The Developmental Theories of Jean Piaget, Sigmund Freud, and Erik Erikson

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.

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.

How did Freud identify these theories? Did Freud sexually assault his young patients? From studies that have been conducted on Freud's research the findings show that Freud abandoned his seduction theory when he began to realize that the accounts of sexual abuse by parents were not true. In fact, Freud noted that these accounts were most probably due to the patient's repressed sexual desires for the

Freud’s psychosexual stages of development were extremely controversial. Freud said that children go through five stages of psychosexual development: the oral stage, the anal stage, the phallic stage, the latency stage, and finally, the genital stage. The oral stage includes the first year of life when children put everything in their mouths. The anal stage

According to our text, Freud believed in five stages of psychosexual development which he termed oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital. These stages were important developmental milestones that individuals needed to successfully pass through without becoming stuck. Freud believed that specific behavioral occurrences could be traced back to a specific stage in which the person became fixated (Friedman & Schustack, 2012, p. 68).

Freud, the objective theorist, believed that the focus should be on the individual in compartments: defense mechanism, personality structures and levels of consciousness. Freud, Psychosexual stages of Child Development, widely dismissed because of the sexual perspectives. Nonetheless, we can see these concepts being present in the stages of development, such as the oral: the infant finds pleasure in chewing, biting, and sucking objects. The other concepts such as id, ego, and superego focuses on the personality and the balance needed in order to provide and shape individuality and social

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 believed that the stages reached in early life where a result of stimulation connected to developmental requirements. He believed that these problems related to the stages determined how an individual behaved in later life. For example, depending on development in the anal stage, individuals acted a certain way based on their ability to become self-sufficient. (p.24)

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, studied medicine and became a doctor, however; his interests were primarily focused on research. He is the product of intelligent influences from many important philosophers such as; Ernst Brucke, Charles Darwin and Joseph Breuer, who he met in medical school after some studies together mostly on Anna O., coauthored Studies on Hysteria (Goodwin, 2008). One of the most noted and controversial theory’s from Freud was possibly his psychosexual theory.

There are many theories on how a human develops. Most babies follow a certain pattern of development but the controversy is which person 's developmental pattern of development is correct? Erik Erickson, Sigmund Freud and Jean Piaget 's developmental theories are similar. Each of the theories goes through a human 's development chronologically, giving a guideline of when certain developments happen. For example when a child is supposed to walk or when a child is going to speak. It is only a guideline and these theories are not supposed to be held too strictly.

“When you teach a child something, you forever take away his chance of discovering it for himself.” These words were articulated by one of the most influential figures in the area of childhood intelligence, specifically developmental psychology. Jean Piaget was a Swiss clinical psychologist who is well known for his work pertaining to child development. Similar to Freud and Skinner, Piaget believed in order to understand human behavior, you have to start with understanding how children function, grow and learn. Piaget spent ample years studying the behaviors and thought processes of children, analyzing the origins and development of intelligence and how it shapes our current and future behaviors. According to Piaget, intelligence is

Over the years, Sigmund Freud has created many theories involving many different ideas in the psychological world. One theory that stood out to me throughout our journey in introduction to psychology is Freud’s developmental theory. Freud 's development theory is " the influence that sexual growth has on personality development from birth to adult life, with the phases of sexual maturation designated as oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital." (psychosexual development. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Stedman 's Medical Dictionary. ) This theory stood out to me the most because I feel that Freud has a very unique idea of how we, as humans, develop and how almost every stage refers to a different growth, yet all involve sexual ideas.

Jean Piaget (1936), was a developmental psychologist from Switzerland. He was known to be one of the first psychologists to study cognitive development. His contributions include an in depth theory of cognitive child development. His studies include many detailed child observations and a series of simple but ingenious tests to reveal a child cognitive abilities. Before Piaget’s theory of development many psychologists believed that children were just less competent thinkers then adults. Piaget argues that this was in fact incorrect and children just thought differently to adults (simplypsychology.org).

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.

Sigmund Freud is a psychologist who studied various stages within child development and is known for his study of the development of personality. Freud explained that child development was a sequence of psychosexual stages. “In "Three Essays on Sexuality" (1915), Freud outlined these stages as oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital” (Cherry, 2014). He thought that child development began at birth and their personality devolved throughout their life focusing on specific needs and demands. “Freud believed that personality developed through a series of childhood stages in which the