Eric Erikson's Theory Of Psychosocial Development

Introduction

Development as most psychologists believe happens over a person’s lifetime and occurs in stages. During these stages people will display specific or typical behaviours associated or related to that specific stage of development.

Psychologists believe that these stages share common assumptions. Firstly these occur in a specific order building on skills learnt from the previous stage. In addition, these stages are related to age and finally that development is discontinuous with different capacities and skills being identified in different stages.

The first section of this essay will discuss developmental theories proposed by Sigmund Freud,

Eric Erikson, Jean Piaget and

The young adult’s sexuality is reawakened but the object of the attention or desire becomes someone outside the family.

Eric Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

Erikson too argued that personality develops throughout a person’s life and it occurs in stages.

He proposed eight different stages of development. In each stage people face different challenges and how these challenges are resolved impacts the development from one stage to the other.

He named the stages according to the possible outcomes from each stage. Stage one is named

‘Trust versus Mistrust’ which is from birth to about 2 years of a child’s life. If the child’s needs are met by the caregiver the child develops trust and a sense of security. If not the child may develop mistrust and become an insecure child.

Stage two is named ‘Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt’. This stage lasts from 2 to 3 years of a child’s life. The main challenge of this stage is independence. The child learns to do things on their own such as dressing and feeding themselves. Becoming toilet trained is a main event in this stage too. If the child is able to resolve these challenges successfully and gain control

Application of Developmental Theories in the Classroom

As a leading teacher for secondary students I deal with issues relating to students aged 14 to 16.

The next section of this essay will focus on how I can incorporate the four major development theories with my students and their issues.

Freud’s Theory

As I deal with students in the Genital stage of Freud’s theory, I believe I need to be more sensitive and careful as these students are going through a lot of crises and confusion. As teachers we should explain the changes they are going through. These would include physical, emotional and sexual or hormonal changes. They may be unable to discuss the different issues such as having a ‘crush’ on a peer with their parents. Children may not understand what they need to do or how they are supposed to deal with this emotio n. Teachers can provide the extra support they need to understand what they are going through.

Erikson’s theory in the classroom

The students I deal with are in the fifth stage of Intimacy vs Confusion. I believe as teachers