5.3 Assignment. Lifespan Stages of Development

Getting Started

The average lifespan for an American adult is about 80 years; it’s a little more for women, a little less for men. During those 80 or so years, we pass through many distinct developmental periods. The first two decades of life are characterized by multiple areas of growth, the middle decades by accomplishment, and the final decade is usually about adapting to limitations. Each developmental stage has unique tasks and challenges that must be achieved if the person is to successfully move on to the next stage.

The psychologist Erik Erikson was the first to formulate a theory that explained the significance of the entire lifespan. He proposed eight stages of development, ranging from birth to old age. Each stage encompasses a core task that must be accomplished or else the person is not adequately prepared to tackle the challenges of the next stage of development and beyond. For example, the first stage of Erikson’s model spans from birth to age one. The core task of a child in this stage is learning to trust. That trust is learned or not learned according to the care and responsiveness of the caregivers in that child’s life. If the child feels safe enough to trust others in the first year of life, he or she will move into the next stage of development with a strong base to learn the next task, which is autonomy, or the ability to see themselves as separate from their parents. Each stage of development builds, to some degree, on the previous stage(s).

In this assignment, you have the opportunity to examine these eight stages of development and assess your own movement through select points. After you become more familiar with Erikson’s model, you will identify the stage that best characterizes where you currently are, how well you are doing at accomplishing the core task, and what you need to do to finish well. Along the way, you will integrate what you’ve been thinking about as it relates to the Hero’s Journey and your spiritual pathway.

This assignment is an excellent opportunity for you to reflect on where you are in your life. Are you consistently living in a deliberate manner that is in line with your core values? If not, what would you change? When you get to the end of your life, will you look back with contentment (what Erikson calls “ego integrity”), or will you have many regrets? These are the types of important questions you will explore in this assignment.

Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

· Assess a personal life stage and associated task with future goals and the Hero’s Journey.

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Resources

· Article: Erik Erikson

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Background Information

Before submitting this assignment, you will need to understand Erikson’s eight stages of development, the core task associated with each stage, and what the potential developmental consequences might be for not accomplishing that task. To get that degree of clarity on Erikson’s theory, it may be necessary for you to do additional research beyond the resources that are provided in this workshop.

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Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.

2. Read the article Eric Erikson ; on the GoodTherapy website.

3. After reading the article on Erik Erikson and doing any additional research that you may need to better understand his eight developmental stages, write a four- to five-page paper that responds to the following questions:

a. Which stage best describes where you currently are in your life? Explain in some detail how your life circumstances parallel Erikson’s description of that stage.

b. How does this correspond to the level of moral development you are currently in according to Kohlberg’s theory?

c. What is the core task associated with the stage you are currently in? In your assessment, how well are you accomplishing that task in the present?

d. The last stage of Erikson’s model is called Ego Integrity versus Despair. What one major accomplishment do you want to see realized between now and that final stage of life so you can look back on your life with integrity instead of regret and despair?

e. Be specific and detailed in your response.

f. How does that one major life accomplishment fit into your Hero’s Journey and your spiritual pathway as you’ve been thinking about it thus far in this curriculum? What needs to happen for that goal to become a reality?/li>

4. Please include in-text citations and a reference page of any sources used in correct APA Style formatting.