An application of Erikson’s
psychosocial theory of development.

Essay description:

Erik Erikson proposed a theory of
psychosocial development which describes the progression of the individual
through eight life stages, each of which
presents the individual with a particular psychosocial
dilemma or crisis.

Essay tasks:

•        
In this assignment you will be asked to introduce Erikson’s theory, to define the core concepts (lifespan, epigenetic,
psychosocial crisis, virtue) which inform it, and to
identify the various stages.

•        
You will be asked to apply
Erikson’s theory by choosing ONE stage,
defining it in depth, and applying it to a personal example from your life.

•        
You will be asked to offer a critique of the theory, and to consider relevant
factors within the South African context.

The assignment needs to be
no more than 1000 – 1500 words in length (excluding
references), with 1.5 line spacing, and 12pt Times New Roman font.

Draw on readings
from your textbook as well as the additional readings which have
been posted on Ulwazi to plan and write your assignment. You will be expected
to use at least two references in addition
to the textbook.

Please make
use of the outline in your course handout to help you to structure your
assignment.

Remember
that assignments need to be written in paragraph style, with full sentences, no
bullet points, numbers, or lists.

INTRODUCTION
– no more than 100 words

1. Write a paragraph to introduce the
topic and provide an overview of the structure of your discussion to follow.
Your introduction should begin with the overarching aim for your paper. Your
introduction should not be longer than 100 words (5%)

•        
Briefly introduce the topic and the specific
structure of the essay.

•        
Describe the aim of the essay

•        
Describe how the essay is organised based on the
core argument (how you are achieving the aim) and outline the main themes
covered in the essay

•        
Be engaging and clear

Potential issues:

•        
Your introduction is not
sufficiently clear

•        
You have EITHER the aim
OR the outline of the essay or you didn’t write an introductory paragraph.

•        
Definitions, references
or quotes must NOT be included in the introduction at all.

2. In no more than 300 – 400 words,
briefly describe Erikson’s theoretical approach to human development. Include a
definition of the core concepts which underlie the theory. Identify the eight
stages and their relevant psychosocial crisis (15%).

•        
Introduce Erikson’s theory: in this section you
introduce the reader to the core concepts and stages of the theory.

•        
This part of the essay must provide an overview
of the theoretical concepts related to your discussion (viz. lifespan theory,
the epigenetic principle, psychosocial crisis, virtue)

•        
This part of the essay must include a brief
definition and description of each key term as it relates to the topic of
discussion as presented in the body of the essay to follow.

•        
This must be based on an academic reading and on
the use of correct terminology, definitions or explanation of key terms.

•        
NOTE: No direct quotes. Make sure that in this
section you give paraphrased definitions of key concepts, as well as
illustrating an understanding of this through a brief statement of how each
factor influences behaviour.

Potential
problems:

•        
Giving definitions
or information that are almost (or totally) identical to the source. (this is
plagiarism)

•        
Definitions are too
short and they are not coherently and cohesively connected.

•        
Failed to identify
all relevant concepts as instructed.

•        
Failed to identify
all stages and their psychosocial crisis

•        
This section is not
clearly explained, not referenced, not well paraphrased, incomplete, or
irrelevant.

3. In no more than 400-500 words,
select ONE of the stages which you can apply to someone you personally know (it
could be yourself). Outline this stage in detail, apply this stage to your
personal example, and identify the contextual factors in South Africa which may
impact the resolution or irresolution of this stage (45%).

•        
Describe ONE of Erikson’s stages which you can
apply to a personal example. Outline the characteristics of the stage,
including the psychosocial crisis and virtue.

•        
Identify someone you know (it could be
yourself), who is currently in this stage of development. Describe how they are
negotiating this stage, and whether they are managing or not managing the
psychosocial crisis.

•        
For example, if you are describing a 9-yr old,
they will be in the stage of Industry vs Inferiority. Give some information
about them which supports whether they have achieved the virtue of competence,
or whether they are struggling with inferiority.

•        
Consider your example within the South African
context, and describe which contextual factors may impact on whether or not
they successfully resolve that stage.

Potential
issues:

•        
The chosen stage is
not comprehensively introduced

•        
The chosen personal
example does not fit with the stage which has been described

•        
Insufficient detail
is given about the personal example

•        
Too much information
is given about the personal example, and this section becomes anecdotal

•        
There is
insufficient exploration of the contextual factors which may impact the
resolution of the stage

4. In no more than100-200 words, critique the
theory, identifying its strengths and weaknesses (20%)

•        
In this section you are required to give a critical
analysis of Erikson’s theory, consider its strengths and its weaknesses

•        
Consider these within a contemporary South
African context

•        
Remember: Critical evaluation entails
recognition of both strengths and weaknesses in a theory

Potential
issues:

•        
You have not
provided any evaluation or did not attempt to reflect on the contributions or
limitations of Erikson’s understanding of psychosocial development.

•        
Theoretical
evaluation is based on your own opinion without empirical support or a
reference to an appropriate academic source.

5. In no more than 100 words, conclude your
essay by highlighting important points that you have presented (5%)

•        
At the end of the essay it is necessary to
provide a concluding statement of how the discussion addressed the topic and
related theoretical reflection presented. The conclusion should briefly
highlight important aspects of this theory of psychosocial development in
relation to your discussion, critical evaluation, and argument presented in the
body of the essay.

•        
No
quotations, references, definitions, opinion, or anecdotal evidence to be
included in the conclusion

Ideal:

You
have written a conclusion paragraph that briefly explains how the essay has
achieved its aims. It should be coherent and close the argument and focus on
the essay topic and preceding discussion.

Potential
problems:

•        
There is a last
paragraph but it doesn’t conclude the discussion(e.g. you explained what you
have done but not what the main take-home idea is).

•        
You are too vague or
there is no concluding paragraph at all. You have given a formulaic closure to
your essay or just your own opinion.

•        
Final paragraph is
unrelated to topic or is still part of the essay

6. Attach a separate page listing the
references you have used to comple your assignment.  All references must be in APA 7th format and
the title of the page must be “References”, NOT Bibliography (in-text
referencing, 5%; reference list 5%)

•        
Do not number references or create a bulleted
list of references. Use the same order of authors as presented in the source.
Ensure that authors’ names and surnames are correctly spelled! Ensure that you
provide the date of a reference every time you use it in the body of the essay.

Ideal:

•        
You have followed
APA guidelines to the letter.

•        
You show that you
understand the importance of appropriate in-text referencing and appropriate
referencing list.

•        
You understand the
type of sources you are using and you are able to show that by means of good
APA formatting.

•        
You have not
plagiarised or used AI.

•        
You have minor or no
typing errors.

•        
Authors’ names are
correct.

•        
Your writing style
is coherent and organised.

•        
You have used and
referenced at least five sources, including the textbook.

Potential problems:

•        
You struggled following
the APA guideline and did not give sufficient time to ensuring that your
referencing is correct

Length: 1500 words (excluding references)

Line spacing: 1.5, Font: 12pt Times New
Roman

•        
NO QUOTATIONS: Only paraphrasing may be used; no
direct quotations(i.e. use your own words).

•        
Write in full sentenced, paragraph style. Do not
use any bullets, lists, personalised abbreviations or personalised acronyms nor
numbers (4 instead of “four”).

•        
All definitions, theoretical claims, factual
statements and theoretical evaluations must be very clearly referenced at the
same place it is used in the essay, not only at the end of a paragraph.

•        
No Secondary Referencing/Citing: Only reference
to the actual source you are reading, do not reference to another author/source
in that same article if you have not read it and have therefore not used it for
your essay. DO NOT reference lectures or lecture notes

•        
Do not include any additional information (such
as other theories of development) which is not asked, as this will cause you to
exceed the word limit and digress from the topic and essay tasks, causing you
to lose marks.

•        
Do not reference any anecdotal sources (hearsay
or personal observation or personal experience)or personal opinion.

•        
Avoid the use of the first person in this
assignment,  EXCEPT when referring to
your personal example. Ensure that all statements and claims are supported by
empirical evidence in reference to an academic source.

•        
Never reference to the course slides or lecture
content, or other non-academic sources (dictionaries, encyclopaedias,
magazines…).

•        
Read the textbook and course readings for
referencing of concepts & claims.

•        
Use only formal language and appropriate
academic terminology. Avoid the use of colloquial terms or conversational
language e.g. “Adolescent” as opposed to “teenager” or “’tween”, “Neonate” vs.
“baby”, “Children” vs. kids, “early childhood” vs. toddler, “middle childhood”
vs. younger children …

•        
PLEASE NOTE: Additional diagrams, media or
images are to be attached AFTER the reference list and may only be used for
illustrative purposes as this will NOT form part of the marking scope for the
written assignment.

•        
Write in full-sentenced, normal paragraph format
throughout the essay. Do not use bullets, numbers, lists, or tables in the body
of your essay.

Essay reading

•        
In order to answer the essay question, read the
available articles, textbook chapter/section related to the topic and tasks of
this assignment

•        
Selected articles have been provided along with
the course outline which you should use to initiate, present and consolidate
your argument. You do not need to use more than these but may if you wish.

•        
A minimum of FIVE academic sources are to be
consulted for this essay (This includes your textbook which may be ONE of these
four sources).

•        
You may use more than five sources ONLY if it is
well-integrated = evidence of reading and understanding it, not just one
citation to increase references (inflated referencing)

•        
You may include other journal articles. This
must be drawn from published peer-reviewed journals available through the
university library portal or online academic sources such as Google Scholar, African
Journals Online (AJOL), HSRC (www.hsrc.ac.za), MRC (www.mrc.ac.za), NRF
(www.nrf.ac.za), Child Guage, or other such recognised academic and
research-based publications in the relevant area of Psychology (E.G. Science
Direct…)

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Use the following references:

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Alberts, C. & Durrheim, K. (2018). Future
Direction of Identity Research in a Context of Political Struggle: A Critical
Appraisal of Erikson. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and
Research. 18(4), 295 – 305, DOI: 
10.1080/15283488.2018.1523727

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Batra, S. (2013). The Psychosocial Development
of Children: Implications for Education and Society — Erik Erikson in Context.
Contemporary Education in Dialogue. 10(2) 249 – 278.

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Jacobs, C. & Collair, L. (2017). Adolescent
identity formation in the context of vocationally oriented special needs
schools. South African Journal of Education, 37 (3) 1 – 10.

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Sokol, Justin T. (2009). Identity Development
Throughout the Lifetime: An Examination of Eriksonian Theory. Graduate Journal
of Counseling Psychology 1(2).
https://epublications.marquette.edu/gjcp/vol1/iss2/14

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Syed, M. & Fish, F. (2018) Revisiting Erik
Erikson’s Legacy on Culture, Race, and Ethnicity, Identity, 18(4), 274-283,
DOI: 10.1080/15283488.2018.1523729

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Thom, D. & Coetzee, H. (2004) Identity
development of South African adolescents in a democratic society. Society in
Transition 35 (1), 183-193, DOI: 10.1080/21528586.2004.10419113 To link to this
article: https://doi.org/

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Thompson, F., Fourie, J. & Sedibe, M.
(2018). In a Privileged World: The Psychosocial Experiences of Underprivileged
Adolescent Girls in a High Fee Independent Gauteng Private School. Alternation
Special Edition 23, 84 – 107. DOI
https://doi.org/10.29086/2519-5476/2018/sp23a5

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