Cedar Crest College Week 4 Erikson Theory Development Discussion Questions

Why can’t we skip a stage in Erikson’s theory?

1. What elements are needed in order to resolve a crisis? (*This information should come directly from the ppt.)
2. How does the process of crisis resolution create our personality? (*This information should come directly from the ppt.)
3. What are the answers for the scenarios on slide 15 of the ppt? *Just list each person’s name followed by the stage (e.g, “Joe is “ ________(name of stage he’s at)).
4. a) How/In what ways can Marcia’s continuum model be useful? (Please be specific by providing a few specific examples)

   b) Do we have to consider culture when we’re considering a person’s identity status on Marcia’s continuum? Why or why not? And, in what ways do we have to consider culture? 

5. Why can’t we skip a stage in Erikson’s theory?
   1. In Erikson’s theory, if we are not completely successful at one stage we can move onto the next stage. However, we are not able to skip any one of his stages. This is because our biological maturation and external social forces naturally move us from stage to stage. This process happens during a certain timetable which we cannot control. Nonetheless, how successful we are at earlier stages may impact how successful we are during later stages.
6. What elements are needed in order to resolve a crisis? (*This information should come directly from the ppt.)
   1. According to Erikson, we endure a crisis at every state of life. We resolve these crises by combining the negative and positive aspect of each stage to help in the development process. We need to understand and experience the negative things in life to fully grasp onto the idea of what the positives are. If we don’t balance the two then our personality will reflect too much of one thing. As we learned from the PowerPoint, this helps us to become functional or ultimately resolved. But as we are combining those two elements we want to end on the more positive side. Otherwise it may hinder some of our development later.
7. How does the process of crisis resolution create our personality? (*This information should come directly from the ppt.)
   1. One of the reasons resolving our crisis is so important is because it helps shape our personality and identity. We start figuring out who we are by the relationships and bonds we create. And when these relationships are created, they become a part of our personality. It’s important that we figure this out in the beginning of our development because it will help us throughout the rest of our life. For example, in stage one it’s all about understanding trust and mistrust. We need to experience some mistrust for us to really develop that notion of trust. Otherwise we would just trust everyone and everything we encounter. Both the positive and the negative helps to make us who we are.
8. What are the answers for the scenarios on slide 15 of the ppt? *Just list each person’s name followed by the stage (e.g, “Joe is “ ________(name of stage he’s at)).
   1. Jane is at the formation stage
   2. Jeff is at the foreclosure stage
   3. Ida is at the moratorium stage
   4. Joe is at the diffusion stage
9. a) How/In what ways can Marcia’s continuum model be useful? (Please be specific by providing a few specific examples)

*Marcia’s continuum model is all about trying to understand who we are and what we want to do with our life. This model would be quite useful to a high school guidance counselor. High school is a crazy time when kids are trying to figure out who they are and planning for their future. I know when I was in high school, my guidance counselor always asked me about my interests and how that would help figure out my future. Therefore, guidance counselors could use this model to help students figure out who they are by looking at each stage. For example, if there was a student who wasn’t really exploring who they were, the counselor would know this would be part of the diffusion stage. And then they could encourage the student to start looking into different things that he/she may be interested in. Then as the student starts to figure that out a little, the guidance counselor could take them through each step until they get to the formation stage.

b) Do we have to consider culture when we’re considering a person’s identity status on Marcia’s continuum? Why or why not? And, in what ways do we have to consider culture?

* Every culture has a different way of how an individual is going to develop and become who they are. In the United States we are fortunate enough to explore our likes/dislikes and figure out who we are. Our parents may have an input on those things, but it doesn’t mean we have to follow their wishes. This is not the case in other cultures and why it is important to realize that for Marcia’s continuum. In some cultures, the individual doesn’t have a say in what they’re going to do with their life and instead they are told what they will do/be. And they won’t disobey what they are being told because they value their culture. Therefore, they would not be able to go through the stage of diffusion. They would only be in the foreclosed state because they are not allowed to explore their own identity. All the stages would not be useful in some cultures because exploring identities is not important to them. If their culture believes in telling them what their future consists of then that is what will happen. Culture plays a major role in how peoples lives develop and that should be considered for this continuum.

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