Best known for his theory on psychosocial development in humans, Erik Erikson was a German-American child psychoanalyst and visual artist. And if you’ve ever heard or used the term “identity crisis,” you can thank Erikson for that, too, since he coined it. Born in 1902, he’s considered one of the most influential psychoanalysts of the 20th century and wrote about social psychology, identity and how psychology intersected with history, culture and more, per Britannica. And our quote of the dayincludes Erikson’s thoughts about how humans need each other, and it’s not a weakness to lean on others; in fact, it’s natural.
Erikson wasn’t told who his biological father was until later on in his childhood, thinking his stepfather was his only father until then. So his focus on identity later on in his professional work makes sense, given his confusion about identity growing up and the issues he had to deal with, per Encyclopedia.com.
As mentioned above, he’s most well-known for his theory on the stages of psychosocial development, where he suggests there are eight stages of development, each of which is defined by a “core conflict” that then impacts and molds your personality and identity, according to VeryWellMind. You can either develop healthily if you resolve those conflicts, or live with unresolved conflicts that can hinder further development.
In his time as a researcher, professor and psychoanalyst, he wrote several books, including works that examined real-life figures such as Martin Luther and Gandhi. He died in 1994 at the age of 91, and today’s quote looks at what he thought about interdependence and that we’re better off for accepting the fact that we need the help of others in life.
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Quote of the Day by Erik Erikson
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"Life doesn't make any sense without interdependence. We need each other, and the sooner we learn that, the better for us all."
This quote is a good example of Erikson’s work and what he ultimately believed based on his research. As Simply Psychology reported, Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development have to do with how our lives and sense of self are shaped by our social relationships. These relationships can include family, friends, authority figures, romantic partners and more. And how we are treated or perceived by others—and later on, how we act within those structures, too—can impact whether we resolve those core conflicts and develop strengths or “virtues,” or if they remain unresolved and we go onto a future stage with negative repercussions.
Since Erikson’s main points had to do with how humans develop based on their social experiences, it makes sense that he would believe that humans—who are inherently social creatures—need others to grow.
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Of course, as a baby, you absolutely need others to survive. But just because you survived past that stage, it doesn’t necessarily mean you gained the virtue of trust, the first strength you can gain from your first stage in life. Unfortunately, if life was difficult for you or you only received the bare minimum basic needs, you might have a hard time with trust. Whether we had a healthy growth from that stage depends on others.
Again, the whole point of Erikson’s work has to do with the fact that our relationship and interaction with others impact us at each and every stage of life, and we’re constantly growing, even into the last stage of “old age” (65 years old and up).
So even when we don’t “depend” on others for our livelihood in later stages of life, the concept of Erikson’s psychosocial stages suggests that we need to experience these core conflicts and stages involving others to evolve. The strengths or virtues that humans are meant to gain from each stage include trust, autonomy, identity, intimacy and more, and you can’t really develop those things without others, hence the quote.
For Erikson to say that “life doesn’t make any sense without interdependence,” he isn’t advocating for codependence. But rather, he means that we live in connection to others, and we’re meant to. Life isn’t about barely surviving your way through hardships—or even just daily tasks—without anyone by your side or who you can turn to. It’s not a flex to deny help or say that you can do things all by yourself and you don’t need anybody. Hyperindependence can be a trauma response or just a toxic trait. But either way, it’s nothing to aspire to.
Erikson's words have a truth to them when he says, “We need each other.” He’s right, and we’re better off for it once we get it through our individualistic, hustle-culture-pilled heads.
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More Quotes from Erik Erikson
“Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired.”“Healthy children will not fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear death.”“The more you know yourself, the more patience you have for what you see in others."“In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity.”“Adolescents need freedom to choose, but not so much freedom that they cannot, in fact, make a choice.”“There is in every child at every stage a new miracle of vigorous unfolding."Up Next:
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