Psychoanalysis offered main traditions exploring human development. Freud introduced psychosexual stages development Erikson introduced psychosocial stages development. Based information gathered weeks reading researching Brandman library formulate a 2 3-page APA style paper addressing: a.
Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychosexual development and Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development
Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychosexual development promotes the concept that each person possesses a form of sexual energy from the moment when he or she is born and that the respective energy develops in five stages as the individual becomes older. From Freud’s point-of-view, all stages present in his theory of psychosexual development need to be completed in the order he devised in order for the individual to develop healthily. If they are not completed in a predetermined order, the individual is likely to experience problems integrating the social order, taking into account that he or she failed to develop correctly.
The Oral Stage is the first stage in Freud’s theory of psychosexual development, it takes place between birth and eighteen months, and it involves the child becoming concentrated on oral pleasures. If the individual is provided with too much or too little focus on this concept, he or she is likely to develop an Oral Personality. Such personalities are likely to perform a variety of actions related to their mouths as they grow up.
The Anal Stage lasts from eighteen months and until three years and entails the child receiving pleasure as a result of removing or retaining feces. Individuals around children and society in general exercise a form of pressure and influence children to control their stimuls. An Anal Personality can be observed by either individuals being obsessed with control and perfection or with people being disorganized.
The Phalic Stage lasts from three years and until six years and involves the pleasure moving to the genitals. Boys experience the Oedipus Complex, as they believe that their fathers are going to hurt them because of the unconscious desire they feel toward their mothers. A Phalic Personality can influence a child to become sexually deviant when he is older or to be confused regarding his sexual identity.
During the Latency (from age 6 to puberty) stage children manage to repress sexual urges and focus on communicating mostly with same-sex friends. The Genital stage lasts from puberty and through adulthood and individuals recuperate their sexual urges with their primary focus being on the genitals.
Erik Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development provide a complex understanding concerning the phases an individual need to go through in order to develop properly from the moment of infancy and until late adulthood.
Infancy lasts from birth until eighteen months and involves children developing trust with regard to their parents. Parents who are not providing children with the ability to trust them are likely to induce feelings related to mistrust as individuals develop. Early Childhood lasts from age two to three and involves children wanting to have a sense of autonomy. Individuals who are unable to do so develop feelings related to shame and doubt their abilities to succeed. The Preschool stage relates to children as they develop the ability to have control over what happens around them. It is important for them to exercise just the right amount of power in order to be successful, as doing otherwise results in feelings associated with guilt.
During the School Age stage children have to get in line with academic requirements. If they succeed they come to feel more competent while failure leads to feeling inferior in comparison to their peers. Adolescence lasts from twelve to eighteen and induces feelings related to discovering one’s personal identity. Being successful during this stage builds a strong personality while failing induces feelings related to confusion and a weak sense of personal identity. Young adulthood is focused on relationships and can end in loneliness for individuals who fail to complete it successfully. Middle adulthood involves individuals wanting to create concepts and environments that will live past them and that will create change. Successful individual feel accomplished while people who fail consider that they played an insignificant role throughout their lives. The last stage of Erikson’s psychosocial development involves individuals looking back and wanting to feel satisfied. People who do not take on such attitudes feel regret.
While Freud’s theory of psychosocial development is intriguing and might contain a series of important information, Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development appears to be more general and can be used in the case of most people. Freud focused on biology as one of the most important ideas in people’s development and on sexuality as being the key to making people feel more or less successful. In contrast, Erikson “believed our personalities are shaped by how we deal with a series of psychosocial crises or challenges during these stages” (Nevid 349).
Erikson actually focused on Freud’s theories and expanded them in order to fit his theory of psychosocial development. By doing so, he generalized Freud’s ideas and made it possible for them to actually be applicable in most cases. One might even consider that Erikson focused on making some of Freud’s ideas less exaggerate in order for them to feel more truthful and in order for people to actually feel that they identify with particular ups and downs of his theory of psychosocial development.
Works cited:
Corey, Gerald, “Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy,” (Cengage Learning, 01.01.2012)
Pressley, Michael, and McCormick, Christine B., “Child And Adolescent Development for Educators,” (Guilford Press, 2007)
Nevid, Jeffrey S., “Psychology: Concepts and Applications,” (Cengage Learning, 01.10.2008)
“Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development,” Retrieved March 12, 2013, from the Allpsych Website: http://allpsych.com/psychology101/sexual_development.html
