Erikson believes that individuals pass through eight developmental stages. Each stage is characterized by a different psychological "crisis", which must be resolved by the individual before they can progress on to the next stage.

Stage 1 is Infancy, this normally occurs from the age 0 -1 year old. The crisis they face at this level is trust vs. mistrust. Infants depend on others for their food, warmth, and affection and therefore must be able to blindly trust the parents for providing these. There are positive and negative outcomes to every stage. The positive for stage one is that if the parents meet the needs of infants consistently, they not only will develop a secure attachment with the parents, but also will learn to trust their environment in general. The negative side to stage one is that if the infant is not given the proper care, they will develop mistrust towards...