Biography
Eric Erickson is a psychologist and psychoanalyst, who studied the development of the psyche during ontogenesis and developed an epigenetic theory of personality development. He owns the creation of a term "identity crisis". The scientist was realized as a theorist and practitioner, taught in prestigious educational institutions and leading techniques in clinics. In addition, he became the author of the books in the profile direction.Childhood and youth
Eric Homburger Erickson was born on June 15, 1902 in Frankfurt am Main and turned out to be the fruit of the secret connection of Charles Abrahamsen and an unknown Dane of Jewish origin. During this period, the woman was married to the curvature broker Waldemar Salomonsen, so the son got his last name.
After the time, Charles graduated from the courses of the nurse and escaped to Karlsruhe, where Erica was held. In 1904, the mother's mother was combined with a marriage with the pediatrician Theodore Homburger. After 7 years, stepfather officially adopted the child. Charles raised her son in Jewish traditions.
The appearance of the boy did not correspond to nationality. In the Jewish religious school, the buddles ridiculated him for blond hair and blue eyes, and in an ordinary school he endured the mockery for religion. Mixing identities provoked an internal conflict, and the young man became increasingly thinking about his origin.
As a gymnasium, Eric was fond of art, languages and humanitarian sciences. We wanted stepfather that at the end of the school he entered the medical institute, but the stepper became a student of the art school in Munich.
Soon the young man left his studies. For some time he traveled around Europe, visiting the city of Germany and Italy in the company of the child's childhood of Peter Blos. Erickson earned the sale of sketches, but understood that he would never fully connect a biography with art. Returning to Karlsruhe, he accepted Blost's offer to move to Vienna and become a teacher of painting at a local school.
The pedagogical talent of the mentor rated the rich customer who hired him to teach children. Rumors that Erickson gets perfectly with the kids and adolescents, went around the district. The mentor began to invite other parents. Among them were friends Anna and Sigmund Freud.
Personal life
Eric Ericson married in 1930. His chosen was the dancer and artist from Canada Joan Moweet Serson. Dating a couple took place on the ball. The wife gave a man two sons and daughter. Being in marriage, the psychologist adopted Christianity.When in 1933 it became clear that the coming to power Adolf Hitler entails a Nazi threat, Eric, along with his wife and children, went to Copenhagen. It was not possible to ensure Danish citizenship, so the family moved to the United States, where this question was not so acute, but it was easier to build a personal life.
In the late 1930s, the psychologist took the last name Erickson, and the schoochi's last name was the second name.
Scientific activity
At the age of 25, Eric got acquainted with Threud. The daughter of psychoanalyst Anna helped him to become a listener of lectures at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute. The young man engaged in children's psychology. In parallel, he studied the Montessori technique, which is based on the development of the child and the steps of sexual changes. In 1933, the psychologist received a diploma.
Having moved to the USA, Erickson became the first child psychoanalyst in Boston. At first, he worked in the Massachusetts Hospital, then in the center of Judge Baker and Harvard Medical School. He was also a psychological clinic doctor. In 1936, Ericik offered a position in the medical school and the Institute of Social Relations at the Yale University. In addition to psychoanalysis, the researcher was engaged in the study of the connection of anthropology and psychology, interacting with the authoritative representatives of both directions.
In 1938, Erickson completed his work in Yale and went to South Dakota to watch the Siou tribe, and then got acquainted with the traditions of the Jource tribe in California. Comparing the features of children's development in communities, the psychologist has found the difference. They motivated a scientist for research in the field of impact on the psyche of events taking place in adolescence. After a year, together with his family, Erickson moved to California, where he joined the team of the Institute of Social Security Berkeley, who exploring children's development. He also practiced San Francisco.
In a new place, Eric retracted to the Yurok tribe and completed the second study. In the 1950s published the book "Childhood and Society", which brought him fame. It described thoughts regarding the world of childhood and the influence of society on him. In the same year, the scientist left the walls of the University of California.
In the period from 1951 to 1960, Eric Ericson taught in the center of Austin Riggs and worked with emotionally unfavorable young people. In parallel, he spoke at the University of Pittsburgh as a invited professor. In 1958, published a book by a scientist called "Young Luther".
Returning to Harvard in the late 1960s, he held the position of professor until the 1970s. In 1968, the book of Erikson "Identity: Youth and Crisis" came out. In 1973, the researcher acted as a reader at Jefferson lecture and received the highest award of the United States from the National Humanitarian Foundation.
The scientist made a significant contribution to psychology. Taking the theory of Freud, he did not concentrate on the idea of the relationship of children and parents, and put an interest in person in chapter. His theory of personality development shared psychological formation not at 5 stages, but on 8 stages of the life cycle. In addition to the phases described by Freud, another 3 periods of an adult appeared in the diagram.
Arguing about confusion in identity, Erickson created the following periodization of development stages: oral-sensory, muscular-anal, locomotive-genital, latent, teenage, early maturity (youth), medium maturity, late maturity (old age).
He attached great importance to the ego, believing that his identity allows each person to be individuality. Role distortions lead to the fact that the subject may not take place as a member of society. The researcher believed that the environment largely affects the adaptation of the child, the formation of self-consciousness and identity. The ego is responsible for harmony with the environment, personal growth and implementation, self-confidence.
Death
Eric Erickson died on May 12, 1994. The cause of death was associated with old age. He found the last refuge in the city of Harich, in the state of Massachusetts. Together with the wife, the psychologist is buried at the cemetery of the Congregationist Church.The works of the scientist are in demand to this day, and his photos are placed in textbooks and books about age psychology.
Bibliography
- 1950 - "Childhood and Society"
- 1958 - "Young Luther. Historical and psychoanalytic study »
- 1959 - "Identity: Youth and Crisis"
- 1969 - "True Mahatma Gandhi: about the origin of militant non-violence"
- 1978 - "Adult Period"
- 1986 - "Life involvement in old age"
- 1987 - "Life cycle completed"