Erikson's initiative versus guilt is applied to a single morning in a composite five-year-old's life, stage feature named and limits admitted, in this Unit 3 theory application for NU145. Searches like "nu 145 unit 3 assignment example", "nu145 unit 3 sample" and "nu145 unit 3 example" land here.
What a finished NU145 Unit 3 theory application looks like
Four pages or so in APA style: a title page, a one-paragraph introduction, and three body sections headed by the questions the prompt poses. Up front, in roughly 150 words, the case records only what happened: the plan she announced at bedtime, the chair she dragged across the floor, the spill, her mother's sharp words on waking, and the hiding. Erikson's third stage follows in a single paragraph sourced to Childhood and Society, with the virtue he paired with it, purpose. The application section is the longest. It defines initiative as planning and undertaking a task for its own sake, points to the bedtime announcement as the evidence, and reads the hiding and the self-label as guilt in Erikson's sense rather than ordinary embarrassment. Two paragraphs of conclusion close the paper.
How a NU145 Unit 3 example is structured
Description, theory, application and limits arrive in that order, and the order matters, since the prompt rewards a paper that explains before it evaluates. The application turns on a move the course asks for repeatedly, comparison across stages. A two-year-old might also climb for the cereal, but for the pleasure of doing it unaided, which Erikson places under autonomy; a seven-year-old would care whether the breakfast turned out well by an outside standard, which belongs to industry. Only the plan announced in advance, made for someone else, marks this as initiative. Its section on limits observes that Erikson built his stages from clinical and anthropological observation rather than controlled study, that cultures differ in how much independent action they encourage at five, and that one morning cannot show which way the crisis is resolving. Health care enters only in the final paragraph.
The announcement at bedtime
Her stated plan the night before is the paper's key evidence, because planning a task in advance is what separates initiative from the simpler self-assertion of the toddler years.
Guilt told apart from shame
Erikson set shame at the second stage and guilt at the third. The paper explains the difference, being exposed versus having done wrong, and uses it to read the hiding correctly.
One stage earlier, one stage later
Two short contrasts, a toddler and a second grader reaching for the same cereal box, show which part of the behavior belongs to this stage and which would appear at any age.
What the mother's words add
Erikson ties the outcome of each crisis to the responses of important people, so the sharp words on waking are treated as data, while the paper declines to judge the mother as a parent.
A final paragraph on the clinic
Only at the close does the paper turn to health care, noting that a child in this stage may cooperate more readily when handed a small task to plan, such as choosing which arm goes first.
Where marks go in NU145 Unit 3
Grading on this assignment typically centers on application, and application here means pinning the behavior to one named element of Erikson's third stage. Papers that summarize all eight of Erikson's stages before reaching the case spend space the criteria never reward. Deductions also follow when the child is labeled rather than analyzed, for example calling her guilt-ridden as though the crisis had already resolved, and when the mother's reaction is judged instead of used. Confusing shame with guilt, or placing initiative in the toddler years, costs accuracy credit. Omitting a limits section is a frequent weakness, since the course expects every theory to be tested against a person it does not fully fit. Formatting and citation are read closely throughout, with the original work and the textbook kept distinct in the reference list.
Get a NU145 Unit 3 example written to your instructions
Where the Unit 3 instructions name a theorist, that theorist is used; if the choice is left free, the model picks the one that answers the question the child's behavior raises, and explains why. Include the vignette and the grading criteria. A first custom sample, free and written to those instructions, reaches you within 24-48h.
NU145 Unit 3 questions, answered
Why use Erikson instead of Piaget for this behavior?
Because the behavior raises a question about purpose and conscience rather than about reasoning. Piaget could explain why she misjudged the weight of the cereal box, a preoperational estimate, but not why she hid afterward. Choosing the theory that answers the question the behavior poses is part of what the unit grades. Where the prompt specifies a theorist, that choice stands, and the paper says what it cannot reach.
Can the paper be critical of the theory it applies?
It should be, in proportion. A paragraph noting that Erikson's stages rest on clinical observation, that their age ranges vary across cultures and that a crisis is never resolved in a single event shows judgment. Critique that swallows half the paper, though, means the theory is no longer being applied, and application is what the criteria weigh most.
How much of the case should be quoted from the prompt?
Only what the analysis uses. Many prompts supply a long vignette, and repeating it in full takes space that belongs to explanation. A tight summary of the behavior, with the one or two details that carry the argument kept word for word, gives the grader everything needed. Details that play no part in the application can stay in the prompt.