The theory describes eight stages through which a healthily developing human should pass from infancy to late adulthood. In each stage the person confronts, and hopefully masters, new challenges. Each stage builds on the successful completion of earlier stages. The challenges of stages not successfully completed may be expected to reappear as problems in the future.
| (Approx. ages) Stage | Psychosocial crisis | Significant relations | Psychosocial modalities | Psychosocial virtues | Maladaptations & malignancies |
| (0-1)
Infant | trust vs mistrust | mother | to get, to give in return | hope, faith | sensory distortion withdrawal |
| (2-3) Toddler | autonomy vs shame and doubt | parents | to hold on, to let go | will, determination | impulsivity compulsion |
| (3-6)
Preschooler | initiative vs guilt | family | to go after, to play | purpose, courage | ruthlessness inhibition |
| (7-12)
School-age child | industry vs inferiority | neighborhood and school | to complete, to make things together | competence | narrow virtuosity inertia |
| (12-18)
Adolescent | ego-identity vs role-confusion | peer groups, role models | to be oneself, to share oneself | fidelity, loyalty | fanaticism repudiation |
| (20-45)
Young adult | intimacy vs isolation | partners, friends | to lose and find oneself in a
another | love | promiscuity exclusivity |
| (30-65) Middle aged adult | generativity vs self-absorption | household, co-workers | to make be, to take care of | care | overextension rejectivity |
| (50+) Old adult | integrity vs despair | mankind or “my kind” | to be, through having been, to face not being | wisdom | presumption despair |