An opinion on eriksons stages of psychological development theory

Erikson was a psychoanalyst and also a humanitarian. Fans of Freud will find the influence useful.

Get Full Essay Get access to this section to get all help you need with your essay and educational issues. Before my onslaught into this, the core of this essay, I will first give a brief biographical introduction to Erikson the man, and from there I will make inquiries into his relationship with Freud and the psychoanalytical movement of which he was a part.

Erik was born in Frankfurt in and spent most of his early years in Karlsruhe 1. His father had deserted his Jewish mother before he was even born.

When he was three his mother married his Jewish doctor, Theodore Homburger. Erik assumed the name Homburger at this time. There he was referred to as Goy, while at his school he was seen as a Jew.

His feeling of alienation resulted in a major sense of crisis in his adolescent life.

The teenage Erik considered himself an artistic type and perhaps as a consequence of his estranged family life, he wandered Europe for many years before he landed a job, rather by chance, teaching children of the psychoanalytical community in Vienna.

Erik eventually became part of this movement and was familiar with the major players in psychoanalytical thought at this time, including Sigmund Freud himself. It was here among this company that he first felt a sense of his own personal identity.

However, as a consequence of the threat of fascism in Europe, Erik and his wife made the decision to move to the United States in Shortly after his arrival Erik changed his name from Homburger to Erikson. He felt he would have more success and would more likely be accepted in the professional community if he did so.

In America he continued his development as a psychoanalyst and became somewhat of a specialist in child and adolescent analysis. He had already carried out considerable study on childhood development in Vienna where Anna Freud had pioneered study in this area.

It would be wrong to suggest that Erikson turns his back on his mentor, but there are a number of areas where Erikson clearly develops distinct and unique ideas from those of Freud. As previously mentioned, Erikson placed a much greater emphasis on cultural and societal influences than did Freud.

His own personal circumstances would almost definitely have influenced his opinion on this matter. The psychological symptoms shown by these men were very similar in nature to those he had witnessed among adolescents.

He eventually concluded that a problem of crisis of identity is prevalent throughout our lives but not usually to the extent of the situations already mentioned. There are other ideas introduced by Erikson that differentiated him from Freud. Erikson placed a much greater emphasis on the Ego than did his master.

This Ego integrated and organized the personality. Indeed, generally Erikson felt that the Ego had a more significant role in the make-up of the unconscious than Freud would ever have acknowledged 3.

Another vital variation that exists between the two theorists is blatantly evident in their methodologies. He arrived at his judgments largely as a consequence of his work with the mentally ill in Vienna 4. His patients were typically upper middle class women and therefore, it is difficult to conceive how he could maintain to have developed a theory that claimed to encapsulate the whole of humanity.

He had also moved away from the traditional Freudian method of almost exclusively studying those who were ill. His use of cross-cultural studies was another serious departure from what had previously been the norm.

Another process, which came to be identified with Erikson, was his development of psychohistories of renowned individuals, both past and present. The final material distinction I will mention between Freud and Erikson refers to the structure of their developmental theories. The importance of this is obviously immense, so the fact I have failed to mention this until now, should not be seen as a sign that it is otherwise the case.

I simply wanted to tie my investigation of these differences into my discussion of the actual stages of development. The most obvious and clearly defined differences between the theories are their duration. The climax of which is brought about with the Oedipus complex in males and the Electra Negative or Feminine Complex in females.

It in fact covers the complete life span. He believed that we as beings continued to develop throughout our lives. Much as Viorst felt that our search for inner-freedom was a lifelong dynamic struggle, so too Erikson felt our psychological journey continued for the duration of our lives 5.

However, he would also have viewed this phenomenon in a psychosocial way, due to the infants increased ability to communicate with his parents and the wider society. With regard to physical maturation, Erikson felt the child would face both personal and societal repercussions.

If we look closer at the oral stage, we see how speech enhancement gives the infant the heightened sense of independence, and personal growth.In this essay, I will examine Erikson’s Developmental Theory known as his ‘Theory of Psychosocial Development.’ The focus of this assignment will be centred on the psychological growth during Erikson’s first three stages of development, spanning from birth to the age of four, or five.

Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development. Erik Erikson believed that childhood is very important in personality development. He developed a theory of psychosocial development that covers an entire life. Get through his initial five stages and we will be an adult. Moral Development and Importance of Moral Reasoning - Introduction: Lawrence Kohlberg was the follower of Piaget’s theory of Moral development in principle but wanted to make his own theory by expanding his theory .

Erikson's model of psychosocial development is a very significant, highly regarded and meaningful concept. Life is a serious of lessons and challenges which help us to grow.

For child development and adults – explanation of Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial theory of human development, biography, diagrams, terminology, references. erikson's psychosocial development theory erik erikson's psychosocial crisis life cycle model - the eight stages of human development.

Erikson's model of psychosocial development is a very significant, highly regarded and meaningful concept.