Erikson 
Erikson, Erik
Influenced by
Cold war paranoia nuclear
The Cold War (1945-1991). At its height in the 1950s, the Cold War greatly influenced not only the types of research funded for psychologists, but also the 'mindset' of a whole generation reared on fears of nuclear attack. The McCarthyite witchhunts of left-leaning intellectuals during the 1950s were mainly focused on the entertainment industry in America. However, they left a lasting legacy on the psyche of a generation, while also isolating many psychologists in the Eastern Bloc. Some psychologists, like Erikson, were interested in the Cold War and its psychological effects, per se. For others the influence of the Cold War on their choice of research agenda was perhaps more subtle. Written by: Course Team
Identity
Identity. The basic concept of identity refers to an individual's sense of themselves as a particular person, which will usually include their perception of their own social role(s). Another term which is also used is the idea of the self. At the level of human experience, the idea of 'self' basically refers to a fundamental sense of continuity experienced by most human beings that a particular unique entity - themselves - persists throughout all the changes in body, mind, social role etc. that occur throughout life. However, despite this sense of continuity at a deep level, there are also shifts in identity/self-image that can occur at various stages of life (e.g. adolescence), often in response to changing social roles. If severe enough, these transition points can be called identity crises.
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Allport,
Erikson,
Freud Sigmund,
Falschung,
Festinger,
Goffman,
James,
Neisser,
Mead,
Tajfel,
Spears,
Turner,
Vygotsky,
Wetherell
Moral Development
Moral development refers to the unfolding of ethics, values, and the sense of right and wrong as a person grows up. Major theorists of moral development include Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg, who considered that the height of moral development involved reaching the ethic of justice. However, Carol Gilligan criticised this notion for leaving out the way women make moral judgements. Her idea of an ethic of care is now widely used.
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Erikson hated formal schooling and did not do well. Indeed, he never got a degree and failed the onl y university course in psychology he ever took (in the 1930s at Harvard). Erikson's adolescence can be said to have been turbulent. Later, he came to conceptualise adolescence itself as necessarily a time of 'crisis'.
Erikson (1902-1994) was an American psychoanalyst who made major contributions to the field of psychology with his work on child development and on the 'identity crisis'.
He was recommended by his lifelong friend Peter Blos (who also developed theories of identity) and b y Dorothy Burlingham for a post teaching in a small school for the children of those in Freud's circle even though he had no qualifications.
He made up the Danish and Christian (rather than Jewish) name Erik Erikson after becoming a US citizen in 1939. In the US, Erikson was influenced by eminent psychologists and anthropologists and developed his interests in history.
As he continued his clinical work with young people and drew on insights from his work with war veterans, Erikson developed the concept of the 'identity crisis'. This he saw as an inevitable conflict that accompanies the growth of a sense of identity in late adolescence – discussed in Identity, Youth and Crisis (1968).
He had four children, but was a distant father. His fourth child had Down's syndrome and was institutionalised for the 22 years he lived. Erikson always said that he had three children and he and his wife did not return from a visit to Italy for this son's funeral (Gardner, 1999).
Born in Frankfurt, Germany to Danish parents, who were not married and separated before he was born, he was raised by his Jewish mother and Jewish German stepfather. He was brought up as Erik Homburger – the name of his stepfather.
He participated in a longitudinal study of child development at the University of California at Berkeley and helped with wartime projects such as analysing Hitler's speeches and German propaganda as well as the psychological aspects of living on a submarine.
He was a frequent visitor to Freud's house and was psychoanalysed daily by Anna Freud for six years. With her encouragement he began studying at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute, where he specialised in child psychoanalysis and was elected a full member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society (and, hence, the International Psychoanalytical Association).
Erikson's interest, experience and research are evident in his numerous publications and in the theories he developed. For example, he was always keen to relate what happened to individuals to what happened in society at the particular point of history in which they lived.
Erikson kept a journal in which he speculated about spiritual, psychological and philosophical questions that he would eventually write about. He spent seven years travelling through Europe trying to establish himself as an artist and later acknowledged that he had been deeply neurotic (and close to psychosis) in his adolescence.
Among his other books are Young Man Luther (1958), Gandhi's Truth (1969) and Insight and Responsibil ity (1964). His later (and not well-known work) arose from his observations of the dehumanising effects of the Cold War and his fears of the threat of nuclear war and belief in the power of the individual when his/her personal vision fits with the current historical forces.
It is possible that some of his later interest in identity came from his feelings of puzzlement at being raised by two dark haired Jewish parents when he himself was blond and blue-eyed. In his youth, Erikson renounced Judaism, although his family members were observant Jews and he got on well with his mother.
His work as a consultant advising on the psychiatric treatment of war veterans influenced his later theorising on identity, as did his anthropological interest in Native Americans; his observations of both children and adults (particularly those who were troubled) and his visits abroad, for example to India. In 1960, he was appointed Professor of Human Development and Lecturer in Psychiatry at Harvard University.
He can be said to have developed a discipline of psychohistory. His studies of Native American children led him to relate personality growth to parental and societal values. His first book, Childhood and Society (1950), became a classic in the field.
At this time, he considered himself a clinical artist, gifted in clinical insight. In 1933 he left A ustria because of the Nazi threat and went to the United States, where he became interested in the influence of culture and society on child development. He was a pioneering child analyst in Boston.
Throughout his life, he wanted to know who his birth father might have been and he spent a long time in unsuccessful searching. In 1927 Erikson met Freud's daughter, the Austrian psychoanalyst Anna Freud, in Vienna.
He died aged 91 years in 1994.
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