Difference Between Freud vs. Erikson Essay

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.

Erik Erikson was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1902. Because his mother was Jewish and his father was not, he was often bullied in school. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, so his Jewish peers mocked him for standing out and being different, and his peers at school teased him simply for being Jewish. His own internal conflict with his identity sparked his interest in identity formation and development. Although he never actually received a degree in medicine or psychology, he became friends with Anna Freud who helped him study psychoanalysis. Erikson supported and was influenced by many of Sigmund Freud’s ideas. Freud had a theory on development, he called it the 5 stages of psychosexual development, this is one of the theories that Erikson

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,

In 1905 Sigmund Freud theorized that childhood development happens in stages, which are called “Psychosexual Development Stages.” In 1950 Erik Erikson developed “Psychosocial Stages,” which are greatly influenced by Freud’s theories. Freud’s theory centers on psychosexual energy or the libido. Erickson’s theory centers on issues and tasks being met at specific ages. Even though we are sexual beings, our developmental stages do not focus entirely on sexual pleasures. Both theories do show that personality develops in stages. Although, Erickson’s theory is the better theory.

Freud believed during this stage all needs are satisfied orally or through the mouth; for example, eating and drinking. The anal stage takes place during the second year of life. During this stage the battle between control and letting go begins. The phallic stage takes place during the third and fifth years of life. During this stage a child develops a fixation with the genitals. Freud’s psychosexual stages focus on developmental changes in the first 5 years of life and transformation of the id.

There is another similarity seen at another period in each theorist’s stages of development. Freud’s last stage is called the Genital Stage and takes place from puberty onward. This stage is described as “a time of sexual reawakening” and the young adult looks outside the family in search of sexual pleasure. After some time the person will be able to become an independent adult and will involve themselves in a mature, loving relationship. Freud has a stage similar to Freud’s genital stage, although he believed this developmental part of a person’s life occurred later than at the onset of puberty. He called this stage Intimacy versus Isolation and believed it happened during early adulthood when a person is in their twenties or thirties. Similar to Freud, Erikson saw this stage as a time when a person will start attempting to form intimate relationships with others. Unlike Freud however, Erikson did not believe the person’s motivation would necessarily be

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

Freud created five stages of psychosexual development that includes the oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital phases. The oral stage begins at birth and lasts until approximately age one. Throughout the first phase, Freud believed that, the sex instinct was centered on the mouth. Often infants derive pleasure from oral activities such as chewing, sucking, biting, or feeding activities. Moreover, Freud thought that if a child was weaned off the mother’s breast too early their adult personality characteristics might crave close contact and become an overly dependent spouse

Other psychoanalytical theorist – Erikson – contradicted Freud's idea based on biological stages by introducing child development in the context of social and cultural influences (Cunningham, 1993). Therefore we would talk about the psychosocial development as staged - the changes occur rapidly and each stage would be different from the previous one.

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.

This stage last from ages 2-3 years old. This stage corresponds to Freud 's anal stage. Initiative vs. Guilt is the stage where a developing child must be active in their environment. The ages of this stage are 3-5 years old. The child needs to have a sense of purpose. Industry vs. Inferiority is the stage where a child develops competence. The ages for this stage are 6-11 years old. These are the school years of a child 's life. Ego Identity Vs. Role Confusion is the stage where a child is in their adolescent years. The ages of this stage are 12-18 years old. The teenager is going through puberty and is noticing members of the opposite sex. Intimacy Vs. Isolation is the stage where the person is trying to find a mate for themselves. The ages for this stage are 18-24 years old. They want love. Generativity Vs. Stagnation is the stage where the now adult is working and they want to be a mentor for other children. the ages in this stage are 25-64 years old. The last stage of Erickson 's theory is Ego Integrity Vs. Despair. In this last stage a person needs to become comfortable with the life that they are living and have lived. The ages of this last stage are from 65-death.

Erik Erikson is known for his psychoanalytic theory of psychosocial development comprising eight stages from infancy to adulthood. Psychologist Erik Erikson, is a major contributor to developmental psychology, who proposed a comprehensive theory of the ways that individuals develop their identity, a sense of who they are, and society's influence on that development. Erikson stated that people go through crisis at each stage of their lives. The stages each had a developmental task to be mastered. As an individual resolved these various crises an individual would have a better harmony with their social environment that they live in. If an individual could not successfully resolve a crisis, they would be” out of step”, and the individual would have a greater difficulty in their dealing with a crisis in the future. Erikson did however recognize that an individual can develop through a stage negatively and still go on with their life. Erikson stated that each of the psychological stages have a basic conflict and important event leading to growth. The theory was developed from his hundreds of clinical observations in children.

Let´s take a look at Freud´s Psychosexual theory and Erikson´s Psychosocial theory beside each other. The first year of life. Freud called this the Oral Stage of development because he believes that oral stimulation was the primary means of development at this time.

Erikson's theory followed Freud's and was based on many of Freud's ideas. Because of this, the