+1 862 207 3288 If asked most people would have an opinion about identity and what it means to them. In this essay two different approaches are outlined which are Psychosocial theory by Eric Erickson and James Marcia and the Social Constructionist theory which as diverse origins in a number disciplines and as many perspectives (p69 book 1).
In Psychosocial theory Erickson believed that identity was constantly evolving along a path of lifelong developmental process (Pheonix, 2004, p53) and would come into conflict with polar opposite characteristics e.g. trust vs mistrust. He called these conflicts normative crisis and thought most people suffered at some stage in their life. In conjunction with this he developed eight developmental stages of identity with each stage being a building block of development on the last one; refer to (appendix 1 eight development stages of identity…(short extract)
