Psychology of Aging: Erikson, Peck, and Personal Growth

The Growing Relevance of Aging in Modern Society

Aging isn't something unique to our youth-obsessed society, but it is only in the past hundred years or so that it has become a common human experience (Stuart-Hamilton, 2006). In the prehistoric era, old age was rare. Even as late as the 17th century, only about 1% of the population was over the age of 65 (Stuart-Hamilton, 2006). In 1900, the life expectancy of a baby born in an industrialized country was 47–55 years; today that figure has risen by about 30 years (Stuart-Hamilton, 2006). What all of this means is that, if we are lucky, we will all age and we will all have to deal with the psychology of aging — that is, how growing older affects us mentally and emotionally. This doesn't just mean learning to accept that our bodies are becoming weaker, our skin less firm, and our limbs less agile. With aging, we must also accept that one day, when our bodies have given out and our hearts and lungs are too tired to go on, we will all die. Accepting one's own mortality is something people have been contemplating since the beginning of time. Each new year, a new wrinkle, and another ache somewhere in the body are all reminders that time is not on our side.

Aging raises issues beyond the physical and psychological. There are also very real practical matters that must be addressed — financial issues, logistical concerns such as having a will and plans for what we want to happen to our bodies after we die, among others. If we do live to a ripe old age, where will we live? Who will take care of us? Will we have enough money to survive? What if we get sick? There are so many questions that plague us that it is no wonder we all want to fight time with pills, surgeries, and needles. It is scary because it is the unknown. It is losing our time and who we believe we are.

Erber (2009) notes that for a long time there seemed to be little reason for studying aging and older adulthood. Until very recently, our knowledge about adult development was based mainly on interviews, observations, and tests conducted on young adults — none of which gave us meaningful insight into the psychology of aging. Today, aging is studied because people want to understand what is happening to them and to their loved ones. From my perspective as a daughter, I would like to know what my parents — now in their late sixties and early seventies — are going through. How can I help them? How can I support them? What changes are a normal part of the aging process? Understanding these things can benefit not only the person aging, but also the people who love them. Looking at aging from a psychological angle can help us all come to accept the changes and the feelings associated with them, with greater perspective, wisdom, and understanding.

Jung and the Spiritual Needs of Later Life

Carl Jung believed that biological and social needs are primary in the first half of life, but that cultural and spiritual needs become more important in the second half (Erber, 2009). Having a spiritual foundation is something I have observed becoming increasingly important to older people. My father, for example, has become much more religious in his old age. During middle age, he rarely thought about God, the afterlife, or people he may have wronged. I noticed the changes in him as he moved into his sixties. He became very curious about what was "out there." He read The Shack three times in one year. He was obviously searching for something — some kind of meaning, some sense of direction, or perhaps some form of reassurance.

As one ages, it seems that it may be easier to cope with having more life behind us than ahead of us if we can approach life from a spiritual perspective. It makes death a bit easier to accept when we see the world and everything in it as a whole — when one piece dies, a new piece is born. Biological and social needs remain important to older people, but cultural and spiritual needs become more central because they offer wisdom, depth, and perspective. Viewing one's life as part of a larger picture — spiritual and cultural rather than narrowly individualistic — can provide genuine comfort. To understand that we are all born and that we all must die, as part of a natural process, requires wisdom. It takes that wisdom to contemplate mortality without being consumed by despair over our aging and our inevitable deaths.

Erikson's Eighth Stage: Ego Integrity vs. Despair

Erik Erikson proposed that in the final stage of life — the eighth stage — the central challenge for individuals is ego integrity versus despair. Older adults who successfully resolve this challenge are better able to find wisdom and look back on their lives with a sense of satisfaction. Those who do not resolve it will feel despair and disappointment. Ego integrity means being able to accept aging, with all its inconveniences and physical changes, while finding purpose and integrity in the life one has lived. A person who cannot bring these two things into perspective will be unable to look back without regret. Erikson believed that each stage of his developmental model carried a unique challenge, and the challenge of the eighth stage is precisely placing integrity above ego — something all of us struggle with at some point in our lives.