Essays on Erik Erikson

Introduction

Development is a word that describes the process of growth, adaptation, and changes that people undergo during their lifetime characterized by personality, physical, cognitive, socioemotional, and language developments. The work of developmental psychologists helps the society to understand different developmental theories and how they influence life in various stages of life through various development theories. Development theories describe various factors that influence the development pattern of an individual that include hereditary and environmental factors. On the other hand, other psychological experts argue that development is controlled by nature and nurture that combine to influence biological factors. However, psychological developments ...

They have been a myriad of theorists that have developed theories on cognitive learning stages and human development. Among those theorists have been Erik Erikson, Abraham Maslow, and Jean Piaget. Each of these theorists have had an imperative impact on the way we view cognitive development and physical growth. Some of them focused more on how we interact with others and develop through relationships with individuals as we progress through life. While others, focused on cognitive development that is innately inherited through birth giving us a foundation of which to build upon. Erik Erikson, for example, based his theories ...

There are three pertinent theorists throughout history that have come to shape our cultures and lives in a myriad of ways. The first theorist would be Erik Erikson, who constructed a theory in 1959 based on eight psychosocial stages of development. These stages encompassed “trust, autonomy, initiative, industry, identity, intimacy, generativity, and ego integrity” (McLeod 1). In relation to adulthood, his theory’s description of love, care, and wisdom best exemplify that level of maturity. Based upon his theory of these stages, effective completion of the individual states can conclude in a person developing a strong and healthy personality ...

Smoking, drinking, overeating and accumulating stressors are behaviors that become pronounced in adulthood though they trace their origins to a much younger age probably around the teenage years. These behaviors do not just crop up out of the blues. They start and develop over a period. The various theories and theorists in this context are keen on pointing out the psychosocial nature of an individual. They show how the actions and expectations of a person conflict with those of society and how that could therefore lead to various behaviors in adulthood. The theories in contexts have their different ways ...

PSYCHOLOGY

Developmental Psychology refers to the learning and explanation of behaviors elicited by human beings during their life span. Life begins at birth and psychologists have various categories that have been used to define certain stages. In childhood, for example there is early, middle, and late childhood. Various psychologists had different explanations for what went on during teenage or adolescent years. Some even refer to this stage as the stage of storm and confusion. This essay summarizes three theories, that of Erik Erikson and Anna Freud, and Sigmund Freud, whilst attempting to shed some light on what they asserted to ...

Many different things happen during the first two years of one’s life. Different theorists have attempted to conceptualize this, including Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson. The former believed that one went through an oral phase, in which the libido was placed on the mouth, making it a preferred erogenous zone. On the other hand, according to Erik Erikson, this is a time in one’s life that is characterized by a tension between trust and mistrust, especially of the parental figures (258). As a whole, they demonstrate the struggles between the independent person and his or her surroundings. ...

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Introduction

I am a student, a wife, a sister, and a daughter. Currently, I take on many roles, but being where I am now is not without many struggles and challenges. Growing up, I faced several difficulties which helped me develop and grow as a person. Right now, I intend to be my best here at the University of Maryland University College or UMUC. I started taking my first semester at UMUC as an undergraduate in the year 2002. I was stationed at Misawa Japan during that time as part of my service in the military, and through ...

<Institution> As people grow from infancy to adulthood, they take on different roles in order to perform specific tasks that would enable them to become better suited to the environment or the society to which they belong. Due to the ever changing nature of human existence influenced by the environment and technological development, these different roles that people take also changes along the passing of generations. During middle adulthood, many people take the role of a romantic partner or a spouse. When a child is conceived and born, these people become parents during middle adulthood. In the past, ...

Child development takes place in discrete phases and ranges from birth to adulthood. These stages of development comprise various interrelated aspects such as socialization, motor skills, language, cognitive ability, emotional aspects, and social interaction. Various theories emphasize on the issues of development such as Vygotsky and Jeane Piaget theories. Piaget's model discusses concerns about the acquisition of knowledge and mechanisms of intellectual development. On the other hand, Vygotsky tended to focus mostly on the influence of culture on social and material structure and language of society (Steinberg & Vandergrift, 2010). Infant development and growth requires a combination of theories to ...

Emotional and social development of children at the age of 8-10 is geared towards adolescence (Murray, 2015). At this stage, peer friendship becomes more vital in their social and emotional development. These children begin to have a sense of independence and a certain level of confidence to solve problems and take risks. The children at this stage also develop self-evaluation capacity and at times laugh at themselves for unknown reasons. The child I observed playing had a number of these characteristics as he belongs to the same age group of transition from a child to adolescence. The child was ...

Mary Bell is one of the well-known young killers. She was accused of the death of Brian Howe and Martin Brown. The details of the murders were gruesome, including the strangulation of one of the victims who was a three-year-old boy. Mary's family background is said to be responsible for her delinquent behaviors. Firstly, she thought that Bill Bell was her biological father (Calin, 2011). Billy was a criminal arrested for armed robbery and her biological father was unknown to her. Secondly, Mary claimed that her mother, who was a prostitute, had forced her to engage in sexual acts ...

Virtual Child

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Starting birth, my child, Noah, was quite normal and very much healthy. He was a breastfed child. As a newborn, I allow my partner to be more on hands to him, but I eventually decided to be more proactive in attending to his needs so that he would recognize me as someone he can trust, too. Like most parents, I tried to give him things that will make him more curious about his environment. Starting at 3 months, I supported his interest with his social world. I would take him out to meet new people, and I ...

Introduction

One of the dominant concepts in the field of psychology is how humans grow and develop throughout the course of their lifetime. Many theories have been put forward in order to explain the various stages that a human being experiences while growing up. One of the most popular among these theories is the one formulated by Erik Erikson, more commonly known as the psychosocial stages of human development as opposed to Freud’s psychosexual ones (Boeree, 2009). According to Erikson, there are stages that occur within one’s lifetime, and one progresses from one stage to another as the ...

Socio-emotional development is an individual’s, especially children, continuous ability to understand how others feel and to control personal feelings and behavior such that they can get along well with their peers. The foundation on how we feel about ourselves and our relationships and experiences with others is, to a large extent, influenced by socio-emotional development. The quality of relationship given to a child by his primary caregivers is a major determiner of the child’s socio-emotional development. An individual’s feelings of trust, confidence, pride, affection, friendship and humor are all part of their social-emotional development. Social-emotional development ...

INTRODUCTION

Robert Feldman (2010) defines lifespan development as a study that analyzes different patterns of change and growth in behavior that happens throughout an individual’s entire life. Though multiple theories exist to explain lifespan development, all specialists agree that both environment and heredity contribute to human development. For our case study, we would focus more on the environmental aspect of both Tayib and Rachel. The environmental aspect basically describes the surrounding circumstances an individual grew up with. It is largely affected by the people around them and the accompanying cultural circumstance they are currently in. Twenty-nine-year old Tayib is ...

Human growth and development have been studied, analyzed and researched for many centuries. There are several important individuals who have paved the path in understanding the human growth and development. In the past hundreds of years theories have come to light on what causes human development and growth, and what stages of life we are to experience different milestones. One theory that will be looked at is psychosocial development theory. This theory was coined by Erik Erikson and the research he performed showed how social interaction builds personality and behavior. He found that ego development is crucial and adolescent ...

The study of Psychology has made a dramatic change in the way we look and cope with society today. There are several famous theorists who have contributed to the world of psychology and sociology over the last several centuries. The theorists have done research to coin different theories in the psychological aspect of why people do what we do. The theorists have explained different aspects of psychology and what makes people react to different situations and what causes them to have actions that others may not have. One of the great theorists that will be discussed is Erik Erikson. ...

Abstract

Erik Erikson developed a psychosocial theory to explain stages of development experienced throughout an individual’s life, from birth and infancy to old age and death. He is most closely compared to Freud, whose psychoanalytic theory predated and somewhat overlapped Erikson’s. Where they were divided, though, was with regards to motivation; Freud believed sexuality was the underlying reason for action whereas Erikson believed social interaction mostly motivated people. Erikson outlined eight total stages to describe dichotomous “life crises” that define important dilemmas at any particular stage of life. The eight stages encompass the acquisition or loss of qualities ...

Psychosocial development incorporates the behavioral advancement of an individual from childhood to adulthood. According to Erikson, personality development is based on the attitudes developed by each individual. The concept displayed by Erickson shows that two people in the same age group can present completely different character traits while reacting to similar life situations. Moreover, the manner in which a person carries himself through one stage determines the success of the succeeding stage. Erickson asserts that there is a crisis at the end of every stage as a person transits to the next stage.

In the first stage the baby has a challenge to ...

Application of Erikson’s Post-Freudian Theory

Application of Erikson’s Post-Freudian Theory

Introduction

Erik Erikson’s’ views make significant contributions to the field of psychology; this is particularly in the understanding of personality development and related factors. An understanding of his own study of personal development creates an understanding of development of his psychology (Fleming, 2004). Most of Erikson’s psychology work became evident in the post-Freudian era. It was between the 1930s and 1950s; being one of Freud’s students, most of his work exhibit the influence of Freudian views and theories; this was mainly in the field of personality development. However, dissimilar from Freud’ ...

Since ancient times, the elusive concept of wisdom has figured prominently in philosophical and religious texts. The question remains compelling: What is wisdom, and how does it play out in individual lives? Most psychologists agree that if you define wisdom as maintaining positive well-being and kindness in the face of challenges, it is one of the most important qualities one can possess to age successfully — and to face physical decline and death. Vivian Clayton, a geriatric neuropsychologist in Orinda, Calif., developed a definition of wisdom in the 1970s, when she was a graduate student, that has served as a foundation for research ...

Introduction

Psychology is a vast field. There are many laws, principles, and theories that govern the train of thoughts of psychologists and mental health professionals working in the field. Basically, psychology is a branch of science that is concerned with the academic and applied discipline of studying behaviors and mental functions of animals, which in this case, would be humans. Psychology is not only concerned with studying the behaviors and mental functions of an individual because it may also aim to study the behaviors and mental functions of a group or population. The objective of this paper is to discuss psychology in general, ...

In this paper, I will discuss a challenge I’m currently facing in life in accordance to Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages. Scholars like Erik Erikson have attempted to provide the theoretical basis of different human development stages. According to Erikson (2013), social interaction is the leading determinant of human behavior and the advancement of personality. Erikson (1959) posits that this process has eight stages. According to his theory, humans are expected to resolve their problems and are thus given a window through which they have to resolve their crises. The results, irrespective of whether they are successful or not are ...

The human development stages include psychosocial, systemic, psychodynamic, existential/gestalt and cognitive stages. Development occurs throughout a lifespan of a human being. Development of any human being begins at the earliest stage which is the prenatal stage and it goes on to after a child is born to adulthood. Psychosocial stage is best presented by Erik Erikson’s theory (Cherry, 2014). It best explains how personalities are acquired through a series of stages by describing how a person’s social experiences impact his/her lifespan. Ego identity development is one of the key elements of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial stage. This ego identity is ...

Human development is process that permits the individual to progress from one stage of development to another. It is important to mention that both biological and social changes accompany the mentioned development. Interesting to mention is the fact that at the end of the adolescent stage, the individual starts to undergo adult development stages. A notable fact is that as adults develop they indulge in social interaction that further changes their perception towards life. Similarly, the adult learning process is essential to the life of each and every individual, the process provides adults with knowledge that are vital in ...

The universe has never run out of wonderful mysteries, and perhaps one of the greatest mysteries that we will never grow weary of exploring is the mystery of life. In Biology, we learn of the many ways through which life manifests itself in our planet. In Taxonomy, we learn that there are, under different classes and kingdoms, thousands and thousands of names that we use to refer to living things, be it animal, bacteria, protist, or any other life form. This background and context only makes more interesting another one of those mysteries of the universe that we have ...

Connection to Play Experiences

Introduction In putting the different development theories on a table, it could be understood how one works, how one differs from the other, what brought to its existence and to whose theory can you relate your development most. With regards to my play experiences, I find I can relate to Erik Erikson and his theory called the “Theory of Psychosocial Development,” because it is the most accurate in explaining how my play experiences helped me develop into who I am today. David Shaffer gives a brief discussion of Erikson and this theory in his book, entitled, “Social and Personal Development,” ...

In the article Rental study shows young adults leaving nests, which was published in the Chicago Tribune on October 18, 2013, Umberger (2013) reported that with the economy slowly improving, more and more young adults are moving out of their parents’ homes and are looking to rent their own places. As a backgrounder to this article, the trend among young adults during the economic recession was that many of them went back to live with their parents upon realizing that the economy didn’t allow them to afford their own apartments or rentals. However, the trend that rental companies and ...

Psychology is a complex subject, often coinciding with constructs of sociology. Many psychologists have lent their theories to sociology in an effort to explain how units of people bind together and why people act the way they do. One unit in particular is a family, and the roles they fill are sometimes known as gender roles. Sigmund Freud has very precise views on gender roles, sexuality, and how it impacted the family unit. For example, Freud believed that women lived in constant envy of men. Erik Erikson also had theories on gender roles, beginning in childhood, involved role confusion. His theories ...

Introduction

Through the years, theorists use a variety of theories in attempts to explain human development socially, emotionally, physically and intellectually. Among the most used theories are those of psychosocial development; the main contributor is Erik Erikson. His theory on psychosocial development is one of the most influential personality theories; he focuses on the belief that a human being develops in stages. The occurrences at every stage develop the person’s psychosocial abilities; Erikson explores the influence of social experiences throughout a person’s lifespan (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2006). The development of ego identity is a significant element in Erikson’s stages; ego identity refers ...

Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson are two most influential psychoanalytic theorists that proposed their theories regarding personality development. Sigmund Freud described personality development based on psychosexual stages, whereas Erik Erikson emphasized personality development based on social influences.

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud proposed the psychosexual theory focuses on the fact that personality is developed in childhood. It consists of five stages and begins from the age of five. On the basis of these five stages, an individual’s personality is developed. From childhood, a person tends to satisfy his or her sexual urges this is because of libido, which is a psychosexual instinct found ...

Erik Erikson, Karen Horney and Erich Fromm are famous psychoanalytic theorists who contributed remarkable knowledge to the field of psychology. All three of these theorists belong to a group called ‘Neo-Freudians’. Sigmund Freud was one of the earliest pioneers of psychology. He introduced a lot of theories related to psychology that got accepted by a large number of followers. On the other hand, his contributions helped other psychologists in their researches and unravel the mysteries of human psychology. Neo-Freudians is a group of theorists who accept the basic ideas proposed by Sigmund Freud but disagree with further analysis done by him. Neo-Freudians ...

Book review of ‘Childhood and Society’ by Erik Erikson – Book review, Literary and Psychological Analysis, Reflections on reading the book

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Abstract

This paper will present you with the book review of ‘Childhood and Society’ by Erik Erikson. The review will focus on the analysis of its context in literary and psychological terms, its contribution to the field of psychology as well as on the reflections deriving from its reading. A short presentation of the book’s structure will be given providing you with a highlight of the basic elements of each chapter. Emphasis will be given on the psychological theory developed in this book on behalf of Erik Erikson, a widely acknowledged psychologist and psychoanalyst who has developed ...

Biological underpinnings for recovery models in substance abuse, as applied to a specific life stage according to Erikson’s or Vaillant’s theoretical stages. In a biological perspective, growth and development of the human being diversely differ across the genetic composition. It simply implies those different individuals are identified using distinct aspects of life for instance, the health, gender, socioeconomic, cultural identity, growth, ethnicity and sexual orientation. According to Erik Erikson’s theories of human development stages, it categories adulthood into three distinct stages. These include the earliest stage of adulthood (young), the stage between the final and the young ...

1.0 Introduction The study of human development remains widely varied and complex, thus giving rise to many debates, controversies and issues. As each developmental theory tries to explain a limited area of development, the end result is a wide range of competing theoretical views leading to a major controversial issue of continuity vs. discontinuity. At the core of the controversy is whether human development is solely and evenly continuous or it consists of age-specific stages. The proponents, for instance the environmental or behavioral theorists, of the continuous model believe that development is a linear increase in abilities and competences that is smooth ...

Comparing Z. Freud’s Conceptions and E. Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development <Student’s Name> <University>

Psychosocial development theory is the theory of psychosocial reeks of personality, created by Eric Erickson, in which he describes the eight stages of personality development and focuses on the development of the individual I am. The issue of personality psychosocial development is not only of scientific interest. Psychoanalysis seeks and finds the roots of the problems in the various stages of childhood and adolescence. It turns out that not only all of us from childhood, but our ...

In the last century, psychoanalysis has incorporated itself as one of the paramount disciplines within the field of psychiatry. The father of psychoanalysis is unequivocally Sigmund Freud; and while the science of psychoanalysis has advanced far beyond Freud, and his basic principles, his influence is still strong and pervasive. Freud’s basic principles are central in the practice of psychiatry and in psychotherapeutic practice; namely, psychic determination, unconscious mental activity, and the effects on childhood on the development of our adult psyche (Semple, Smyth, Burns, Darjee, & McIntosh, 2005). Freud also focused on the role of meaning in his vision ...

Erik Erickson’s Theory that is based upon psychological development is one of the well recognized personality theories in psychology. In the similar way like Sigmund Freud, Erikson also use to believe that that the human personality tends to develop through a process which come out with distinctive stages. In contrary with the context of psychosexual theory of Freud, Erikson’s theory explained the influences of social experiences on overall life span of an individual . In reference to Erikson’s theory of psychological development it has been identified that there are number of key components of Erikson’s psychosocial stage ...

Blair Waldorf is one of the main characters of the TV series Gossip Girl (Von, 2003). The show revolves around the life of teenagers and the typical issues of that age; love, sex, and conflict. Belonging to an elite family of New York, Blair is known as the Queen Bee of Manhattan's social scene. However, her actions are under the constant scrutiny of an anonymous blogger; Gossip Girl. This person continues to update New York’s youth via the digital world of technology. These posts did not only expose the scandalous life of the elites, but it was also ...

Over the past thirty years, Higher Education in the United States has experienced a sequence of remarkable changes. Higher Education in the United States is facing key challenges because participation amongst non-traditional students has been widened by a rapid increase in numbers of students and student pressures. Today, educators, policy makers, and state legislators all share a much greater interest in finding ways to improve the reasoning of students. Moreover, they also share a great interest in making sure that our future generation makes informed decisions in their communities, personal lives, and in their workplace. The purpose of this essay this paper is ...

Development is defined as the movement from one situation to another. Change is understood to have a permanent impact. One of the most significant ways of explaining the idea of development is through the fact that people undergo various development stages. People make systematic headway in a specific order through several phases. Step by step they reach certain adult status. This change can be observed through involvement of advancements in physical and intellectual powers. People undergo changes in expertise, intelligence and reasoning ability (Sigelman, & Rider, 2011). In this case, we will consider Erik Erikson and how he developed to maturity. ...

Developmental psychology is a branch in psychology which relates to the physical, social, emotional, psychological and cognitive changes throughout a person’s life span, from conception until death. Throughout the history of developmental psychology, there are several theories which have evolved that seek to explain the various developmental stages in an individual. In the area of child development, two major theories are those advanced by Sigmund Freud and Erik Ericson. These two theories will be discussed and differentiated in greater detail in this essay. Freud’s theory on the developmental stages of an individual is described according to the psychosexual development. ...

List of Questions

The following are seven open questions that I used in exploring the life of the person I chose to interview: 1. What activities do you spend your time on? 2. What are your roles in life at present? 3. What gives you a sense of fulfillment or happiness? Have these changed from when you were younger? 4. What problems or challenges are you encountering right now? 5. What are the things that are important to you now? Have these changed compared to the past? 6. What are your goals in life and why? ...

Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson are two fundamental basics of discussion, research, and theory when discussing child development and psychology. Before Freud came to the United States, ‘talk therapy’ was not even something that was used here, but was becoming popular in Europe. This concept was fought as a controversial technique in the United States, but Freud was determined, and it is now the basic and most common type of therapy in psychiatry today. Erikson focused more on child development, which is a growing field of research today. Children are not merely little adults, but function in a very different way. ...

The New Family Norm

Personality theories A theory can be defined as a theory of reality which helps in understanding, explaining, predicting and controlling that reality. A theory can also be defined as a guide to action. Mostly when we talk about the personality of a person, we are talking about the behavior that makes that person different from others perhaps unique. This feature of personality is referred to as individual differences. As it is evident, some people are neurotic, others are not, and others are more introverted while other people are more extroverted and so on. Erik Erikson and Sigmund Freud are some of ...

Determining what is necessary in the care of a patient of psychology is a delicate process that can be informed by a variety of factors. First off, a certain understanding of the patient’s background and the severity of their situation(s) need to be established, and this can be done utilizing multiple psychological theories, finding factors of interest through events that the patient recounts in their life as well as observing their behavior and the opinions that come across in initial work. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Erik Erikson’s eight stages of development are two theories, in particular, that ...

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Abstract

Different theorists have come up with different ways of assessing and demystifying the issue of hate crimes. Many of them have proposed theories that have been used in detailing what happens when a certain choice is made in place of another. For example, in the case Sigmund Freud’s theory, it is noted that individuals are faced with a psychological choice on either to fulfill their inner desire of pleasure without regard on the consequences or to become socially conscious in every decision made including the actions taken. Skinner (1978) on the other have focuses on ...

Summary: Piaget’s, Vygotsky’s, Erikson’s Theories of Social Development

Introduction McLeod (2007) observes that a number of learning theories have been advanced to describe the nature social development, key among them being postulated by Erikson, Piaget and Vygotsky. According to him, the foundations laid by these theoretical approaches to human development have been used in various sectors for purposes of conceptualizing and formulating general as well as particular universal patterns that help to improve our understanding of certain phenomena. Such occurrences are characterized by learning, intelligence development, and social interactions. As a result, a number of suggestions have been proposed based on their findings with the aim of defining the ...

Personal History

I had a difficult start in life because I was born with physical disabilities. I was an extremely weak newborn and the doctors recommended a three-year stay in hospital for care and observation. The doctors were not very optimistic and even advised my mother against registering my birth with the government since they felt I was bound to die. I was eventually discharged from hospital by the age of four, and somewhat miraculously, after a few years I was able to live like a normal child. Yet, destiny would not allow me to enjoy a normal childhood. In my early teens, I made my ...