Greene, R. R., Graham, S. A., & Morano, C. (2010). Erikson's Healthy Personality, Societal Institutions, and Holocaust Survivors. Journal Of Human Behavior In The Social Environment, 20(4), 489-506. doi:10.1080/10911350903275069

The article I chose for this week regards Erikson’s eight psychosocial stages in relation to Holocaust survivors. They researchers wanted to see if Holocaust survives successful met each stage and developed a healthy personality. The researchers asked the following questions when determining happy personalities of Holocaust survivors. The first stage is trust and mistrust. If a survivor is able to find a positive solution in terms of trust, then they are hopeful people. If they cannot find trust, they are less hopeful.
In the second stage of autonomy versus shame, the researches look to see if the survivors have the “I can do it myself” attitude or if they developed no self-confidence. The third stage seeks to find out whether the survivors have a purpose in life and know who they are. The fourth stage wants to find out if a person can express competence when they are in a concentration camp. The fifth stage turns to group identity and questions regarding the little help received during the Nazi regime.
The sixth, seventh and eighth concepts ask how can one develop when they are living under such harsh conditions, when you leave the camp can you have a meaningful life, and how do the survivors see themselves during the final stages of their lives. The research consisted of a 2 hour interview given to 133 survivors throughout the United States. Each person used the Life History Questionnaire; an example question was how easily you interact with people without feeling shy? They rated it on three levels good, neutral and bad. The survivors not only did a self-assessment on themselves but an assessment on other survivors as well.
An example of a question from that survey was how trusting fellow survivors were. According the researchers assessment most of the