| Stage (approximate age) | Issue | Description of Task |
|---|
| Infancy (to 1 year) | Trust vs. mistrust | If needs are dependably met, infants develop a sense of basic trust. |
| Toddlerhood (1 to 3 years) | Autonomy vs. shame and doubt | Toddlers learn to exercise their will and do things for themselves, or they doubt their abilities. |
| Preschool (3 to 6 years) | Initiative vs. guilt | Preschoolers learn to initiate tasks and carry out plans, or they feel guilty about their efforts to be independent. |
| Elementary school (6 years to puberty) | Competence vs. inferiority | Children learn the pleasure of applying themselves to tasks, or they feel inferior. |
| Adolescence (teen years into 20s) | Identity vs. role confusion | Teenagers work at refining a sense of self by testing roles and then integrating them to form a single identity, or they become confused about who they are. |
| Young adulthood (20s to early 40s) | Intimacy vs. isolation | Young adults struggle to form close relationships and to gain the capacity for intimate love, or they feel socially isolated. |
| Middle adulthood (40s to 60s) | Generativity vs. stagnation | In middle age, people discover a sense of contributing to the world, usually through family and work, or they may feel a lack of purpose. |
| Late adulthood (late 60s and up) | Integrity vs. despair | Reflecting on their lives, older adults may feel a sense of satisfaction or failure. |