Essay on Compare and Contrast Erik Erikson & Sigmund Freud

Freud’s theory of personality examined the interplay between the primitive, instinctual urges—the ‘id’; the practical and rational ‘ego’; and the morally attuned ‘superego’; ‘object relations’ refer to the "object" of an instinct”, which is “the agent through which the instinctual aim is achieved”—most often a person and, according to Freud, most often the mother (Ainsworth 1969, p. 1). The psychosexual development theory that Freud launched reduces our behaviour to mechanistic responses to an instinctive need for pleasure fueled by the ‘libido’ and barriers or distortions to the gratification of the libido at various delineated stages of development were responsible for later problems in life (Kail & Zolner 2012, p. 5). Erik Erikson later added depth to the approach by including more humanistic elements to Freud’s stages and including more periods of development (p.

Erikson was a psychologist who was greatly influenced by Freud. Although influenced by Freud there are some differences in there developmental stages. Erikson believed that development in an individual was molded by society, culture, and environment. While Freud’s belief was that development is in some way is influenced by the fixation of sexual interest of different areas of the body. The stages in Erikson’s development theory outline how important social experiences can shape us. While Freud’s theory is mainly based on ones sexuality. Additionally the other significant difference between Erikson’s and Freud’s theories is the outcome of a particular stage. Erikson believed that the outcome of a certain stage was not permanent and that it could be changed later on in life. While Freud presumed that if an individual became fixated on a stage problems associated with that stage would be carried on through life.

Freud’s theory on the ego psychological was an accepted view, Erikson began to distant himself from those views (Burston, 2007). The stages of epigenetic development by Freud’s stages of adolescence, Erikson began to go in depth about young adulthood to the middle years to old age. Which he implied a more descriptive detail in regards of the development of childhood that Freud disregarded. He conceptualize in depth about the crisis of each developmental stage, where Erikson identified these as ‘bodily zones’ (Burston,

Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual theory and Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory are two important and well-known psychoanalytic theories on human development. Both theories are often compared and contrasted in developmental studies. Like Freud, Erikson also believed that human development occurs in a series of stages of a person’s life. However, Freud’s theory focuses on basic needs and biological impulses like the need for food and sexual behaviors in the early stages of life. While Erikson’s theory emphasized on environment experiences and social interactions throughout the early and later stages of life.

Erikson’s views on development made an addition to some aspects of Freud and deviated from some of his other emphases. Erikson proposed that we develop more “Psychosocially” than “Pyschosexually” (Freud’s framework), which crosses the entire life span. His view is deterministic in the sense that adults are effected by their childhood, but he is not reductionistic in suggesting that the entire mold of adult personality is formed only in the early years; rather there is ongoing development throughout life.

Freud's perspective though focuses on the inner person and believes that unconscious forces act to determine personality behavior. Freud explains that everyone's personality has three aspects to it which are; id, ego and superego. Freud aso had stages of psychosexual development, unlike Erikson’s psychosocial development. Freud’s psychosexual development consisted of five parts; oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. As for Erikson's psychosocial theory it is mainly based on social and environmental factors and expands into adulthood, but Freud's psychosexual theory is based on the importance of basic needs and biological forces and his theory end at an early period of life compared to Erikson's. A similarity Erikson and Freud share together is that they both are theorists that have separated development into stages and they do use the similar age

Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson developed theories to help understand different stages of development thought individual’s life. Out of the two theories, the theory that I am more strongly identify with is Erikson’s theory of development.

Sigmund Freud's psychosexual theory and Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory are two important psychoanalytic theories on human development

Developmental psychology is an area of research dedicated to the understanding of child-development. Throughout history many theories have been used to attempt to explain the complex process. Two of those theorists, Freud and Erikson, were instrumental in creating a foundation for child-psychology to build on. From a Freudian perspective, human development is centered on psychosexual theory. Psychosexual theory indicates that maturation of the sex drives underlies stages of personality development. Alternatively, Erikson is considered a neo-freudian scholar who developed psychosocial theory. In Erikson models there are eight major conflicts that occur during the course of an individual’s life.

Human development is comprised of the changes that occur in a physical, cognitive, social and emotional sense that lasts throughout a person’s life (Editorial Board, 2014). Human emotional and social development was especially important to Erik Erikson, a world renowned theorist, who developed the Psychosocial Stages of Development. Although Erikson was immensely influenced by Freud, due to his training in psychoanalysis with Sigmund Freud’s daughter Anna, Erikson did not share the same psychosexual beliefs as Freudians do (McLeod, 2013). Erikson’s stages were psychosocial based off of his belief that a person’s development is effected by their environment

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), was an influential Austrian psychologist and the founder of psychoanalysis. Freud went on to produce several theories, such as his theory on psychosexual development, which will be the focus of this assignment. Using the case study of a six-year-old patient, I will discuss the key principles of Freud’s theory on psychosexual development. Including, comprehensive definitions of the concepts used, and the stages of Freud’s psychosexual development. Lastly using Freud’s theory, I will explain how the patient’s current behaviour, could impact her behaviour in adulthood.

From a Freudian perspective human development is based on psychosexual theory. From a psychosexual perspective maturation of the sex drives underlies stages of personality development (Shaffer et al., 2010). Ultimately, Freud believed that sex was the most important instinct and any mental disturbance revolved around sexual conflicts that were suppressed from childhood. Furthermore, Freud believed that parents permitting too much or too little gratification of sexual needs led

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, is predominantly recognized as one of the most influential and authoritative thinkers of the twentieth century. Freud gave a broad perspective on things involving dreams, religion, and cultural artifacts while still focusing on different states of the mind, such as unconsciousness. Freud also relied on a local sexual repression issue to create theories about human behavior. His theories and ideas of psychoanalysis still have a strong impact on psychology and early childhood education today. Freud’s most important claim is that with psychoanalysis he had invented a new science of the mind, however, remains the subject of copious critical debate and controversy.

Erikson’s theory followed Freud´s and it was based on many of Freud´s ideas. He had studied at Anna Freud, Freud’s daughter in Vienna. Erikson´s and Freud´s theories have similarities. Both theories admit the importance of the unconscious on development. They also both separates development into stages of a person´s life and handle similar age spans for these developmental stages. However, there are also differences that exist between names of the stages and the developmental subjects that are assumed during each stage. Part of the reason for that is that each psychologist has his own exclusive view of what causes a person’s development.

At the age of 40 in 1896, Sigmund Freud introduced the world to a new term- psychoanalysis (Gay 1). Psychoanalysis is a method of treating patients with different nervous problems by involving them in dialogues which provide the physician with insight into the individual’s psyche. These dialogues provided the basis for Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, which “attempts to explain personality, motivation, and psychological disorders by focusing on the influence of early childhood experiences, on unconscious motives and conflicts, and on the methods people use to cope with their sexual and aggressive urges” (Weiten 363). Part of this theory involves the structure of the mind. This is a concept that touches