Introduction
Understanding development and changes in children is an important part of teaching and upbringing children. Theories of Human Development give us ideas to refer to understand and apply the process of human development. “They can help us find sources of behavior and trends, and account for the path that individuals follow, whether these can be called paths of growth or lack of progress.’ (Ayon, 2015) Different psychologists have contributed their theories which are helpful to understand important concepts and issues related to child development. Sigmund Freud's psychosexual theory and Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory are two important psychoanalytic theories that teacher’s parents and other care takers need to go through if they are involved in educating and raising children.
In this assignment I will try to compare and contrast Sigmund Freud's psychosexual theory of development and Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory of development.
Freud's psychosexual
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Both theorists recognize the importance of the unconscious on development. They both assumed that developments take place through a series of stages in a person's life and applied similar age groups for the stages of development. Differences between Freud’s psychosexual theory of development and Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory
When we compare these two theories, there are many differences between these two theories. The first difference I have notice is the way they described the stages. Freud proposed five stages of development while Erikson proposed eight stages. Freud’s psychosexual theory emphasizes the importance of basic needs and biological forces, but Erikson's psychosocial theory is mostly focused upon social and environmental factors. Erikson extended his theory into adulthood until death, while Freud's theory ends at an earlier stage of development.
Comparison of Psychosexual and Psychosocial
Erik Erikson describes in his research eight psychosocial developmental stages. Although the first five are based on Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, he also added three adult stages. Erikson’s theories vary from Freud’s in that he believes genes and biological impulses, along with family and culture have the strongest consequence on human development.
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.
Psychoanalytic theories describe development as primarily unconscious and heavily colored by emotion. Psychoanalytic theorists emphasize that behavior is merely a surface characteristic and that true understanding of development requires analyzing the symbolic meanings of behavior and the deep inner workings of the mind. They also stress that the experiences children have with their parents earlier on in life shape development. The psychoanalytic theory highlighted by Sigmund Freud who was born in 1856 and died in 1939. As he listened to and examine his parents he was influenced they were the result of experiences early in life. He thought that as children grow up, their focus of pleasure and sexual impulses shifts from the mouth to the anus and eventually to the genitals. As a result, we go through five stages of psychosexual development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. The oral stage is when the infant’s pleasure centers on the mouth, the anal stage is when
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.
Many factors influence children’s development as well as that massive amount of development theories that elaborate on why children do certain things, why children have developmental disorders, or even why some children have developmental delays. Although there are many theories regarding children development and how they are influences, theorist make some great points in the child development but with any theory come flaws such as developmental issues. Famous theorists Freud, Erikson, and Piaget all have different ideas on this topic. Freud was a psychiatrist who believed in unconscious activity of the mind. Erikson was a developmental psychologist who believed that the mind developed in a series of stages, and Piaget was a clinical psychologist who believed in cognitive development. Theorists such as Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, and Erik Erikson discusses how their individual theory influences the make-up of the development of children.
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.
The psychodynamic perspective originates from Sigmund Freud. This perspective examines emotions, needs, drives and how they motivate human behavior. This perspective examines instincts theory, personality traits and psychosexual stages of development. Freud’s theory places a strong emphasis on sexual instincts. Years later, Erickson transitioned from mental consciousness and sexuality to life span development or stages. Erikson’s theory examines infancy to late adulthood and how each stage has task mastery. ( Hutchinson, 2015). Both theories have affected my personal growth and development.
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
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
Erik Erikson is the most influential person in the field of psychology. He was born on June 15th, 1902 in Frankfurt, Germany and died on May 12th, 1994 in Massachusetts, Boston. He is known for his theory of psychosocial development comprising eight stages from early infancy to adulthood. Each of these stages, the person experiences a psychosocial crisis that influences personality based on their positive or negative outcomes. However, every human being enters certain stages to reach the full potential of development. In addition to Erikson, he was influenced by Sigmund Freud, who was a psychoanalysis, developed the structural models of personality, and psychosexual stages. Erikson extends on Freudian thoughts
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.
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
Freud´s psychosexual theory underlines the importance of basic needs and biological forces. Erikson´s psychosocial theory is based upon social and environmental factors. Erikson also expands his theory into adulthood while Freud´s ends at an earlier period.