Erikson on Development in Adulthood: New Insights from the Unpublished PapersErik Erikson (1902-1994) was one of the most eminent and prolific psychologists of the 20th century. Over his long career he published a dozen books, including classics such as Childhood and Society; Identity, Youth, and Crisis; and Young Man Luther . He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in 1970 for his biography Gandhi's Truth. It was also in 1970, when he retired from Harvard University, that Erikson began to rethink his earlier theories of development. He became increasingly occupied with the conflicts and challenges of adulthood--a shift from his earlier writings on the "identity crises" of adolescence. For the past twenty years, Carol Hoare has written extensively on various aspects of Erikson's work. She has been aided by access to Erikson's unpublished papers at Harvard, as well as cooperation with Joan Erikson, the psychologist's wife and longtime collaborator. By reconstructing Erikson's theory of adulthood from his unpublished papers, Hoare provides not only a much-needed revision of Erikson's work, but also a glimpse into the mind of one of the 20th century's most profound thinkers. |
From inside the book
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Page viii
... learning. We are hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, and touching adults, as well as limbic and rational beings. But Erikson held that we discredit much of the sensory information that comes to us as we continually discover and learn ...
... learning. We are hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, and touching adults, as well as limbic and rational beings. But Erikson held that we discredit much of the sensory information that comes to us as we continually discover and learn ...
Page ix
... one of the very best learning experiences of my adult life. I can only hope that the master, Erik Erikson himself, somehow knows this. This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments This book would not Preface ix.
... one of the very best learning experiences of my adult life. I can only hope that the master, Erik Erikson himself, somehow knows this. This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments This book would not Preface ix.
Page 5
... learning what adults are about, how each of us is shaped and motivated by conscious and unconscious forces that have molded us from childhood on, and how other contemporary influences also sway our daily thought and behavior. Readers ...
... learning what adults are about, how each of us is shaped and motivated by conscious and unconscious forces that have molded us from childhood on, and how other contemporary influences also sway our daily thought and behavior. Readers ...
Page 6
... learning, for the first time or in greater depth, how adults are formed, how they function, and what it is that, in Erikson's mind's eye, shows their maturity and immaturity. If one great thinker could "dare to ask," then perhaps we can ...
... learning, for the first time or in greater depth, how adults are formed, how they function, and what it is that, in Erikson's mind's eye, shows their maturity and immaturity. If one great thinker could "dare to ask," then perhaps we can ...
Page 11
... Learning that those natives were the very ones he had read about as a child and hoping to observe important cultural traits, Erikson eagerly departed Yale for his trip west. As he said about his anthropologist friends, "At the ...
... Learning that those natives were the very ones he had read about as a child and hoping to observe important cultural traits, Erikson eagerly departed Yale for his trip west. As he said about his anthropologist friends, "At the ...
Contents
3 | |
7 | |
3 Erikson and Rethinking the Meaning of Adult | 23 |
4 Prejudiced Adult | 41 |
5 MoralEthical Spiritual Adult | 71 |
6 Playing Childlike Adult | 113 |
7 Historically and Culturally Relative Adult | 145 |
8 Insightful Adult | 171 |
9 Wise Adult | 185 |
10 Acclaim and Criticism for Eriksons Theory and His Concepts of the Adult | 199 |
Notes | 225 |
Index | 269 |
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ability active adolescence adult adulthood American Author’s become behavior belief caring child childhood childlike complete concepts consider criticism cultural developmental early engaged Erik H Erikson Hrvd ethical example exist experience fact faith Freud Further Gandhi’s Truth held hold human Ibid ideas identity important individual insight institutions integrated Item knowledge later leads learning Lectures living look means meant mental mind Miscellaneous Papers moral move nature needs negative Notes Observations one’s origins Papers and Notes period persons play positive Pprs prejudice psyche Psychoanalysis psychological Reasons Reflections relativity requires Responsibility revisions roles seems sense social society space species spiritual stage strength theory things thinking thought tion Toys Typescript undated understand University values various dates Vision wisdom writing wrote York Young Man Luther youth
Popular passages
Page 129 - I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
Page 140 - The child's toys and the old man's reasons Are the fruits of the two seasons. The questioner, who sits so sly, Shall never know how to reply. He who replies to words of doubt Doth put the light of knowledge out.
Page 34 - But a creative man has no choice. He may come across his supreme task almost accidentally. But once the issue is joined, his task proves to be at the same time intimately related to his most personal conflicts, to his superior selective perception, and to the stubbornness of his one-way will: he must court sickness, failure, or insanity, in order to test the alternative whether the established world will crush him, or whether he will disestablish a sector of this world's outworn fundaments and make...
Page 76 - At fifteen I set my heart upon learning. At thirty, I had planted my feet firmly on the ground. At forty, I no longer suffered from perplexities. At fifty, I knew what were the biddings of heaven. At sixty, I heard them with a docile ear. At seventy, I could follow the dictates of my own heart; for what I desired no longer overstepped the boundaries of right ( 1 1 .4).
Page 76 - The Master said : At fifteen I set my heart upon learning. At thirty, I had planted my feet firm upon the ground. At forty, I no longer suffered from perplexities. At fifty, I knew what were the biddings of Heaven. At sixty, I heard them with docile ear. At seventy, I could follow the dictates of my own heart; for what I desired no longer overstepped the boundaries of right...
Page 44 - The term denotes the fact that while man is obviously one species, he appears and continues on the scene split up into groups (from tribe to nations, from castes to classes, from religions to ideologies) which provide their members with a firm sense of distinct and superior identity — and immortality.
Page 55 - lowest" in man is thus apt to reappear in the guise of the "highest." Irrational and pre-rational combinations of goodness, doubt, and rage can re-emerge in the adult in those malignant forms of righteousness and prejudice which we may call moralism. In the name of high moral principles all the vindictiveness of derision, of torture, and of mass extinction can be employed.