William James' Psychosocial Development

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the life of pioneering American psychologist and philosopher, William James. It analyzes his life according to Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development. The paper looks at five stages of James' life, describes events in his life at those points, and then analyzes their meaning according to Erikson's theories on psychosocial development.

Table of Contents:
Infancy / Early Childhood (0-6 Yrs)
Middle Childhood (6-12 Yrs)
Adolescence (12-20 Yrs) And Young Adulthood (20-40 Yrs)
Late Adulthood To Death (60 Yrs +)
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"William James' central conflict, as one biographer saw it, was between his "Promethean" and "mystical" selves: one manifested itself in the philosopher's pragmatism and democratic ideals; the other manifested itself via his long fascination with metaphysics, psychical research, higher consciousness studies, and the like (Raposa 2001). This dichotomy may be overly reductive, but it does show something of James' divided (yet highly functional) self. Observers agreed in describing William James as "tolerant, manly, liberal, romantic, impetuous, mystical, generous, anti-traditionalistic, sensitive, brilliant, kind, eloquent." They saw him, despite his self-confessed depressive states, as optimistic, anti-fatalistic and very sociable. Like all great men, William James possessed a complex, even contradictory nature, which he utilized to his advantage to create and push himself to higher levels of accomplishment, even in the face of depression and self-doubt."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Brennan, B. (1968). William James. New York: Twayne.
• Feinstein, H. (1984). Becoming William James. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press.
• Feldman, R. (2006). Development Across the Life Span. 4th Ed. Upper Saddle River NJ: Pearson - Prentice Hall.
• Myers, G. (1986). William James: His Life and Thought. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.
• Raposa, M. (2001). "The Divided Self of William James" (Book Review). First Things, 115, 62-64. http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0108/reviews/raposa.html

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