Final answer:
Erik Erikson's psychosocial development theory emphasizes resolving conflicts at each life stage to build a healthy personality. The final stage involves overcoming despair to attain a sense of integrity, reflecting on life accomplishments and embracing unfulfilled dreams with acceptance.
Step-by-step explanation:
Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development posits that individuals must resolve conflict at various stages in life to develop a healthy personality. Notably, in the final stage of life, which encompasses late adulthood, the challenge is defined as integrity versus despair. Here, individuals reflect on their life and must overcome despair by attaining a sense of integrity, appreciating their accomplishments, and accepting the unfulfilled aspects of their lives.
The eight stages of development that Erikson identified start from birth and continue to the end of life. Each stage is characterized by a specific conflict that needs to be resolved. The final stage, associated with late adulthood, challenges individuals to look back on their lives and resolve the conflict of integrity versus despair. Achieving integrity leads to satisfaction and a wholesome retrospection of one's life, while failure to achieve this may lead to feelings of bitterness and despair.
The successful resolution of conflicts in each stage, according to Erikson, contributes to a sense of competence and a well-adjusted personality, whereas an unresolved conflict leads to a sense of inadequacy. This theory highlights the importance of social relationships and individual choices in these developmental stages.