Erik Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development

I think that Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development has its strong points and its weak points.

The theory is obviously one of the most studied theories when it comes to developmental stages, and I think it is the most specific. By providing those who use the theory with eight different stages that occur in ones life (as opposed to only five in Freud’s psychosexual stages and five in Piaget’s cognitive stages) it really pinpoints how much we as people progress in just a span of a few short years. Erikson was able to give a more time frames with fewer years in between than the aforementioned theories which, in my opinion, makes it more precise and accurate.

After working with children in a preschool, I take notice of what exactly each individual stage means, and I realize that Erikson appears to be right on target for the most part. All of the youngest ones do have a hard time trusting those they are not comfortable with. They don’t like to be alone with a teacher they have just met too. Those that are about 1-3 years old really want to be independent and love to say “no” whenever they want. The 3-6 year olds do want to assert themselves more than they ever did before. Finally, those that are between 6 years and puberty like to learn skills and they take pride in what they do.

The only criticism I have for Erikson’s theory is the ages in which the stages occur. They seem a little too definitive, almost like once a child turns three they can no longer develop initiative, or when an infant finally turns two, they always know who to trust. It just doesn’t really happen like that. It takes time, and for some it takes more than a couple of years to adapt to something that is so important.

On April 2nd, 2007 we spoke about the different things that occur in adolescence that are considered psychosocial aspects, and I was very intrigued by our class discussion. I felt the class had a lot of interesting ideas when it came to growing up...