A psychobiographical study of Maya Angelo

Psychobiographies aim to gain a deeper understanding into the lives of notable or notorious individuals through the lens of a psychological theory. Thisstudy aimedto gain insight into the personality development of Maya Angelou through the useof Erikson’s Theory of PsychosocialDevelopment. The study exploresand describesher life experiences in terms of this theory, and understandsher life within her socio-historical context. Angelou is a renowned literary figure. Herjourney to becoming a writer was an arduous one, marked by great hardships from an early age. Despite early parental abandonment, childhood rape, exposure to racism, and difficulties in romantic relationships, she developed into a healthy adult who achieved much literary success and inspired individuals worldwide.Nonprobability purposive sampling was used to selectAngelou as the subjectand was madeon the basis of the researcher’s interest in Angelou’s life history.Datawas collected by triangulating multiple sources of informationand analysed using the approach developed by Miles and Huberman, which involves threesteps: data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing and verification.The main findings suggest that Angelou progressed through Erikson’s eight stages successfully, despite some delays in negotiations of crises