PSY 451 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Ontogeny, Radical Change, Erik Erikson
Document Summary
Unit two neo-analytic and ego aspects of personality: identity. With his focus on identity, erik erikson (1902-1994) worked squarely within the neo-analytic (ego) perspective on personality. Erikson faced his own identity challenges in childhood. His scandinavian birthfather abandoned erik before he was born, and erik was raised by his mother and jewish stepfather. His stepfather was a physician and hoped that erik would follow in his footsteps, but erik first became an artist, and then became interested in psychoanalysis. He underwent psychoanalytic training with sigmund freud"s daughter, anna freud. When the nazis came to power in germany, erik moved to the united states and changed his name from erik homburger to erik h. erikson. Building on certain psychoanalytic views but rejecting others, erikson believed that each of us must struggle with the demands of our emotions and the pressures of the environment. Erikson was among the first to propose a life-long, developmental theory of self-identity.