Little Fugitive - Erickson

The next stage of psychosocial development is autonomy vs. shame and doubt. This stage occurs in children between one and three, but Joey demonstrates many qualities of this stage. In this stage, children begin to assert their independence, by picking which toys to play with, and making their own choices on what they want to wear, eat, etc. At the beginning of this time period before his mom leaves, Joey asserts his independence by telling his brother that he doesn’t want to play baseball, and that he would rather play by himself. And after his mom leaves, when Joey is at Coney Island, Joey displays even more characteristics of this stage. Joey chooses which rides he wants to go on, they carrousel and the pony rides. And Joey also chooses what he wants to eat. While at Coney Island, Joey eats many foods that he has never eaten before, such as watermelon, hot dogs, corn, cotton candy, and cracker jacks. Joey definitely illustrates his independence by walking around Coney Island on his own for such a long period of time. He does whatever he wants to do and makes all of his decisions on his own. Joey rarely experiences any instances of doubt, except for when he continues to fail at the carnival games and feels some shame and doubt about his performance.

The third stage of psychosocial development is initiative vs. guilt. This stage occurs in children between about three and seven. In this stage, children begin to assert themselves more frequently. They begin to plan activities, make up games, or initiate activities with others. While at Coney Island, Joey makes up a lot of his games. Most of the games he creates involve throwing a ball at a tower of cups, because he wants to get better at a similar carnival game. First, Joey tears the watermelon into pieces and throws the pieces at a can. Next, he rolls the cotton candy into a ball and throws it at a tower of cups. Joey initiates games and plays many of the carnival games at Coney Island, including the batting cage. He continues to bat even after he misses the ball many times. Joey definitely took the major initiative, which was going to Coney Island in the first place. Joey rarely experiences any situations where he feels guilty. Although he did feel very guilty when Lenny’s friends made him believe that he had shot his brother and killed him, the situation that started this whole mess in the first place.

The next stage of Erickson’s stages of psychosocial development is industry vs. inferiority. This stage occurs in children between about seven to puberty. In this stage, children begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments. They begin to start projects and see them through until completion so they can feel good about what they achieved. One of the projects that Joey sees through is collecting the empty bottles and exchanging them for money. After Joey realizes that he can ride the pony ride for 25 cents if he collects 5 bottles, Joey feels encouraged to collect as many bottles as he possible can. Joey feels very good about what he is doing and continues to do it many times. He ends