Overview of Developmental Psychology

The Psychology of Rites of Passage

by Stephen Balfour, for LBAR 181 on 25 September 2002

Foundations

Rites of passage occur within specific psychological contexts. Two stage theories of psychological development are especially relevant to understanding the fucntion of a rite of passage for an individual.

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive

Piaget

Stage	Age	Characteristics	What is learned
Sensory Motor	Birth-2 years	Recognizes relationships between perceptions and actions	Object identity Object permanence t-s Cause and Effect
Preoperational	2-7 years	Identifies consistant properties and functions to construct cognitive rules	Appearance-reality distinction Perceptual classification Causal reasoning
Concrete Operational	7-11 years	Shift from perceptual to conceptual based thinking; develops rules which can be flexibly applied	Reversibility of actions Conceptual Classification Conservation principles
Formal Operational	11-15 years	Solves abstract problems through logical operations; not limited to physical problems	Deduction Hypothesis testing Reasoning hypothetically
(Post Formal Operational)	(adulthood)	(reason about the relative nature of knowledge and opposing points of view)	(Tolerance of ambiguity)

Notice that the cognitive development in Piaget's model shows that there are periods of strain or crisis for the child and that those periods coincide with cognitive changes that allow for modes of expression and understanding that were not previously possible.

Another theory which helps to bring rites of passage in focus is Erikson's theory of social development.

Social Development

Social Contributions to Individual Development: Erikson's Eight Stages

Developmental Stage	Age	Conflict	Challenge	Positive Resolution
I. Infancy	Birth-2 years	Trust v. Mistrust	Develop confidence while being dependent	Hope
II. Toddler	2-3 years	Autonomy v. Shame	Adjust to social rules	Will
III. Early Childhood	3-6 years	Initiative v. Guilt	Learn social limitations on behavior	Purpose
IV. School Age	6-11 years	Industry v. Inferiority	Master culturally relevant skills	Competence
V. Adolescent	12-17 years	Identity v. Role Confusion	Independent, positive view of self	Fidelity
VI. Young Adult	17-40 years	Intimacy v. Isolation	Establish love and intimacy in relationships	Love
VII. Adulthood	40-60 years	Generativity v. Stagnation	Make an enduring contribution to others	Care
VIII. Old Age	60+ years	Integrity v. Despair	Accept one's life and gain broad view of past	Wisdom

More detain can be found here: http://www.psychpage.com/learning/library/person/erikson.html

Erikson's stages may be seen as the manifestation of crises at particular times in the life cycle (som brought on by changes in cognitive development, some brought on by shared cultural expectations, some as a result of struggling with developing one's self concept, etc.). Rites of initiation typically occure in Stage IV or V and seem to deal with the challenges outlined by Erikson. What other rites of passage seem to be present at other stages of life?

More on rites of initiation and Erikson:

Rites of Passage (Initiation)

Rites of passage are observable activities, sometimes metaphorical, that a culture expects from members before they are allowed full participatory status in that culture.

Individual expresses desire to be a member of the culture
Culture accepts the individual based on some specified evaluation

Psychological Effects

Individual gets a place in the culture (Identity v Role Confusion)
Bonds between members of the culture (Intimacy v Isolation)
Create internal motivation to act on behalf of the group

Psychological consequences of less powerful rites of initiation

Less commitment means more role flexibility
More intrinsic motivators in role acceptance
More chance of role confusion

Back to the syllabus for LBAR 181.