Definition
Erik Erikson’s third psychosocial stage, initiative versus guilt, typically occurs with preschool aged-children and emphasizes the child practicing independence and assertion.
Introduction
It is arguable that Erik Erickson’s (1950, 1968) fundamental accomplishment during his career as a psychoanalyst involved his theory of phased development, a conditional and progressive course represented by a fixed sequence of eight successive stages occurring throughout the lifespan (Erikson 1968 as cited by Meeus 1996, p. 85). Cognitive and biological milestones mark each developmental stage. The Eriksonian developmental stage of initiative versus guilt occurs in early childhood from the ages of three to six, where children are faced with a psychosocial conflict involving their ability to express themselves in a unique and purposeful manner (Lambert and Kelly 2011). The...
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References
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Hurrell, K., Stack, M. (2017). Initiative Versus Guilt. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_597-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_597-1
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