Who Was Erik Erikson?
Search Psychology Home Education Psychology Email Psychology Basics Theories Pioneers of Psychology Psychology Newsletter – Sign up ! Discuss in My Forum Who Was Erik Erikson? By Kendra Van Wagner , About.com See More About: erik erikson psychosocial development identity crisis psychology study guides Erik Erikson’s stage theory of psychosocial development helped create interest and research on human development through the lifespan. An ego psychologist who studied with Anna Freud, Erikson expanded psychoanalytic theory by exploring development throughout the life, including events of childhood, adulthood, and old age. Learn more in this guide to Erik Erikson’s life and theories. Erik Erikson Biography Best-known for his famous theory of psychosocial development and the concept of the identity crisis, Erik Erikson’s theories continue to remain influential today and contributed to our understanding of personality development throughout the lifespan. Learn more about his life, career, an
Erik Erikson was an important psychological theorist in the development of the field. Born in Germany in 1902, Erik Erikson apparently struggled with his identity during childhood. He never knew his father, and he grew up with a borrowed name: Erik Homberger, after his stepfather, Dr. Theodore Homberger. Also, although Erik was a blond, blue-eyed boy, his mother and stepfather raised him in the Jewish faith, causing him even more identity conflict. In a highly symbolic act, as an adult he gave himself the name of Erikson, indicating that his identity was dependent on himself and no one else – making him, in effect, his own father. These identity issues undoubtedly had as much of an impact on the developmental stage theory Erik Erikson founded as did the education that he received. As a young man, Erik Erikson traveled and studied in Europe. One of his teachers and mentors was Anna Freud, the daughter of Sigmund Freud. In 1933, after studying under Anna Freud for six years, Erik Erikson
