness despite the decrease in physical and intellectual
powers
● Despair – without hope; meaningless life
The final stage of Erikson’s psychosocial development talks about how we think about our life and
evaluate if we lived a good life. If a person thinks that he/she did well and accomplished many
things in life, and then he/she will have a sense of contentment, otherwise the person will feel
despair, depression, and hopelessness. The basic strength for this stage is wisdom, which allows a
person to look back on their life with closure and feeling of completeness.
Erikson believed that our identity can change over our entire existence, we just need to resolve the
conflicts that we encounter at each stage.

JAMES MARCIA’S IDENTITY STATES

Based on Erik Erikson’s groundbreaking work on identity and psychosocial development in the
1960s, Canadian developmental psychologist James Marcia refined and extended Erikson’s
model, primarily focusing on adolescent development by proposing identity statuses. Adolescence,
according to Marcia's theory, is a period of identity discovery and commitment to the said identity.
During this period, the teenager discovers and commits to a variety of important domains,
including gender roles, relational decisions, and religion. He outlined that someone’s identity has
four stages: diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and achievement.

Identity Status

Position on occupation Identity Identity Identity Identity

and ideology
Moratorium Foreclosure Diffusion Achievement
Crisis ✓ X X ✓
Commitment X ✓ X ✓
Table retrieved from: Batican, E.D., Limbadan, N.Z., Ilagan, G.T., (2014). College Psychology. Blue Patriarch Publishing House.

Identity Moratorium – The first identity which is Moratorium is the status of individuals who
are in the midst of a crisis, whose commitments are either absent or are only vaguely defined, but
who are actively exploring alternatives. Marcia noted that people in “moratoriums…report
experiencing more anxiety than in any other status…The world for them is not, currently, a highly
predictable place…”
Summary: Low on commitment, high on crisis; in this status, the adolescent is exploring many
options, but the adolescent has not yet made a commitment to a single option.

● Ex. Andrew is the star basketball player in their school, as he was graduating senior high
school, many colleges and universities were already trying to make him go to their school
for college. To try to pick the best option, he started researching about the schools that
approached him. After a few weeks of researching, he still has not made up his mind.

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 ATENEO DE DAVAO UNIVERSITY
Senior High School Department
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Identity Diffusion – The second status is Identity Diffusion which is mostly experienced by
adolescents. In this stage, adolescents are unable to face the necessity of identity development and
avoid exploring or making commitments by remaining in an amorphous state of identity diffusion
– something which may produce social isolation. The least complex and mature of the four identity
statuses, Identity diffusion is the mark of those who have neither explored nor made commitments
across life-defining areas. They may or may not have experienced an identity crisis, with some
reporting having little interest in such matters and others reporting repeated indecision.

Summary: Crisis and commitment is low; does not make any effort to make commitments.
Ex. A student is not pressured by anyone to find a course to major in and so this student just spends
his time playing video games and binge-watching Netflix series.

Source: https://www.jing.fm/iclip/TixbJb_group-icon-png-lessons-icon/

Identity Foreclosure – The third status is the Foreclosure status which happens when a
commitment is made without exploring alternatives. Often, these commitments are based on
parental ideas and beliefs that are accepted without question.

Summary: High on commitment, low on crisis; commitment is present but does not make an effort
to explore other options. They easily conform to what their family tells them to do.
Ex. In deciding what to take in college, Sheila’s mom told her to take up Business Management,
because she will be taking over the family business in the future. Sheila agreed right away.

Identity Achievement – The last status is Achievement. Once a crisis has been experienced and
worked through, Marcia considered “a likely progression would be from diffusion through
moratorium to identity achievement”. The latter is thus the status of individuals who have typically
experienced a crisis, have undergone identity explorations and consequently made commitments.
Marcia found some evidence to support his theoretical description of those who have achieved an
identity as having developed an internal, as opposed to external, locus of self-definition.

Summary: High on both commitment and crisis; the adolescent has gone through a crisis or
exploration and has made a commitment to his/her identity (chosen course/career/role).
● Ex. Andrew is the star basketball player in their school, as he was graduating senior high
school, many colleges and universities were already trying to make him go to their school

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 ATENEO DE DAVAO UNIVERSITY
Senior High School Department
Bangkal, Davao City

for college. To try to pick the best option, he started researching about the schools that
approached him. After a few weeks of researching, he finally decided to go to Ateneo de
Davao University and study Engineering while being a basketball varsity.

DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS IN MIDDLE AND LATE ADOLESCENCE

1. Adjust to sexually maturing bodies and feelings – establishing their sexual identity and
learn the skills needed to form romantic relationships.
2. Develop and apply abstract thinking skills – allows adolescents to have a more effective
way of understanding and coordinating abstract ideas, they start to test out hypothesis,
planning, and reflecting.
3. Develop and apply new perspectives on human relationships – develop empathy and
use this to have a new ability to resolve problems and conflicts in relationships.
4. Develop and apply new coping skills in areas such as decision-making, problem
solving, and conflict resolution – think of new strategies to making decisions, problem
solving and resolving conflicts.
5. Identify meaningful moral standards, values, and belief systems – adolescents start to
see some inconsistencies in their parent’s moral and belief systems, they now patch these
inconsistencies with their own meaningful values, beliefs, morals to guide their action.
6. Understand and express more complex emotional experiences –ability to communicate
their own emotions and appreciate the emotions of others.
7. Form friendships that are mutually close and supportive – these friendships that they
form allows the adolescent to feel supported and have a sense of connection with their
peers.
8. Establish key aspects of identity – establish the key aspects to their sexual and
occupational identity
9. Meet the demands of increasingly mature roles and responsibilities – slowly, they
realize and need to learn the different responsibilities they need to take on, as they get more
mature. Responsibilities to themselves, their families, and their communities.
10. Renegotiate relationships with adults and parenting roles – “separating” from parents
that balances independence and bond.

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 ATENEO DE DAVAO UNIVERSITY
Senior High School Department
Bangkal, Davao City

SOURCES:

Batican, E.D., Limbadan, N.Z., Ilagan, G.T., (2014). College Psychology. Blue Patriarch
Publishing House.

Cruz, T.M. & Cruz, E.B. (2016). Personal Development. Books Atbp. Publishing Corp

Erikeriksondl825. (n.d). Stages of Psychosocial Development.

https://sites.google.com/site/erikeriksondl825/home/stages-of-psychosocial-
development

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