Analyzing Erikson's Eight Stages Of Cognitive Development

According to Erik Erikson, there are eight stages of development an individual will experience throughout his or her lifetime. One of Erikson’s stages, which he named identity versus identity confusion, occurs specifically in the developmental period of adolescence. In this identity vs. confusion stage, an adolescent will explore different roles in hopes to find their positive identity. I believe how adolescents experience this stage is extremely crucial to how they develop and will continue to develop in life. Although there are many different factors that can affect the development of an adolescent, an adolescent’s self-identity is one component that will affect the maturation of an individual. An adolescent’s self-identity will determine their personal role and status within their environment. The role an adolescent decides to adopt will determine the types of values they will choose to abide by in the future. This will later determine the types of behavior an adolescent does or does not engage in.
This stage is characterized by cognitive development. Cognitive development is the progression of thinking from the way a child does to the way an adult does. Jean Piaget proposed four stages of cognitive development. His last stage is formal operational period. This is the stage where adolescents begin to think abstract and hypothetically. They become capable of seeing solutions to problems and can think more scientifically about the world around them. But during this stage, they are also experiencing change with their bodies. They think about themselves and how the world around them influences their behavior. Formal operational periods allow adolescents to develop a thought and make determinations on what others say how they behave. Adolescents become possessed with what they and other are thinking, known as adolescent egocentrism. They are thinking that everyone is concentrating on the same things they