Answer: Keith is 16 years old and is trying different clothes and hairstyles. His father is confused and sometimes shocked by his son's pairing of shirts and pants, the earrings, chains, and hair colors. His mother, on the other hand, just laughs. According to Erik Erikson, Keith is in the stage of development called <u>identity conflict</u> versus role confusion.
Explanation:
Erikson maintained that personality develops in a predetermined order through eight stages of psychosocial development, from infancy to adulthood. During each stage,<em> the person experiences a psychosocial crisis </em>which could have a positive or negative outcome for personality development.
For Erikson , <em>these crises are of a psychosocial nature because they involve psychological needs of the individual conflicting with the needs of society .</em>
According to the theory, successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and the acquisition of basic virtues. Basic virtues are characteristic strengths which the ego can use to resolve subsequent crises.