With this paper I am concerned with observing were I think mega pop star Michael Jackson falls within Erik Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development. Erikson states that the term psychosocial is meant to complement the dominant theory of psychosexuality. I will offer background information on Erikson and discuss the first four stages of Erikson’s life cycle. ...
Erik Erikson was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1902. ... The development of identity seems to have been one of the greatest concerns in Eriksons own life as well as in his theory. During his childhood, and his early adulthood, he was Erik Homberger, and his parents kept the details of his birth a secret.
He is most famous for his work in refining and expanding Sigmund Freuds theory of stages. Erikson felt development functions by the epigenetic principle. This principle says that we develop through a predetermined unfolding of our personalities in eight stages. Each stage involves certain developmental tasks that are psychosocial in nature. ...
If mom and dad can give the newborn a degree of familiarity, consistency, and continuity, then the child will develop the feeling that the world is a safe place to be and that people are reliable and loving. ...
If mom and dad permit the child to explore and manipulate his or her environment, the child will develop a sense of autonomy or independence. If the parents come down hard on any attempt to explore and be independent, the child will soon give up with the assumption that he or she cannot and should not act on their own. ... From three to six, the task confronting every child is to learn initiative without too much guilt. ...
Stage four is the latency stage, or the school-age child from about six to twelve. ...
According to Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development, I believe Michael to be stuck in the school age/industry vs. ... We need to remember that like most psychological stages, this Erikson’s module is based on a hierarchical design. ...
I maintain that Jackson’s basic knowledge of the world did not expand as a child. ...
Relationships are important in the fourth stage of psychosocial development. ... John Snarey writes that “The quality of a young adult’s life may be linked, for better or worse, with the quality of the fathering he or she received as a child. ... "
It is my belief that though Michael Jackson was very successful as a child star because of the tactics used by his father he never felt like a success. Erikson’s theory tells us that if the child is allowed too little success, because of harsh teachers or rejecting peers, for example, then he or she will develop a sense of inferiority or incompetence. ... When this happens and children arent allowed to be children it can have adverse affect on the child’s ability to successfully move to the next stage.
It can also be argue that because Joseph Jackson pushed Michael Jackson into one area of competence he did not allow the development of broader interests that would cause Michael to move to the next stage. ...
All the above mentioned things play a part in why Michael Jackson, today a 44 year old man, maintaining cohorts whose current ages fall within Erikson’ fourth stage of psychosocial development.
To link to this page, copy the following code to your site:
All Papers Are For Research And Reference Purposes Only!
You may not turn these papers in as your own! You must cite our web site as your source!
