Fifth Grade
Worksheets
Erik Erikson
Erik Erikson was a psychoanalyst. He was best known for his eight stages of development. His work has been used in the classroom as well.
Erik Erikson was born on June 15, 1902, in Germany. Early on, Erik studied painting. Later, he started a small children's school in Vienna along with others. This led to training with Anna Freud. He also received a Montessori diploma. In 1933, he graduated from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute.
In 1930, Erik Erikson married. He and his wife had three children: Kai, Jon, and Sue. In 1933 after Hitler came to power, Erik and his family came to the United States. Here Erik began a private practice. He also had various research jobs at Harvard Medical School from 1934-1935, Yale School of Medicine from 1936-1939, and many other fine schools.
Erikson wanted to know how society affects children. He was known for studying groups of Native American children, specifically Sioux children, on a reservation. He thought that culture and the outside world affected children's behavior. In fact, he felt body, mind, and culture were all at work in every single child.
Erikson's theory was meant to explain a person's development. He felt that the early experiences that a child has can shape his or her personality forever. That is true whether those experiences are good or bad. As a result, he came up with eight psychosocial stages from birth to death. Each stage has one major conflict with two possible outcomes.
