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Social and Personality Development: Extra Credit Video Discussion #1
Extra Credit Video Discussion #1
This discussion requires a more thorough post of at least 600 words. Posts should reference reading material and should be thorough (minimum 600 words) and demonstrate that you read and understand the assigned textbook chapter as well as the video.
Discuss the video, noting what stood out to you.
- How does the video enrich your understanding of Erikson’s theory?
- What are the strengths of this theory compared to one other theory (your choice) presented in Chapter 2?
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In the Carousel of Life, the video starts out with a clown asking us to take seat on one of eight spots on the carousel, representing the eight stages of life. The carousel represents life, it starts with genesis and ends with death. The clown tells us there are, ups and downs, twists and turns, happy and sad times. This video teaches the stages of life based on Erikson’s theory. The first ride, is the ride of the newborn. The newborn has basic trust and mistrust, this is when the newborn sees light, sight, and sound for the first time. The baby makes a sound for the first time as well. In this stage of life according to Erikson and the video is when we make our first genuine connections like mother-infant bonding. The baby is fed, but also held and given love and comfort, establishing his first sense of relationship. In this stage of life, newborns cry to signal they have a need. For example, tired, hungry, or uncomfortable.
The second ride, is the ride of the toddler, where they develop a will of their own, they work up a sense of autonomy. They also learn to take a chance and stand up for themselves, like throwing of kicking things. In Erikson’s theory, and the video, the toddler stage is also when they start to notice a sense of shame and doubt. Toddlers’ learn to walk as well as words, they are curious about their surroundings. Toddlers start to play and get into things they shouldn’t. Toddlers test limits and try to touch everything, this is when they start to learn wrong from right and differentiate what’s harmful and what is not. Toddlers learn languages and words, and how to use the bathroom. Parents should praise and show toddlers kindly wrong from right. Toddler’s learn how to eat, as well as how to feed themselves. Toddler’s often think bad behaviors are funny, like putting food in their hair, or throwing their spoons on the ground.
The third ride, the childhood ride, is the age of imagination and of playing at being grownup. In this stage initiative develops, they get ideas and try to think of ways to carry them out, the feeling of guilt also develops. Feelings about themselves start to develop as well. In childhood feelings of violence as well as fighting is common. In childhood, kids go through the “mine” phase. In childhood, many kids rebel and push limits of their parents. In childhood, kids like to have the attention be fully on them, and if it’s not then they rebel. In childhood, kids get a sense of self. In childhood the cognitive development theory, as well as the ethological theory play a huge role in attachment in childhood. The child will also go through different types of attachment when dealing with either mom or dad.
The fourth ride, industry vs inferiority, takes place mostly at school. Here, children need to cope with new social skills as well as academic demands. Here kids learn how to learn and may be eager to learn. Kids feel a sense of competence when they accomplish something or get a good grade. They also feel a sense of failure or inferiority when things go wrong or they fail. In school age, kids start to learn how to read as well as math and other subjects.
The fifth ride, identity vs role confusion takes place in adolescents. This is where social relationships play a huge role in development. Teens need to know who they are and develop a sense of self, as well as their personal identity. Teens get a powerful sense of self form accomplishment, while failure leads to self-consciousness or a weak sense of self. In this phase teens learn about who they really are, what they really like, and who they want to become. Teens also face temptation and peer pressure, and learn rational decision making.
The sixth ride, young adulthood, looks at intimacy vs isolation. This takes place in relationships, young adults will form real, loving, and genuine relationships with other people in this stage of life. Usually success will lead to strong relationships and a strong sense of self, while failure will lead to failing relationships and a sense of self consciousness.
The seventh ride, middle adulthood, looks at generativity vs stagnation takes place at work, but it also includes parenthood. Adults usually look to nurture or grow something, whether its children or their job. Adults get a sense of accomplishment by having children or creating positive change or accomplishing something huge in their career. If adults fail then they become dreary and develop a sense of failure and become stagnant.
On the eight and final ride, maturity, we look at ego integrity vs despair. In this final stage people usually look back at their life and reflect on all the things they saw, people they met, and things they did, as well as their accomplishments. The elderly people who have a sense of accomplishment feel a sense of wisdom. While, other elderly people who reflect on their life and feel regret or sorrow often are bitter. This is the last and final stage of life, people will die at this stage.
This video depicts all eight stages of life in Erikson’s theory, it enriches my understanding because it depicts how life goes through all the stages and all the feelings we feel as we go through life as well as ups and downs that come with it.
The strengths of this theory compared to Freud’s psychodynamic theory is because Erikson takes us through all stages of life. Whereas, Freud looks at Id, Ego, Superego, as well the Oedipus and Electra complexes. Freud’s theory is difficult to test empirically, it is also not based on work with children. Freud’s theory focuses mainly on sexuality and is way too narrow compared to Erikson’s theory.
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The video was very informative to me it also displayed the various stages of life and the representations were accurate in my opinion. My favorite stage of them all was the old the 8th ride of the carousel which was represented as an elderly couple that did not quite get along very well at first but then they came close to each other. It was impressive the amount of creativity that went into creating the title and the film itself. It was awesome to see all the connected stages of development by a simple carnival ride. There is so much information about life itself and all the lessons we face as humans that it is valuable to watch it. One theory that I was constantly reminded of while watching this short film was Erickson’s stages theory of psychosocial development. Erik Erickson was one of the most known psychoanalysts of his time. His stages ranged from the time of birth until the elderly age. Erickson developed a total of 8 stages of development which are greatly explained in the film, but instead of calling them stages they called them rides in the film. Erickson Development theory starts with the infant and is revolving around the basic trust of the individual around the people in his environment, the psychosocial issue development in this stage is basic mistrust. The 2nd stage of development is toddler this one deals with autonomy and the drive to attempt things by themselves, the psychosocial issue in development in this stage is referred to as doubt and shame. The 3rd stage is a preschooler and this one deals with the battle between 2 psychosocial issues: initiative vs. guilt, in this battle, is where the young children find a direction and a purpose. The 4th stage is schooler in this stage the individual has an internal psychosocial battle with both the industry and inferiority, he or she might not feel like anything they do I valuable. In the 4th stage, children experience 2 very important lessons method and competence. In the 5th stage of development labeled the adolescent stage people have an internal battle: identity vs the role of confusion which then eventually leads to learning 2 very important lessons, which are devotion and fidelity. The 6th stage of development in Erickson’s theory is young adulthood in this stage there is an internal conflict between Intimacy and isolation. The lessons that young adults learn throughout this stage is affiliation & love. The 7th stage of development Erickson discussed in his theory was the middle age in this, stage there is an internal battle between generativity and stagnation. The most valuable lessons these individuals will learn in production and care for others. The last stage was the 8th stage in which older adults have a psychological issue ego-integrity vs despair. The last stage is supposed to provide us with renunciation & wisdom. These 8 stages are discussed in the film represented with cartoon animations alongside short speeches, and music. I chose to compare the evolutionary theory in chapter 3 to Erickson’s theory of development. Erickson believes that there is a total of 8 stages and each one represents a certain point in a person’s life. However modern evolutionary theorist does not think in such way they in fact think that an individual’s environment is what supports certain types of behaviors that may be categorized as adaptive. An example of an adaptive behavior would be communication in any way to others in the environment by sending or receiving signals and or messages. These theorists believe that these behaviors were in our repertoire since birth. It is believed by evolutionary theorists that the gift of adaptive behavior has ensured the survival of the human species.
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It wasn’t too challenging to understand Erikson’s theory; however, the movie “Every Body Rides a Carousel” does a dazzling attempt to explain every one of the eight stages of his theory.
Let us begin with Trust vs. Mistrust. A baby represents this stage. According to Erikson is when we start to trust the parents or caregivers, thus giving us a sense of security. When this stage fails, it creates fear and anxiety.
Autonomy vs. Shame is the second stage; this one is all about independence. Babies become toddlers, start walking, making decisions, and adventuring by walking away from their caregivers. It is at this crucial stage when parents need to encourage their children to be independent. Erikson thought that toilet training was an essential, indispensable factor for children in this stage, and it is utterly and graciously represented in the movie.
While we are in the process of becoming independent, we found ourselves facing the school, afraid to be away from parents and ashamed of the feeling. Eventually, we get used to it, and we start regularly to interact with peers. Playtime involves initiative and playing different roles, usually the more secure children become the leaders. When a child’s question or point of view is dismissed as a non-sense, the child is more likely to feel embarrassment and guilt. They grow up with a lack of initiative and low self-esteem. This description falls in Initiative vs. Guilt, third stage.
Industry vs. Inferiority comes as the fourth stage. Children at this stage start to learn to read, write, do the math, and so forth. They begin to feel a sense of achievement, and it is essential to be reinforced by the parents or caregivers and create a competitive behavior, encouraging the child to be the best in the class, to get better grades, etc. while keeping a degree of modesty. When parents are so involved in their work and do not give the attention the child needs, their child can feel inferior to their peers because they doubt themselves and their abilities.
The fifth stage relates to Identity vs. Role Confusion. Our identity is our beliefs and values, which forge our behaviors and make us who we are. For Erikson, this translates into the “ability to live by society’s standards and expectations.” (Cherry,2019) Erikson believed that this stage was critical, according to his theory, it is when the ego develops through social interaction, and those who are accordingly reinforced will have a strong feeling of independence and those who lack encouragement will become unsure and confused. When people feel insecure, they usually have low self-esteem, which leads them to become depressed, and they isolate themselves vs. successful individuals who need a relationship and are capable of committing. If we take a closer look, we described stage six, Intimacy vs. Isolation.
Intimacy involving relationship commitments are characteristics of adulthood when we try to build a family. In the movie, we hear this statement “this is the age of caring, producing creating parenting loving people, a big word for it is generativity.” We become a family, or we don’t, generally, those who can’t are insecure, isolated, and depressed individuals. This stage cannot be other than Generativity vs. Stagnation, which is in stage seven.
Integrity vs. Despair comes as the last stage; by the movie representation, it is the old people stage, is the time to look back and deep into our lives, and decide if we are satisfied or not. For some, it is that stage when we come up with a bucket list.
At the end of the movie, I was moved by the old couple in the restaurant. I found particularly funny, how the old lady asked her husband to get her cream. He leaves, and she immediately brings her husband food to her table, he returns, and he sat with her without hesitation, it shows how well the wife knew her husband, how she found her way back to him. I was also impressed by the poise with which the other old couple embraced death. They looked like a couple who have been able to raise a family and live their lives well.
I compared Erikson’s theory to Freud’s Theory. They have a lot of similarities, which is due to the fact that Erikson based his argument on Freud’s one. They both emphasized the importance of childhood experiences and the role it plays in adult personality. However, Erikson took a psychosocial approach, and his theory has a wide-range perspective encapsulating childhood, adolescence, and adulthood vs. Freud’s who made a psychosexual approach and ended the stages at a much earlier time. The movie helps us see clearly how Erikson envisioned this process continuing throughout a person’s life, stopping only at the same time as the person does, with death.
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For this video, The Carousel of Life, it represents the eight stages of Erikson’s theory. This reminded me of a child-like version of explaining Erikson’s theory. He described life of having eight rides that includes bumps, rounds and some happy, some sad times. This clown described the first ride as being the newborn ride. He explained how in the newborn ride, it is the ride of a newborn having to have trust with their guardian and if they have trust they will be happy newborns and cheerful, but if they don’t have trust then they will be sad and crying. This is when the baby makes their first sounds, sees their first senses of light and whether trust is established or not. The second stage of life is when they become toddlers. This is when the child becomes very outgoing and wanting to touch everything. They begin to learn how things work and how to gain the things they want. They also learn their own sense of autonomy. This is when the toddler learn how to somewhat take care of themselves in a sense. They begin to learn how to pick up their own food, feed themselves using silverware. This is when it is very important for the parent(s) to praise the child when they begin learning to do things like this. The third stage is the childhood stage. This is when children really become more mature in a sense. This is when children become very imaginative. They start to playing imaginary games with themselves and their friends. Cognitively, this stage is very crucial. The children begin to have different relationships with their parents and communication becomes more vital. The fourth ride the clown describes is inferiority versus industry. This is when kids begin school and learning how to read and write. This is when children learn to feel happy and accomplished when they succeed in something educationally. However, this is also when children could feel ashamed when they get something incorrect. They may feel embarrassed if they can’t count to a certain number or anything for example. The fifth ride the clown describes is in adolescents. This is identity versus role confusion. This is when adolescents really begin to learn a sense of self and who they are. This ride also has a lot to do with adolescents and their peer interactions and social relationships. This is when they could be forced into peer pressure or seeing other adolescents take action in activities they may not feel comfortable doing but could be forced socially to participate in that activity. This is when children can begin to feel a sense of insecurity and self consciousness. This could develop from falling into peer pressure or not falling into peer pressure therefore they may be shunned from their social group for example. Intimacy versus isolation is the clowns sixth ride. This is crucial because this is when the young adults begin to form real “love” emotions for people outside of their gender and family. This is when the young adults could form healthy attachments and relationships which will then help them establish a sense of confidence in future relationships and in themselves. However if they have bad experiences or are unable to form healthy relationships it could lead to a lot of insecurity and self-confidence issues in oneself and in forming future relationships. The seventh ride on Erikson’s ride would be generativity versus stagnation. This is a stage of adults wanting to having a sense of accomplishment. This could be within their job, furthering their education, making a positive change in society or their lives or feeling like something is accomplished that they can be proud of. Adults want to take care of something and feel like they provided something positive into the world. The last and final stage of Erikson’s theory and the clowns last ride is ego integrity versus despair. This is the stage of the very adult aged individuals. This is important because this is basically the stage of the elderly looking back on their lives. This is when they look back and fathom whether they feel accomplished, wisdom and proud of themselves and the things they created in the prime of their lives. On the other hand, they could feel sorrow and depression and bitterness if they feel they didn’t accomplish the things they strived to.
I have always preferred Erikson’s theory over any other theory. To me, this theory makes the most sense to me and is the most logical. I feel I can relate to this theory more than any other. Many modern theorists believe that people’s development is based on environment they are surrounded in. I do not really believe that as much. I believe people’s environment defiantly plays a role in their life but not nearly as much as how Erikson describes the eight stages of life.
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The video “everybody ride the carousel” starts off with a clown
Explaining to us that he has 8 rides for 8 ages. A age for every rider. It talks about starting with the genesis and ending with death. According to the clown, he says that there will be up and down times & happy and sad times throughout life.
First ride is the ride of the new born.
It has basic trust and mistrusting.
It talks about the basic trusts in a baby & being abandon where no one cares for the baby.
It’s the beginning of sound,light and awareness for the baby.
During this stage is where the baby makes its first sound (stage 1). During this stage according to Erickson this is the time where babies and mothers are bonding. Baby spends most of its time with its mother by holding, nurturing and feeding it. At this point is where the bond of a baby and mother gets closer and closer and the baby builds trust with its mother.
During the new born stage, babies cry when they are in need of something. For example they cry when they are hungry, do not like something, and are uncomfortable.
Second ride is called the ride of the toddler. During this stage is when the toddler is familiarizing it’s self with its own self. It will try it’s best to defend theirselves in anyway that they can. Erickson theory for the toddler stages describes that the toddler starts being aware of shame and when they are in doubt. During this stage, they start to pick up on words that they are hearing around them and also are getting familiarized with surroundings.
Toddlers begin to walk during this stage as well. During this stage a toddler will learn to use the rest room on its own. Also by learning how to eat by themselves.
Third ride is called the childhood ride. During the stage is when the child is pretending to be a grown up. Guilt also develops here.during this stage, children want their outmost attention. Everything is about them. During this stage is where the child will go through different phases of attachment with mom, dad or whoever.
Fourth ride is called industry versus inferiority. In this stage is where kids are introduced to the academic world. They will learn to read , add numbers and a lot of other subjects.Here they go through mix emotions by learning how to Socialize with other children etc. here they are trying their best to be good at everything for example grades to compete with other classmates.
The fifth stage is identify vs role confusion. This is where I believe kids get to find who they are and what they are. For example what they like, what popular how to really fit in.
The sixth ride is young adulthood . During this stage they will form real long lasting relationships with people who mean the most to them. They will either have successful relationships or they will some relationships that fails
The seventh ride is middle adulthood which is generactivity vs stagnation. During this stages parents more more involved. They tend to nurture and help their children grow.
The either one is maturity. This is where they see what’s going on around them and reflect back on stuff that has went on in their life such as different relationships etc. at this stage is where people die.
This video helped me a lot to understand eriksons theory. Our life does go through different stages. Life is not always going to be perfect. Like does have its pros and cons. Ups and down. Happy and sad times.
I will compare eriksons theory to Freuds theory because they are both very similar. They both talk about how important childhood stages is. But eriksons theory starts from the beginning from when the child is born and I like that.
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The film “Everybody Ride the Carousel” was an amazing depiction of Erikson’s 8 stages of social development. It is evident from the very beginning that plenty of creativity was put into the making of this film with its different music genre and cartoon animation,script, etc. The expectation of the quality of the film and information was the complete opposite compared to what it was like in reality. The film was entertaining and highly informative as the narrator walks the audience throughout Erikson’s 8 stages of development by creating 8 rides on a carousel for 8 ages.
The first ride is all about infants in which they struggle with trust vs. mistrust. In the film, the infant learns to recognize their mother as their primary caregiver and forms a trust with her. Others who approached the infant caused the infant to feel uneasy or overwhelmed since the infant hasn’t established that trust towards them. This stage is where senses are also being discovered and the infant begins to develop an awareness.
The second ride has to deal with toddlers and their conflict with autonomy versus shame and doubt. This ride was one of the most comedic ones because the audience is observing a toddler’s curiosity to explore and gain independence from their caregivers. During this stage toddlers begin to understand right from wrong through constant correction from the parent. It is also in this stage where they enjoy pleasing the caregiver so tries to what is right rather than wrong and feeling a sense of shame.
The third ride is initiative vs guilt and primarily focuses on childhood specifically preschool years .In this stage, children are extremely impulsive and act before they think . Children in this stage have a “I want” attitude and does whatever it takes to obtain that desire. This is where they seek to try new things but if they fail, they become distress.
The fourth ride is Industry vs Inferiority and happens during middle childhood. Children begin to engage in challenging tasks. Failure to complete a challenging tasks leads the child to low self-esteem where they compare their progress with others. The upside of this stage is that it very beneficial for a child’s growth and helps with creating short-term goals.
The fifth ride is identity vs role confusion during the adolescent period. Here, teens are are trying to figure out their place in the world such as who are they as human beings, and what is their purpose, what will they do in life,etc. Society pressures teens especially in during their last years in high school, that they need to have a set plan for their future. This stage involved teens feeling constantly misunderstood and worried about their future.
Now in adulthood, the sixth stage is intimacy and isolation, in which the core struggle is the need for love and affection and the fear of being alone. Failure to find that sense of intimacy leads to isolation from others. One cannot be successful in this stage unless they know themselves and are in confident in their identity before jumping into a relationship. One has to be open and honest if they want to thrive in this stage.
Middle adulthood struggles with generativity and stagnation. The way to reach generativity is to be proactive in different areas of life such as engaging in hobbies or volunteering,etc. Failure to reach generativity leads to stagnation which is uncertainty which is the source of midlife crisis.
The final stage is integrity vs despair which is in late adulthood. This stage involves reflection of the life that one has lived and whether or not it was meaningful or worthwhile. Success in this stage leaves one feeling satisfied with the life they lived and not having any regrets. Despair leaves one feeling disappointed with themselves and hopeless. These people are usually bitter and always wonder what life would have been like if they made different choice.
The strengths of this theory is that it provides a more specific detailed explanation for human behavior/struggles in different areas of their life from infancy through late adulthood compared to Freud’s psychodynamic theory created five different stages that only went as far as adolescence. Freud’s theory did not put too much emphasis on what happens if one fails at one of the stages. What can be gathered is that there is not sufficient support of one being able to succeed later in life if they failed at one of Freud’s earlier stages. Is one to be forever doomed?
The film was very accurate in describing the eight stages of Erikson’s theory and painted a clearer picture through its simple cartoon animation which can make it easier to show children as they will be entertained yet informed.