PSY 200 – Psychological Development Across the Lifespan

Unit 7 Final Project: Evaluating Erikson

Due Date: 11:59 p.m. EST Sunday of Unit 7

Points: 100

Overview:

In Unit 4, you chose one of Erikson’s psychosocial stages (beginning with Industry vs. Inferiority and ending with Integrity vs. Despair), and you also chose someone to interview about their experience during the stage you chose. In this assignment, you will conduct your interview and evaluate Erikson’s theory using your interviewee’s responses and three scholarly sources about Erikson’s theory.

Instructions:

Review Erikson’s theory:

You will need to be very familiar with the Erikson stage you chose, so you can talk about it with your interviewee. Your knowledge of the stage should be supported by the information you obtained from your three scholarly sources (one may be your textbook).

Interview:

In Unit 4, you chose one of Erikson’s psychosocial stages beginning with Industry vs. Inferiority and ending with Integrity vs. Despair. You also identified a person to interview about their experience during one of those stages, and you wrote 5 interview questions.

You should use the 5 questions as approved in unit 4 by your instructor, and you can choose to add new questions (you can use more than 5 interview questions, but you must use at least 5).

You will conduct an interview with the person you identified; your interview can be face-to-face, on the phone, or through a video conference.

Paper:

After the interview is completed, you will use the interview responses, along with three scholarly sources, to write a three-page paper. The focus will be whether or not your interviewee experienced the psychosocial stage as described by Erikson’s theory.

Include the following:

State the psychosocial stage you chose to focus on.

Based on the interview responses, is Erikson’s theory correct?

Elaborate your response with specific detailed answers you obtained in your interview.

Connect the answers you received with Erikson’s theory. Explain how these answers support or refute Erikson’s theory.

Do you believe that this stage of Erikson’s theory is continuous or discontinuous? Explain your answer.

Further support your response with three scholarly sources on Erikson’s theory and/or research related to Erikson’s theory.

Requirements:

Submitted in a single WORD document.

Three-page essay evaluating one of Erikson’s stages.

Interview questions and responses included. (in addition to the three page paper)

Include at least three scholarly sources with APA style in-text citations and references

Be sure to read the criteria below by which your work will be evaluated before you write and again after you write.

Evaluation Rubric for Evaluating Erikson Assignment

CRITERIA

Deficient

Needs Improvement

Proficient

Exemplary

0 – 9 points 10 – 19 points 20 – 26 points 27 – 30 points

Erikson Stage Experience

Essay does not include any experience the interviewee had under a specific psychological stage. Essay vaguely explains the experience the interviewee had under a specific psychological stage. Essay mostly includes the experience the interviewee had under a specific psychological stage OR the writing somewhat explains why they did not experience the stage they were supposed to. Essay includes the experience the interviewee had under a specific psychological stage OR the writing thoroughly explains why they did not experience the stage they were supposed to.

0 – 9 points 10 – 19 points 20 – 26 points 27 – 30 points

Erikson Theory

Based on the interview, Erikson’s theory is not evaluated. Based on the interview, Erikson’s theory is loosely evaluated. Based on the interview, Erikson’s theory is mostly evaluated. Based on the interview, Erikson’s theory is thoroughly evaluated.

0 points 5 points 10 points

Interview

Interview with responses is not included. Partial interview with responses is included. Completed interview with responses is included.

0 points 10 points

Paper Length

Less than 3 pages n/a n/a 3 pages or longer

0 points 2 – 5 points 6 – 9 points 10 points

Resources

Sources were not incorporated into response. One scholarly source or non-scholarly sources were used to support essay. Sources may lack relevance. Two scholarly sources were used to support essay. Sources were mostly relevant. At least 3 relevant scholarly sources were used to support essay.

0 – 5 points 6 – 7 points 8 – 9 points 10 points

Clear and Professional Writing and APA Format

Errors impede professional presentation; guidelines not followed. Significant errors that do not impede professional presentation. Few errors that do not impede professional presentation. Writing and format are clear, professional, APA compliant, and error free.