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Room Movie: Erickson’s Theory

Room is a movie that teaches us a few things on psychology. The plot of the movie revolves around a mother and son that are confined in a space for years. The two are in a claustrophobic shack which is located in a suburban backyard. The woman who is Ma and his five-year-old son Jack were imprisoned by a man who had constructed a shack so that the two stayed there locked up like his personal possession. Jack is so profound of the movie characters including Dora the Explorer and Bob from Bob the Builder and although the characters are actually not real, he believes that they actually are real. One can pick up his naivety as he narrates the book because he has never been outside the room. This paper uses Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development to analyze the movie.

Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development is among the most discussed theory when it comes to child development. He argued that during child development, a personality had to be established in the early life of their child and this personality would be established in their whole life. He also argued that the conflicts that we encountered in our lives during development were not all unconscious rather, most were conscious because of the development process. His argument on the child development was based on the fact that a child’s development was contributed by social relations. His theory had eight stages of development that concentrated on series of development and the conflict occurring through the lifespan (Sokol, pg. 14). The crisis that occur in each stage, one ought to be resolved as it helps one get psychological strengths. The eight stages are; trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs isolation, generativity vs. stagnation and integrity vs. despair.

Trust vs. mistrust begins from birth to around the age of 12 as infants begin to realize if adults can be trusted. If a child is able to meet their basic needs of survival, then they know that they can trust the adult. In the movie Room, this stage is completely evident as we see Jack completely in love with her mother. He is angle to identify his mother’s true love and knows that the mother would do anything to protect him. For most infants if the feel they are being treated cruelly then they may decide not to trust the adult in their life.

We can also see the autonomy vs. shame from the movie as we see Jack developing a preference on certain cartoon characters that he feels he can interact with and also feel that they are his friends. This stage begins when a child is 1-3 yeas as children begin to learn how they can interact with the environment and begins to develop preferences on certain elements such as toys and food. Her favorite characters are Dora and Bob (Hunt). At this stage, a child often tries to create independence and this stage is often referred to as the “me do it” stage. In the movie we can see Ma letting Jack be independent and be his own person. If a child is denied the opportunity to be their own person and make their own decision a sense of doubt and shame may develop in them. This at a later stage in life may contribute to self-esteem issues. When Ma is able to escape from his captor, we see Jack able to catch up in the outside world pretty easily because her mother had established confidence in him.

The next stage in Erickson psychosocial stages of development is the Initiative vs. Guilt and occurs in children around the age 3-6 years. During this stage the children can be able to initiate activities and assert a control over their world by social interactions such as play. Ma plays with her child from time to time including doing exercises. During play time Jack appears to be a very happy girl. Her mother also engages her in her cooking for example breaking the egg and cleaning the dishes after they are done. She is however not in a position to interact with other school going children because she is locked up.

From the movie, the eight stages of Erickson theory only go until the third stage because Jack is five in the movie. Despite this we are able to witness child’s development even in a situation that is quite traumatic. It is evident that a mother’s or guardian love is important in helping a child grow. A child’s understanding of a traumatic situation at a young age is also completely different, with reassurance from the parents that they are okay then they believe that they are okay. The only attachment that Jack has in his life is his mother and the objects around him. One way that people deal with seclusion is creating imaginary friends. Jack has an imagination with inanimate objects that surround him including wardrobe, chairs and skylight and tries to make sense of them (Klickstein).

In conclusion, Jack’s development can be seen throughout the movie The movie looks into the life of a child who does not really seem to understand the meaning of trauma as the mother as shielded him. This portrays the understanding that most children tend to have had the trust they put on their parents for most children they knew that with a parent who loves and care for them is around, then they have nothing to worry about as everything will be okay. Age is an important factor in how we react to adversity. Jack who is 5 does not understand the situation he is. The doctor actually recommends Ma for being able to escape while Jack was only plastic and thus becomes easier to recover from the trauma.

Works Cited

Hunt, Nate. “‘Room’ Is an Excellent Study of Human Psychology.” Calvin University Chimes, https://calvinchimes.org/2015/12/13/room-is-an-excellent-study-of-human-psychology/.

Klickstein, Mathew. “What Room Teaches Us About the Psychology of Fandom.” Wired, Conde Nast, 3 June 2017, https://www.wired.com/2016/02/room-fandom-psychology/.

Sokol, Justin T. “Identity development throughout the lifetime: An examination of Eriksonian theory.” Graduate journal of counseling psychology 1.2 (2009): 14.