The Sensori-motor-Based Sub-stages: Pre-participatory Socio-affects

Abstract

The second of the five stages in the current Neo-Piagetian/Neo-Eriksonian model concerns the infancy period. Development in this stage requires much care-giver support, and the first year of the period has been described by Erikson as involving Trust vs. Mistrust. Also, the second year was described by him as involving the development of Autonomy vs. Doubt. The present model consists of five sub-stages within each stage, and the task was to place the two Eriksonian stages in infancy at the appropriate level or sub-stage of the current model. The trust phase seemed a good fit with the second sub-stage, which covers 4 to 8 months. The Autonomy phase appeared consistent with the characteristics of the fourth sub-stage among the five in this stage, or the one at 12 to 18 months. This left the author with the task of creating three new Neo-Eriksonian sub-stages for the infancy period. Considering the Neo-Piagetian sub-stages with which each is deemed associated, and taking into account their characteristics, the first, third, and fifth sub-stages in the present model for the infancy period were considered to involve dyadic, sociability, and interdigitational acts, respectively, as well as their corresponding negative poles. The three added sub-stages fit into the trust/autonomy sequence but add research-based sub-stages to complement them. Note that the three sub-stages involved denote increasing social interactive skills. It is noteworthy that placement of the active attachment process in the sub-stage at 8 to 12 months follows the one of Trust vs. Mistrust. That is, in the present model, the trust and attachment constructs are not synonymous. Also, note the pattern of the two Eriksonian stages fitting in sub-stages 2 and 4 of the five sub-stages, with the three new sub-stages that are involved fitting in sub-stages 1, 3, and 5. The same pattern is found for the subsequent four stages. It would appear that, intuitively, Erikson had emphasized only two of the five sub-stages within each of the stages of the current model, and they always concerned the second and fourth of the five sub-stages involved in each stage.