Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Erickson: The More Sensable Theorist to Mankind
The pioneering theorist to approach human development pschology, I believe to be, is Erick Erickson. While Sigmund Freud psychosexual stages make sense, they seem to be too more opinionated and tend to lack life. Erickson on the other hand, while taking a similair approach to studying infants, children and the youth as Freud, he went above and beyond; he opened his mind to the possibilities of more. Erickson's psychosocial approach took in how an infant acts and responds to its surroundings and mostly to people (trust and mistrust). Not just its obession with the mouth as its only concern. In the industry vs. inferiority stage he notices the childs slight acts of rebellion n how the roles of compitition with other peers and the media play in a childs life. Where as Freud only seemed to reconize the childs ability to supress its concentration on their private body parts because they become more concerned will socialization. Erickson took note children learned and adapted to there enviroments, they became "indivudual people". He took in that there is much more to a person's development then "sex" and a person did not stop developing after puberty or in too adulthood, thus the added three stages. Maybe even helping people come to the conclusion those later years are their "golden years". Life didn't end at 40. He reconized mankind is contuniously learning and adapting from there surroundings, possibly to be more comfortable in them. His stages of development are easily understable and something that anyone can relate with and find examples in life to support his theories. I for one don't believe Erickson was nearly as shallow as Freud.
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I thought you might be interested in this article. I found it compelling because it uses Erickson's defined stages to explain why it is so detrimental for children with autism to better their social skills. It also incorporates what this means due to the No Child Left Behind Act, which we also read and talked about. Here is the link: http://www.eric.ed.gov/. The title of the article is "Erickson's Model of Psychosocial Development with Autistic Children and Connections to Evidence-Based Practices for No Child Left Behind."
ReplyDeleteA study was done to test Erikson’s stages of development and a person’s social economical and ethnic background. According to the study Erikson’s theory was centered on the upper middle class. In this study they found that how soon a person completed a particular stage of development could be effected by his or her social, economical and ethic background. In the case of adolescence the greater the technology of the country the longer the adolescent role. Also the child that is fortunate enough to have a privileged life is more apt to complete the stages of development. The less privileged kid is more often going to have less self esteem; this could have an impact on when he completes ego development stage. During the middle school age period, more differences may emerge. Also, in some cultures the self-evaluation done between the ages of six and twelve does not seem to be that important. Also, in some cultures children around the age of twelve may have to work. Adolescence is thereby may be different between societies.
ReplyDeleteThis would seem to test that the stages of development are not as clear as Erikson asserted.
Klaczynski, Paul A, 1910. Cultural-development tasks and adolescent development:
Vol 25 Retrieved June 7, 2009 from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=1991-12341001&site=ehost-live