To complete this assignment:
1. Identify someone you can interview that is over 60 (someone in their 70’s or 80’s is even better!) This should be someone who is willing to share about their life with you
2. Review and understand Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory and Marcia’s Identity Status Theory
3. Develop interview questions to ask your interviewee regarding their Socioemotional development at each of the stages of adulthood.
4. Conduct your interview (this should take 1-2 hours)
5. Write a paper summarizing your interview and the theories
Your paper will consist of 7 sections:
Introduction: Provide a brief summary of the person you interviewed
Section 1: Adolescence/Emerging Adulthood
Section 2 Early Adulthood
Section 3 Middle Adulthood
Section 4 Late Adulthood
Section 5 Identity Development
Summary: Summarize your thoughts about this assignment and your interview
In each of section 1- 4:
Paragraph 1: Using the websites below, our textbook, or other online resources about Erikson, type up a description of Erikson’s stage of psychosocial development. (Note: if you copy word for word, you should use quotations, and indicate your source by saying “Erikson website”, or “text”).
Paragraph 2: Summarize what your interviewee told you about their development/life during this stage regarding identity, family career and ideology.
Paragraph 3: Did what your interviewee tell you align with Erikson’s theory at this stage? How was their experience similar or different than anticipated based on the theory?
Section 5
Using websites below and information from text/lecture, summarize Marcia’s 4 Identity Statuses. Describe what status you feel your interviewee has achieved in the areas of Love, Work and Ideology. Did they experience the newest status “searching moratorium” later in life?
Erikson’s last 5 stages of psychosocial Development
5
12–18
Identity vs. confusion
Experiment with and develop identity and roles
6
19–29
Intimacy vs. isolation
Establish intimacy and relationships with others
7
30–64
Generativity vs. stagnation
Contribute to society and be part of a family
8
65–
Integrity vs. despair
Assess and make sense of life and meaning of contribution
