11.Which is not yet available to many people in the world despite the energy and largesse shown by Bill & Melinda Gates. Not having the internet will become another wedge to drive between the have and have-nots.
12.I’m using the open word ‘technology’ because the smartphones available in 2017 are handheld devices with voice, text and visual (still photo and movie) input Although the possibility of the output being for example displayed on wearable clothes or unrolled as a digital screen has been around as an idea for some time now, it has not yet been implemented. See for example Young, Webley, Cheyne, and Trabak (1999).
13.Demographics are visible or obtainable data such as occupational status, age, gender and location whereas psychographics are usually inferred from scores on tests. Unfortunately it’s not possible to observe whether that person on the train scores high or low on ‘need for cognition’ (an important variable in consumer decision making) so much research tries to link psychographics with demographics to establish what particular cocktail of demographics can best predict a psychographic variable. Sometimes called proxies or surrogates for psychographic X.
14.I use the term as descriptive of historical method which considers what is historical evidence and what historical narratives are acceptable.
15.I found it difficult to describe the time ‘zone’ of these three categories of boomer, generation X , and millennial because of the confused way they are defined—I thought ‘same era’ might be suitable but the word refers to a longer time scale.
References
Bargh, J. A., Chen, M., & Burrows, L. (1996). Automaticity of social behavior: Direct effects of trait construct and stereotype activation on action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 230–244.Crossref
Barnett, D. (2017, February 11). In the war between millennials and baby boomers we have forgotten about the work-hard, play-hard generation. Retrieved February 20, 2018, from http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/millenials-generation-x-baby-boomers-a7570326.html.
Bolton, P. (2012). Education: Historical statistics (standard note: SN/SG/4252). London: House of Commons Library.
Buss, A. (1974). Generational analysis: Description, explanation, and theory. Journal of Social Issues, 30(2), 55–71.Crossref
Chowdry, H., Crawford, C., Dearden, L., Goodman, A., & Vignoles, A. (2010). Widening participation in higher education: Analysis using linked administrative data (IFS working paper W10/04). London: Economic and Social Research Council.
Elder, G. H., Jr. (1998). The life course as developmental theory. Child Development, 69(1), 1–12.Crossref
Elder, G. H., Jr., Johnson, M. K., & Crosnoe, R. (2003). The emergence and development of life course theory. In J. T. Mortimer & M. J. Shanahan (Eds.), Handbook of the life course (pp. 1–19). New York: Plenum.
Gov.UK. (n.d.). School leaving age. London: Open Government Licence v3.0.
Hayward, M. (2016). The future of segmentation—And why we can’t resist putting people in boxes. Market Leader, 3, 10–11.
HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England). (2013). Trends in young participation in higher education. London: HEFCE.
Kertzer, D. I. (1983). Generation as a sociological problem. Annual Review of Sociology, 9, 125–149.Crossref
Lind, M. (1997, January 26). Generation gaps. New York Times. Retrieved July 19, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/01/26/reviews/970126.26lindlt.html?mcubz=2.
Mussweiler, T. (2006). Doing is for thinking! Stereotype activation by stereotypic movements. Psychological Science, 17, 17–21.Crossref
NPR. (2016). Times have changed: What should we call ‘old people’? Retrieved July 13, 2017, from http://www.npr.org/2016/02/06/465819152/times-have-changed-what-should-we-call-old-people.
Office for National Statistics (GB). (2016). Statistical bulletin: Families and households in the UK: 2016. 6. Percentages of young adults living with their parents have been growing. London: ONS.
Steinberg, L. (2007). Risk taking in adolescence: New perspectives from brain and behavioral science. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(2), 55–59.Crossref
Strauss, W., & Howe, N. (1991). Generations: The history of America’s future, 1584 to 2069. New York: William Morrow.
White, H. (2017). 100+things to do before you die. Retrieved February 10, 2018, from https://www.popsugar.co.uk/smart-living/Things-Do-Before-You-Die-42627034.
Young, B. M., Webley, P., Cheyne, T., & Trabak, A. (1999). Children and the internet: Uses and understandings. What+If (The Research Journal of the NCR Knowledge Lab), 1(2), 197–226.
© The Author(s) 2018
Brian M. YoungConsumer Psychologyhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90911-0_7
7. Erikson’s Stages of Life: Can We Bridge the Gap?
Brian M. Young1
(1)The Business School, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
Brian M. Young
Email: [email protected]
Erikson’s Stages of Life
Now we come to one of the few developmental psychologists who has tried to encompass all of human development by using what is known as a stage-developmental approach to the lifespan. It’s tricky enough to claim that child development goes through various stages far less suggesting humans do too, but we’ll see what he says. I’ll present the essentials 1 here and see how that might inform consumer research.
Basic Trust Versus Mistrust
Erikson’s strength lies in his informed approach to children and people from different cultural backgrounds and also his identification of quite deep and profound contrasts that seem to describe the essentials of stages in human development. The first of them, basic trust versus mistrust, originates in the most important social relationship that exists in the mind of the baby—the one between child and main caregiver. The emphasis here is on getting the balance right in order to resolve this contrast. A resolution where the child acquires hope for the future places the responsibility at the door of the caregiver who needs to feel confident that, for example, she is getting her feeding patterns right. He makes the important point that a traditional culture that has followed child-rearing patterns that have evolved successfully and have been passed down through the generations has an advantage over modern cultures where this can be absent. Parenting manuals like Spock ’s Baby and Child Care (Spock & Needlman, 2012) are mentioned by Erikson in this context and the equivalent nowadays would be websites like Mumsnet .
Which is better? The voice of authority through Spock giving advice as a medical doctor or the collective voice from those who are active participants in the parenting process? Framed like that then you might think there’s no contest—mums know best. However it’s more complex than that so I’ll spend some time unravelling the issue. Firstly there’s the cultural context of the second decade of the twenty-first century in the Western world to consider. The voice of ordinary people is heard but it’s often media that are the most influential providers of information about what to buy, how to look as a ‘mum’, and role models emerge on reality TV and danger from strangers are discussed on morning shows from breakfast through to lunchtime. This mash up of mass market news, consumption , fashion, eating fads, anxieties that range from being overweight to your child’s risk from paedophiles is consumed voraciously and discussed online. Consequently ‘advice’ could be seen a matter of consumer choice and mum’s self-image where she is surrounded with different sources at different times of the day rather than an objective direct assimilation of pages x to y of Dr. Spock’s advice manual. However this vision of parental advice being the individual mum making individual consumer choices of what advice to listen to on how to cope with tantrums, when and how much should children have access to smartphones and so on is not the full picture. As well as broadcast media there is social media and sites as Mumsnet 2 which is ‘by parents for parents’ and emphasises the collective sharing of
experiences as well as providing information in this area. Perhaps a better way to see it is not just as a received version of parenting being transmitted but experiences being shared and support being traded between participants.
There is another possible advantage of getting advice on parenting from a large group of participants with experience of the process apart from them knowing more because they’ve been through it and hopefully have got some solutions to the everyday problem that parents face. That might be because of ‘the wisdom of the crowd ’. It’s a simple idea. If we ask lots of people to guess how many pennies there are in a bottle then the average of all the guesses will be a good approximation to the correct number. Why? The reason that is usually put forward is that ‘wild’ guesses by definition only come from a few people and so they will make only a small contribution to the final result. However although this explanation makes a lot of statistical sense it neglects the structure within any group on a website. There will be elites who want to push their own views and oppose those who disagree, as well as those with time of their hands who are always online and making more contributions and so have a ‘bigger voice’ than others. There is also the emotional plus of group membership which bare statistics doesn’t show. Being involved in a group online where you are saying something and someone else is listening and contributing can be a supportive experience for the young mum and encourages good parenting when the default option too often is to do nothing which, by definition can lead to neglect. Consequently what emerges from Mumsnet is not a comfortable consensus that reflects group wisdom. But the process of contributing can be of immense value to new parents who find that they are not alone in facing similar problems and sharing pleasures of having and raising children.
Autonomy Versus Shame and Doubt
Those readers who know a little about Freud and his theories of anality , 3 a popular subject at psychologists’ coffee mornings I’m sure, will think ‘not all this stuff about toilet training again…’. Well bodily metaphors and embodied cognition (see Chapter 4) make it all bang up to date now, so let’s explore what Erikson says. Toilet training is certainly there but Erikson takes a much more general approach and the contrast originates in lots of different ways. The growing child at this stage can exercise her autonomy by saying ‘no’ (frequently), making a mess while eating, and using pronouns like ‘mine’ (see Chapter 10 on “Children, Ownership and Possession”) to imply she can do stuff and have things. This agentic child 4 can choose and choice is at the ground floor of consumer behaviour; it’s the key that unlocks the door of decision making. Shame and doubt? The young child from 12 months to 3 years is becoming aware of social pressure and expectations so might feel these emotions when his attempts at autonomy are laughed at or when she perceives others apparently not recognising her intentions. Like the other contrasting pairs that describe these stages, resolution can occur where the presence of both are recognised by the child as part of her life but the more positive one is the one to pursue. And the resolution is—the will or purposive striving , an invaluable addition to our mental toolbox. According to Erikson, will is a determination by the person to do two things: The ability to choose freely and also to restrain yourself appropriately (Erikson, 1964, p. 119).
As we shall see when we look at child development in more detail (see Chapter 8 “The Preschool Child”) the early pre-school child is already developing along many fronts, in terms of her understanding of the worlds of objects and people and choosing alternatives and developing preferences is part of becoming a discerning consumer. But in order to work with that he will need to demonstrate consistent choice behaviour.
Initiative Versus Guilt
Our child is growing up . Between 3 and 6 years of age he goes into intrusion mode. Now you might have noticed that I, in my wish to be gender fair in this book have randomly assigned male and female versions of the 3rd person pronoun in English as one should when the reader is requested to imagine a person. But I deliberately chose ‘he’ here as we are dealing with awareness of sexuality . For the boy, intrusion is another example of an embodied metaphor where risk-taking, curiosity and competitiveness are driven by oedipal curiosity. The Oedipus complex at this stage, according to Freud was energised within the family by the child’s natural curiosity with his and others’ genitalia which then led (in the boy) to mentally compete with the father for the mother’s love. To which you might add and I hope you will—what about the girl? This neglect of girls and women is a weakness I feel with Freud and a different sort of complex 5 exists for girls. Erikson however claimed that curiosity and competition was identifiable in such behaviours as physical attack, aggressive talking, running about thus intruding into space, and exploring the unknown. Intrusion is the watchword there for all these activities although how much they were encouraged, discouraged or tolerated might differ across the sexes in families given the cultural presence of gender stereotypes .
In my opinion this is one of the less satisfactory of Erikson’s stages. The initiative part based on the metaphor of intrusion works for boys as they explore and fantasise and ‘intrude’ but some of these fantasies are unattainable and we need to assume that guilt is generated by a conscience or superego 6 to check them. So the crisis of this stage is resolved by developing with the child a strong sense of purpose where valued goals are pursued.
In terms of relevance to consumption I think we see children of this age playing with peers and perhaps guided by preschool or kindergarten teachers who channel this curiosity into ‘worthwhile’ pursuits. Films, TV programmes preferably co-watched with mum or other close member of the family. Disney classics with a strong clear narrative provide good entertainment and for children who might view with older brothers or sisters then The Lion King is still one of the best. If mum or dad are there too then encourage your child to participate in the group although don’t try and answer what ‘I was born at the shallow end of the gene pool’ means! Finally don’t leave very young children in front of TV on their own to watch. The dangers of unmediated viewing for the very young are obvious and there should always be someone to talk with should the child become anxious at new and strange material.
Industry Versus Inferiority
These are the years from 6 to 11 years when children in most countries are learning at primary school. According to Erikson there is relative stability at the level of deep psychological changes and the main crisis involves the need to learn, often in a competitive environment and certainly with other children 7 of their own age and the extent to which social factors with bullying, friendship patterns, and lack of self-esteem can result in serious feelings of inferiority. Successful resolution can produce what Erikson called competence which is being capable of setting realistic goals , working toward them and achieving them. The problem here however is that unrealistic expectations can be set for the child by other agents such as parents who have invested in the child’s success or the teacher who for some interpersonal reason devalues the child, or peers who deliberately devalue the child in collaborative learning settings. Remember that a sense of agency emerged in the preschool years and if that had not been resolved at that time as will or goal -striving then that the lack of this early competence with agency could affect the achievement of competence at this stage.
Consumption practices at this time will focus on the school in all aspects, including leisure pursuits such as sport. Smartphone usage becomes important and social media in all its aspects will be used. Friendship groups will extend to a much wider range than their parents would imagine but they will be virtual and there will still be close friends at school or in the neighbourhood for the growing child to mix with. Media is consumed avidly and identities begin to form and experimented with based on celebrity culture role models but Erikson mentions that many children will be positively influenced by a significant teacher who can promote that vital ego strength that he called competence.
Identity Versus Role Confusion
This is one
of Erikson’s most famous conflicts, and occurs as puberty kicks in with a vengeance. The adolescent can be troubled as the Oedipus complex re-emerges but this time against a backdrop of biological sexual awareness and the teenager can sometimes find relationships with parents difficult. As the child moves toward adulthood the biological and physical changes occurring can cause a confusion of identity roles. The adolescent will ask herself ‘who am I?’ or ‘what am I becoming?’ Mirrors are being constantly checked. 8 Social identity is extremely important. Erikson also described a ‘psychosocial moratorium ’ which would be a culturally expected and acceptable time out for adolescents when they can resolve these role-related issues. There are other concepts that Marcia introduced and I’ve added these together with my own take on adolescence from the viewpoint of consumption practices so we have quite a detailed description of this time in our lives. Marcia (1980) argued that there were four stages in identity resolution in adolescence. Two are end-states: foreclosure where yes there is a firm identity established but the teen has accepted the views of someone else and not done any identity exploration herself; and identity achievement where the individual has thought and maybe experimented with various identities and has achieved one where he is happy. The other two are transitional, hopefully en route to resolution. Moratorium in UK culture is exemplified by the ‘gap year’ where after school exams and before university, the budding adult takes off for a year either working abroad, doing voluntary work in poorer countries, or going to vaguely interesting sounding places in South East Asia with Daddy’s credit card. This is supposed to broaden one’s horizons so that identity resolution can be better informed. Then there are those who have no firm commitments where the identity is still diffused. Whether they ever do resolve the issue or simply do not accept it mentally and live an opportunistic life will depend on many different factors, the main one being whether they are happy with their lot or strive for change. Marcia has provided us with some interesting routes as we look closer at the process of resolving identity in the face of role confusion . I want to make it more detailed by arguing that role confusion operates in different domains and that the different kinds of resolution can coexist in one adolescent person. Ideally of course we would like, eventually that a consistent identity will emerge. Or would we? 9
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