Of all the theories of depth psychology that appeared in the second half of the 20th century, the theory of E. Erickson is perhaps the most widely recognized and widespread. (1902-1994). This is due to the fact that his thoughts about the integrity of the individual, its identity (identity) with oneself and the society in which a person lives, have become very relevant for most modern societies, in which one of the problems is the disunity and loneliness of people.

Erickson linked together several trends in the development of personality psychology, combining the psychoanalytic approach with important ideas of humanistic psychology, mainly with the idea of ​​the ambiguous role of adaptation, which stops the self-development of the individual, and the importance of preserving one's own identity and integrity.

In his theory, Erickson revised Freud's positions not only in relation to the hierarchy of personality structures, but also in understanding the role of the child's environment, culture and social environment, which, from his point of view, have a huge impact on his development. He focused on the child-family relationship, and more specifically on the child-mother relationship.

Erickson came to the conclusion about the significant influence of the culture and social environment of the child on his development. The main provisions for him were the provisions on the role of the environment, the integrity of the individual and the need for constant development, creativity of the individual. Erickson believed that personality development continues throughout life, in fact, until the very death of a person, and not only in the first years of life, as Freud believed. Erickson called this process the formation of identity, emphasizing the importance of preserving and maintaining the integrity of the personality, the integrity of the Ego, which is the main factor in resistance to neuroses.

He identified eight main stages in the development of identity, through which the child moves from one stage of self-awareness to another. These stages are a series of critical periods that must be overcome throughout life. Each stage allows the formation of opposite qualities and character traits that a person realizes in himself and with which he begins to identify himself.

Erickson focused on the crisis of adolescence, which is accompanied by important biological and psychological transformations, since with a change in the body image, the image of the adolescent's own “I” also changes. The identity crisis that occurs during this period is the basis of personal and social identity, which begins to be realized from this time.

The first stage is up to 1 year. At this time, development is determined mainly by close people, parents, who form in the child a feeling of basic trust or distrust, that is, openness to the world or alertness, closeness to the environment.

The second stage is from l to 3 years. During this time, children develop a sense of autonomy or a sense of dependence on those around them. This has to do with how adults react to a child's first attempts at independence. To some extent, Erickson's description of this stage correlates with the description of the formation of the “I-Sam” neoplasm in Russian psychology.

The third stage is from 3 to 6 years. At this time, children develop either initiative or a sense of guilt, which is associated with how well the child's socialization process proceeds, how strict rules of behavior are offered to him and how rigidly adults control their observance. During this period, the child learns to correlate his desires with the norms adopted in society, to realize his own activity, taking into account the norms adopted in society.

The fourth stage is from 6 to 14 years old. During this period, the child develops either hard work or a sense of inferiority. School, teachers and classmates play a dominant role in the process of self-identification. The development of these personality traits depends on how successfully the child begins to learn, how he develops relationships with teachers and how they evaluate his success in studies.

The fifth stage is from 14 to 20 years old. It is associated with the formation of a sense of role identity or uncertainty in the adolescent. At this most important stage of development, the main factor is communication with peers, the choice of your profession, the way to achieve a career, that is, in fact, the choice of the way to build your future life. At this time, for a person, an adequate awareness of himself, his abilities and his purpose is of great importance, in the mainstream of which he builds his role relationships with others.

The sixth stage - from 20 to 35 years old - is associated with the development of close, intimate relationships with others, especially with representatives of the opposite sex. In the absence of such a connection, a person develops a sense of isolation, which alienates him from people.

The seventh stage - from 35 to 60-65 years old - is one of the most significant, according to Erickson, since it is associated with the desire either for constant development, creativity, or for constancy, peace and stability. During this period, work plays an important role, the interest that it arouses in a person, his satisfaction with his status place, as well as his communication with his children, since, by raising them, a person can develop himself. The desire for stability, rejection and fear of the new stop the process of self-development and become disastrous for the individual, says Erickson.

The eighth, last stage occurs after 60-65 years. During this period, a person revises his life, summing up certain results of the years he has lived; a feeling of satisfaction is formed, awareness of identity, the integrity of one's life, acceptance of it as one's own. Otherwise, a person is seized by a feeling of despair, life seems to be woven from separate, unrelated episodes and wasted. Naturally, such a feeling is disastrous for the individual and leads to neurotization.

Erickson also attached great importance to the external stability of the system in which a person lives, since a violation of stability, a change in orientations, social norms and values ​​also violate identity and devalue a person's life. Based on the materials of his research, Erickson came to the conclusion that the structure of identity includes three parts: 1) somatic identity, which consists in the fact that the body seeks to maintain its integrity when interacting with the external world, 2) personal identity, which integrates external and internal human experience, and 3) social identity, which consists in the joint creation and maintenance of a certain order and stability by people.

The aggravated crisis of identity is pushing a person to solve not only his own, but also socio-historical problems.

Thus, Erickson's theory demonstrates the productivity of combining several approaches, several points of view on personality, this allows a more complete consideration of the process of its development.

Let us consider the point of view of E. Erickson on the development of the psyche in the course of ontogenesis.

E. Erickson identifies eight stages. Let's study them in detail and summarize them using Figures 1, 2 and 3.

Fundamentals of E. Erickson's theory

The theory of E. Erickson develops from psychoanalysis, however, in contrast to the theory of Z. Freud, it is psychosocial, which is designed to emphasize the influence of society and culture on the psyche of the child.

When developing the theory, E. Erickson used the psychohistorical method.

At each stage of age development, from the point of view of E. Erickson, an individual can both be included in society and rejected by him, depending on whether he meets the requirements of society.

Thus, important concepts of this theory arise - self-identity and group identity.

Age-specific tasks

1. Infancy - Building Trust in the World.
2. Early age - the struggle for their independence and independence.
3. Preschool age - the development of initiative.
4. Younger school age - the formation and development of hard work.
5. Adolescence is self-awareness.
6. Adolescence - the establishment of friendships.
7. The mature period is a struggle against stagnation.
8. Old age is a holistic view of the path of life.

Age periodization according to E. Erickson

1. Oral-sensory stage (0 - 1 year). “I trust - I don’t trust”.
2. Muscular-anal (1-3 years). "Can I control my behavior?"
3. Locomotor-genital (3 - 6 years old). "Can I be independent from my parents?"
4. Latent (6-14 years old). "Can I be skillful enough to survive and adapt to the world?"
5. Adolescence and youth (14 - 20 years old). "Who am I?", "What are my views, beliefs, positions?" Self-identity is a set of ideas about oneself, which makes it possible to feel one's uniqueness.
6. Youth, early adulthood (20 - 35 years old). "Can I give myself completely to another person?"
7. Adulthood (35 - 60 years old). "What can I offer other generations?"
8. Maturity (from 60 years old). "Am I satisfied with the life I have lived?"

The article analyzes the views of the adherents of the epigenetic theory of evolution. There is a discrepancy between the ETE and the "synthetic theory of evolution" in terms of basic provisions. Despite some controversial claims, ETE is a promising theory that represents the "Russian version" of the Evo-Devo.

The theory of evolution is the foundation of modern biology. Since modern biological diversity is considered as a result of evolution, its features should be explained by evolutionary theory. The modern biota, experiencing a strong anthropogenic pressure, is in a state that can be described as a crisis. Empirical material has shown that the evolutionary development of biota is actually an alternation of stable and crisis periods (see: Ecological crises, their causes and evolutionary role.) It is also assumed that phylogeny is an alternation of periods of stasis, when ontogeny is stabilized, and periods of destabilization. when the range of variability of traits grows strongly (see: The problem of evolutionary neoplasms). The problem is that within the framework of the population-genetic approach, which forms the basis of the synthetic theory of evolution (STE) and is focused on describing the biota in a stable state, it is impossible to clearly identify the originality of crisis periods. Therefore, within the framework of STE, an adequate assessment of the state of the biota turns out to be largely questionable. By and large, STE has not succeeded in linking together the ideas about the processes of micro- and macroevolution (see: Constructive criticism of Darwinism). Therefore, at present, ideas that focus on the unevenness of the evolutionary process (see: The theory of discontinuous equilibrium), as well as on identifying the patterns of macroevolution, are acquiring more and more importance.

Evolutionary developmental biology (“Evo-Devo”) has actually emerged abroad recently, a direction based on combining the approaches of developmental biology (embryology) and morphology. As usual, the works of A.N. Severtsov, who in the first third of the last century worked in fact in the same direction. Although recently in Germany, historians of biology have begun to turn to his works (Levit et al., 2004, as well as to the works of other Russian evolutionists (Levit, 2007).

Correspondence between the epigenetic landscape and the morphogenetic pattern: A - scheme of the epigenetic landscape during the period of species stasis - according to M.A. Shishkin (1988: fig. 26, with changes); B - projection of ontogenetic pathways onto the assumed plane of the modification spectrum; B - scheme of epigenetic connections between variants of a bilateral trait; D - diagram of the morphogenetic pattern. N1 – N6 - variants (modes) of a feature.

For bilateral characters, it is possible to construct a morphogenetic pattern by analyzing the occurrence of different variants (see figure). The main idea of ​​this methodological approach is that the manifestations of a trait on the right and left sides are due to one genotype. The presence of different variants of a bilateral trait for one individual means that these differences were formed during development and their appearance is due to epigenetic reasons. On this basis, it is possible to construct a projection of epigenetic connections between variants on the structure of the modification spectrum. In this case, samples of individuals of definitive stages of ontogenesis are suitable for analysis (for more details see: Pozdnyakov AA, 2007. The structure of morphotypic variability of gray voles (Microtus: Rodentia, Arvicolidae) from the point of view of the epigenetic theory of evolution // Successes of modern biology. Vol. 127. No. 4. P. 416–424).

Paleontological data indicate that a high spectrum of morphotypic variability persists in voles for hundreds of thousands of years, in fact, during the entire lifetime of the species. Thus, the available empirical data testify against the position of ETE about the obligatory reduction of variability and stabilization of the phenofund after the completion of speciation. Of course, it can be assumed that the morphotypic variability of voles is some kind of exceptional phenomenon; therefore, it would be extremely interesting to check how matters stand with the structure of bilateral variability in other groups of organisms.

In general, ETE is of interest from various points of view. The strict preformist approach, which does not explain the emergence of novelty in evolution, is limited; therefore, ETE, which focuses on the mechanism of the emergence of novelty, is a promising scientific theory. The emphasis within the ETE on the primary change in the phenotype in evolution allows us to consider morphological, paleontological, and embryological data on the same scale, which is undoubtedly an advantage over STE, in which there is a gap between genetic and morphological data. The holistic approach adopted in the framework of the ETE allows a more complete coverage of biological phenomena, in comparison with the reduction approach. From the point of view of methodology, nature cannot be fully described using a single theory (Pozdnyakov, 2008); therefore, a variety of theoretical concepts in biology is inevitable.

Introduction

Eric Erickson (1902 - 1994) - one of the prominent ego psychologists of the 20th century, post-Freudian. He was interested in the ego and its adaptive abilities in the development of the individual. E. Erickson borrowed a lot from the theories of his predecessors in psychoanalysis, and, remaining within the framework of the psychoanalytic tradition, he developed his own periodization of personality development, his psychoanalytic concept of childhood.

Childhood and Society is his first book, published by Erickson in 1950 (reprinted in 1963). Its appearance is due to the practice of psychoanalysis, as the author noted in it. Basically, this book examines the relationship between childhood and social life, Erickson cites studies of childhood in two tribes of African Indians Sioux and Yurok, he talks about the development of EGO, crises, conflicts and considers youth and identity.

Erickson speaks of his book as "conceptual travel notes", he emphasizes that this is a book about historical processes "Childhood and Society" was popular, and it was thanks to this book that he was recognized as the leading representative of ego psychology.

Epigenetic orientation of E. Erickson's theory

The theory of psychosocial, or as it is also called epigenetic development, arose from psychoanalysis.

Erickson believes that a person throughout his life goes through several stages that are universal for all of humanity. The disclosure of these stages is regulated by the epigenetic principle of maturation. Under the epigenetic principle, E. Erickson means, firstly, that the personality develops gradually, the transition from stage to stage is carried out due to the desire of the personality to develop and move forward, and, secondly, society, according to Erickson, is arranged in such a way that the development of social human capabilities are always approved by society, it tries to maintain and maintain this trend.

In his first book, Childhood and Society, E. Erickson divides a person's entire life into “eight human ages,” that is, at the stage of psychosocial development of the ego. E. Erickson asserts that stages are the outcome of an epigenetic unfolding certain “personality plan” that is transmitted genetically.

The epigenetic principle, as well as the epigenetic concept of development, is that each stage of a person's life, his certain life cycle, occurs at a certain moment for her, or, as Erickson says, in a “critical period”. No less important is the fact that only through the consistent passage of such critical periods in its development, the personality is fully formed. It should be emphasized that each stage is accompanied by a psychological crisis specific for that age and a special developmental task. Each development task that is put forward by society consists in a certain relationship between the two extreme poles. The result of the struggle is the development of the personality. When equilibrium is achieved, we can talk about the acquisition of a new form of ego identity. In this case, the solution of problems is reduced to depends on the achieved level of development of the individual himself.

I would like to stop and talk a little more about each of the eight stages of psychosexual development.

The first stage (I) - Oral-respiratory-sensory, as E. Erickson calls it. But it is generally accepted to call it the oral-sensory stage. It consists of two phases, like Z. Freud, but E. Erickson in his book designates the second phase as the Second stage (II), which has a different, in contrast to the first stage, mode.

E. Erickson interprets the concept of the modus of an organ like Z. Freud - as a zone of concentration of sexual energy, but unlike him, E. Erickson is important not so much the organ itself as its direction of functioning. For example, if in infancy the erogenous zone is the mouth of a child, then Freud considers only the erogenous zone itself, i.e. mouth, and E. Erickson the ability to receive (toget) through the mouth.

Now, we can take a closer look at this stage. As mentioned above, it consists of two phases (stages I and II):

In the first phase (stage I) of this stage, the organ - the mouth is considered the erogenous zone, it also forms a certain mode of development, namely the dominant personality traits. The modality of the mouth determines sucking, that is, receiving (toget) food through the mouth. Receiving is the infant's first social modality that he comprehends in life. The optimal cumulative situation, which implies the baby's willingness to receive what is given, is the mutual regulation of the baby with the mother, which will allow him to develop ways to receive as she develops ways to give. For such coordination for the baby, the highest reward of libidal pleasure is “oral” pleasure. As E. Erickson writes, “Apparently, the mouth and nipple are just centers of a common aura of warmth and reciprocity, which is enjoyed and responded to by relaxation not only by these central organs, but also by both whole organisms”.

At this stage, the baby lives and loves only through the mouth, and the mother through her breast. The dominant mode of the organ at this stage is the first of the five - “incorporative 1”, while the presence of other 4 modes (“incorporative 2”, “retentive”, “eliminative”, “intrusive”) cannot be rejected, because for the functioning of some or bodily zones with inlet and outlet openings, all modes must be present in auxiliary roles.

According to E. Erickson, a baby, receiving what is given, and learning to force another to do what he would like, develops that necessary basis of his ego, in order to then become the one who gives. This can only be achieved through mutual relaxation. If this does not happen, then the situation of mutual regulation breaks down into attempts to control each other by coercion or fantasy, and in this case, the baby will try to get what he did not receive in the main way at that time of the stage - by sucking, and he will do this through his erratic activity.

In the second phase (stage II; age: Birth - 1 year), the mouth is also the main organ, but biting, not sucking, acts as a modality, this happens due to the fact that the child is teething. Taking (taking) and holding (holdingonto) different objects is a social modality in this phase. The mode of the organ is the 2nd mode "Incorporated 2". At this stage, the child must improve the mechanisms of grasping, exploring, and also appropriating everything that will be within his reach. This improvement occurs as he learns to roll from the back to his tummy, change positions, rise and sit in his crib. However, it is in this period that "good" and "evil" appear in the child's life, of course, if the basic trust was not touched upon at the first stage before. Even the most benevolent environment, as E. Erickson says, will not save a child from traumatic change. Here the development of impulses and grasping mechanisms, teething with the possible process of weaning and separation from the mother collides. According to E. Erickson, the moment of weaning due to biting can be the beginning of separation, when the child's anger, directed at the teeth, tormenting him, directed against the depriving mother, merges with the rage caused by the impotence of her own body, and lead to anxiety (sadomasochistic character) - strong confusion, which leaves behind a feeling that once upon a time a person destroyed the unity with the mother's environment.

Therefore, when the baby is suddenly weaned from the breast, the mother must compensate for this with her emotional support, soothing presence, tenderness and affection. When the mother loses her love, the child follows the path of infantile depression or a chronic state of sadness, which will give his whole future life a depressive tone.

At this stage, a conflict “basic trust versus basic distrust” arises, and depending on which of the poles it is resolved, a special developmental task is determined, as a result of which, the baby develops basic feelings of trust or distrust in himself and the world.

The second stage (III stage; age: 1-3 years), or the third stage according to E. Erickson, is called anal-urethral-muscular (generally accepted, like anal-muscular). The erogenous zone of this stage is the excretory organs, which have their own modality - the emptying of the intestines and bladder, from which children get pleasure at this stage. Also, at this stage, new social modalities develop - letting go (lettinggo) and holding (holdingon). Thanks to the development of the muscular system and more regular stool, the child becomes available to the ability of voluntary relaxation, pushing and holding and alternating them at will. The anal zone is a modal zone of two modes, conflicting with each other, which must subsequently replace each other. The modes of the organ are "retentive" and "eliminative". At this age, children either keep or hide various objects, then throw them away from themselves, all this is explained by retentive-emilinative modes.

If a child at this stage of his development is deprived of the opportunity to satisfy his need in a relaxed and without coercion, then he will seek satisfaction and control, regressing, or falsely progressing, since he will feel deprived of power in his body and powerless in the outside world.

At this stage, a second conflict arises in which autonomy fights against shame and doubt. For this stage conflict to unfold in a positive direction, the infant needs to feel that his basic trust is not at stake. Depending on in whose favor the conflict is resolved, its developmental task is determined, as a result of which, the infant can acquire such qualities as independence and independence, or shame and doubt in his actions.

The third stage (IV stage according to E. Erickson; age: 3-6 years) is called locomotor-genital. The erogenous zone is the genitals. The modality is interest in the genitals of both sexes. A new social modality of “doing” (“maling”) appears, meaning such activities that will bring benefits, advantages, etc. activities that bring personal success. At this stage, the "intrusive" organ mode prevails. It is he who serves as a sign of fantasies and "similar" activities. They all consist in intrusion (invasion) into other bodies, for example, through assertive and aggressive speaking, the minds and ears of other people are invaded. At this stage, boys are faced with the understanding that in the sexual sphere he is inferior to his parents. Some of the consequences of this understanding make up the Oedipus complex, which was described by Z. Freud. Girls, on the other hand, are faced with the realization that they do not have a penis, like boys do, so they become unable to maintain dreams of sexual equality. As for the social modality, in boys the emphasis on “doing” in phallic-intrusive ways remains, while in girls it is shifted to “doing” through harassment and provocation, or by making oneself attractive. In this case, the child develops initiative in himself.

However, "Oedipus" desires lead to vague fantasies that border on violence and murder, resulting in deep feelings of guilt. This situation assumes that the third conflict is being resolved - the conflict between initiative and guilt. This ends the theory of infantile sexuality.

The fourth stage (stage V according to E. Erickson; age: 6-12 years) E. Erickson calls the period of psychosexual moratorium, this stage is also known in psychoanalysis as latent. A rudimentary generative mode takes place here. With the onset of the latency period, a developed child forgets or sublimates the need for “doing” and learns to do useful work and seeks recognition. We can say about this period - "dormant sexuality." The danger of the stage lies in feelings of inferiority and inadequacy. As E. Erickson says, “in this case the child experiences despair from his ineptitude in the world of tools and sees himself doomed to mediocrity or inadequacy”

In the Latent stage, the next conflict is looking for a solution - the conflict of hard work against a sense of inferiority, in connection with which the task of development is being solved.

Fifth stage (Age: 12-19 years old) - Teenage. The main event of a normally developing child's personality is the establishment of ego identity or integration, which is the accumulated experience of the ego's ability to integrate all identifications with libido problems. Thus, “the feeling of ego identity is the confidence that inner identity and continuity is combined with the identity and continuity of the individual's meaning for others, revealed in the real perspective of his“ career ”" (E. Erickson, p. 250). In other words, the teenager realizes the image of his "I", as well as his place in the world, he clearly understands who he is. But there is a danger of mixing roles, there is often a doubt about gender identity, but more often adolescents are worried about the inability to understand their professional identity.

Here the teenager needs to solve all his old problems and find the integrity of his personality. Therefore, the conflict at this stage is the struggle between identity and role mixing. As a result, the task becomes awareness of oneself and one's place in the world, and the negative pole is uncertainty in the awareness of one's own "I"

The sixth stage (Age: 20-25) is called Early Maturity (or Youth). As E. Erickson writes in his monograph, - “The newly minted adult, who appeared as a result of searches and stubborn defense of his own identity, is full of desire and is ready to merge his identity with the identity of others”. This suggests that the stage has come for finding your life partner. The striving for this is to master all of their modalities of behavior. All modes of the organ are already subordinate to the individual himself, and do not dictate the path of development to him, as in the previously analyzed stages. The danger at this stage is loneliness or isolation, people whose development task has become loneliness are usually ready to isolate or destroy those people who seem dangerous to them. This speaks of the echoes of non-acceptance of their identity at the previous stage. Also at this stage we can say about genitality for the last time, because at this stage it is the true genitality that is manifested. It is not necessary to understand love as a sexual attraction, said E. Erickson, he also believed that the emergence of such a mature feeling of love prepares the transition to the next stage.

The conflict at this stage is the struggle between intimacy and isolation. The conflict is resolved by solving the problem of development in one direction or another.

The seventh stage (Age: 26-64) is called Medium Maturity (or Maturity). E. Erickson says that a mature person wants to feel needed, and maturity needs approval from his children and grandchildren, whom he should take care of. E. Erickson understands generativity as a complete interest in how the life of the new generation is arranged and in the interest of his guidance. In those cases when it is not possible to achieve generativity, regression is formed with the need for pseudo-proximity, most often with a feeling of impoverishment of personal life.

There is a conflict between generativity and stagnation. The task of this period is to confront the creative forces of a person against stagnation in life.

Eighth stage (Age: 65 years - death) - Late maturity (Old age). The last stage includes the integrity of the ego, E. Erickson does not give a clear definition, but gives several examples. Ego integrity is confidence in the pursuit of order and meaning. This is post-narcissistic love (not self), as an experience of experience. This is acceptance of your life cycle as correct and true, not requiring changes. This is a good relationship with the way of life and with past activities, hobbies. In this case, “death loses its painfulness,” as E. Erickson put it. But there is another outcome of life, this is the absence or loss of all accumulated integration of the ego, it is expressed in the fear of death. Despair expresses thoughts that there is little time left to try to change something.

In the stage of Old Age, either the person acquires a holistic idea of ​​himself, or is disappointed in life and despair. This is how the task of developing this period is expressed. And she resolves to a conflict between the integrity of the ego and despair.

Comparative characteristics of the views of E. Erickson and S. Freud

Eric Erickson was one of the followers of Sigmund Freud. He borrowed a lot from his theory, but also offered his own theory.

You need to start with what E. Erickson says about psychosocial development, in contrast to Z. Freud, puts forward his position on psychosexual development.

But at the same time E. Erickson explains the structure of personality in the same way as Z. Freud did.

Their methods of studying the psyche were different, for E. Erickson - the psycho-historical method, E. Freud worked through psychoanalysis.

The most important difference in the concept of E. Erickson is the identification of eight stages of psychosocial development of a personality, Z. Freud has only five of them, but the first 4 stages have a similar idea.

They both used the concept of libido sexual energy.

E. Erickson examines the periods from birth to death, while S. Freud limits the development of personality to eighteen years.

In Z. Freud, the child develops only in a certain system: father, mother and child, while E. Erickson pays more attention to the child in the socio-cultural environment.

Erickson talks about crises and developmental challenges that each person faces when going through a certain stage of development.

These scientists interpreted the influence of the unconscious on a person's life in different ways. E. Erickson tried to understand what are the abilities of a person to overcome any difficulties. Z. Freud, however, associated this influence with the experienced mental trauma in childhood.

As mentioned above, they also interpret the organ mode in different ways. I repeat, for Z. Freud, the organ itself was the mode of an organ, as a zone of concentration of sexual energy, and for Erikson, the mode of an organ was its direction of functioning.

Identity types

Since each certain stage of psychosocial development has its own social expectations, which the individual may or may not justify by solving the problem of his development, then he is either accepted by society, or society rejects him. In connection with this provision, E. Erickson decided to single out two main concepts of his concept - these are the concepts of group identity and ego identity.

Group identity is, in a certain way, focused on inclusion in a social group, the upbringing of a child's life from the first day of his life, which is aimed at shaping the attitude characteristic of this group.

Ego identity - has the property of being formed simultaneously with group identity. Ego identity is a sense of identity that creates a sense of stability, continuity and identity of one's “I”. We can say that ego identity is the wholeness of the personality.

The main stages of personality formation (modus, main conflict, basic feelings)

The concept of a modus organ by E. Erickson was discussed in the first section, but we will repeat it.

The mode of an organ is a zone of concentration of sexual energy, which Erickson understands as the functional orientation of the organ itself, but not as the organ itself.

Let us give an example again, if in infancy the erogenous zone is the child's mouth, and the modality is, for example, sucking or biting, then the direction of functioning will be the ability to receive (toget) or taking and holding (holdingonto). This is also called social modalities.

If we consider the epigenetic map that E. Erickson draws up in the course of writing the book, we will see there that he gave names to five modes, each of which means a social modality. Each zone interacts with everything and modes. Erickson associates these modes with three zones - "oral-sensory", "anal", "genital". But at each stage of development, only one mode prevails.

Incorporate 1 - (from Lat. Incorporatio) Incorporation is inclusion in its structure, accession.

Incorporated 2

Retentive - holding back, holding back, holding back.

Eliminative - excretion, elimination, release.

Intrusive - (from Lat. Intrusus - pushed in) - this is an active introduction into something.

The main conflict that can be identified by analyzing E. Erickson's theory of psychosocial development is the very fact of overcoming the problems that arise as a result of the correlation of one mode with any zone.

Initially, basic trust is formed in the infant primarily through the mother's breast, motherly care, affection and love.

E. Erickson says that a baby needs to gain basic trust in himself and in the world in order to develop normally further.

Types of crises. Their characteristics and meaning

The crisis, according to E. Erickson, is "turning points", "moments of choice between progress and regression, integration and delay." In other words, crises are necessary to achieve maturity at a certain level, so that it becomes possible to meet the requirements of society, which makes its social requirements to the individual.

Thus, a crisis is a necessary sudden turn, followed by either the development of the personality or its regression.

To resolve the crisis throughout all 8 stages, the individual faces conflicts, the struggle in which takes place between two poles, between two extreme possibilities of the outcome of events in the future of the individual. Thus, these conflicts are the tasks of development, after all, as soon as we resolve the conflict, the individual will face a task. The result of the struggle is the development of the personality. But the result is not always positive in a situation of certain reasons, therefore, a personality, developing, can regress at a certain moment.

We examined the main conflicts and tasks in more detail in the first part of this analysis of the monograph, where we indicated their characteristics, so we will only repeat ourselves. The solution to these problems is the solution to the crisis.

Basic trust versus basic distrust.

Autonomy versus shame and doubt.

An initiative against guilt.

Hard work versus feelings of inferiority

Identity versus role-mixing

Proximity versus isolation

Generative versus stagnation

Ego Integrity vs. Despair

The term "epigenesis" was taken by E. Erickson from biology. According to the epigenetic principle, everything that grows and develops has a common plan, based on which separate parts develop, and each of them has the most favorable period for predominant development. This happens until all the parts, having developed, form a functional whole.

According to E. Erickson, the sequence of stages is the result of biological maturation, but the content of development at each stage is determined by what society expects from a person to which he belongs. Any person goes through all these stages, no matter what culture he belongs to, it all depends on the length of his life.

E. Erickson accepted the ideas of 3. Freud about the three-member structure of personality, identifying Id with desires and dreams, and Super-Ego - with the experiences of obligation, between which a person constantly fluctuates in thoughts and feelings. Between them there is a "blind spot" - Ego, in which, according to E. Erickson, we are ourselves most of all, although we are less aware of ourselves.

Infant age. Stage One: Fundamental Faith and Hope versus Fundamental Hopelessness. The peculiarity of modes is that another object or person is needed for their functioning. In the first days of life, the child "lives and loves through the mouth," and the mother "lives and loves through the breast." In the act of feeding, the child receives the first experience of reciprocity: his ability to "receive through the mouth" is met with a response from the mother.

Early childhood. Stage two: autonomy versus shame and doubt. It starts from the moment the baby begins to walk, at which point the pleasure zone is connected to the anus. The anal zone creates two opposite modes - a mode of holding and a mode of relaxation (letting go). Society, attaching special importance to teaching a child to be neat, creates conditions for the dominance of these modes, their separation from their organ and transformation into such modalities of behavior as "preservation" and "destruction". The struggle for "sphincter control", as a result of the importance attached to it by society, is transformed into a struggle to master one's motor abilities, to establish a new, autonomous self.

Preschool age. Third stage: initiative versus guilt. Firmly convinced that he is his own person, the child must now figure out what kind of person he can become.

School age. Stage four: hard work versus inferiority. The fourth stage of personality development is characterized by a certain drowsiness of infantile sexuality and a delay in genital maturity, which is necessary for a future adult to learn the technical and social foundations of work.

Adolescence and youth. Fifth stage: personality versus role-mixing (identity confusion). The fifth stage is characterized by the deepest life crisis. Three lines of development lead to it: 1) rapid physical growth and puberty ("physiological revolution"); 2) concern about how the teenager looks in the eyes of others, what he is; 3) the need to find their professional vocation that meets the acquired skills, individual abilities and the requirements of society. In the adolescent identity crisis, all the critical moments of development that have passed through arise anew. The teenager now has to solve all the old problems consciously and with an inner conviction that it is precisely such a choice that is significant for him and for society. Then social trust in the world, independence, initiative, mastered skills will create a new integrity of the personality.

Youth. Sixth stage: intimacy versus loneliness. Overcoming the crisis and the formation of ego identity allows young people to move to the sixth stage, the content of which is the search for a life partner, the desire for close friendly ties with members of their social group. Now the young man is not afraid of the loss of the Self and depersonalization, he is able to "readily and willingly mix his identity with others."

Maturity. Seventh stage: productivity (generativity) versus stagnation. This stage can be called central in the adult stage of a person's life path. Personal development continues thanks to the influence of children, the younger generation, which confirms the subjective feeling of being needed by others. Productivity (generativity) and procreation (procreation), as the main positive characteristics of a person at this stage, are realized in caring for the upbringing of a new generation, in productive labor activity and in creativity. In everything that a person does, he puts a part of his I, and this leads to personal enrichment. A mature person needs to be needed.

Old age. Eighth stage: personal integrity versus despair. Having gained life experience, enriched with care for the people around, and first of all for children, with creative ups and downs, a person can gain integrativity - the conquest of all seven previous stages of development. E. Erickson identifies several of its characteristics: 1) an ever-increasing personal confidence in his tendency to order and meaningfulness; 2) postnar-cisstic love of a human person (and not of an individual) as an experience that expresses some kind of world order and spiritual meaning, regardless of what price they get; 3) acceptance of their only life path as the only proper one and not in need of replacement; 4) new, different from the previous, love for their parents; 5) a comradely, participatory, connecting attitude to the principles of distant times and various occupations in the form in which they were expressed in words and the results of these occupations.