Erik Eriksons Eight Psychosocial Stages

Erik Eriksons Eight Psycho favorable StagesThis paper looks the tuitional attributes forciblely, cognitively and soci altogethery of deuce pincerren, champion male and integrity female, ages five and ten, respectively. This author leave identify the socio-economic locating (SEC), age, gender, ethnic seatground, and family demographics of each of these children. The both(prenominal) children this writer has chosen come from equivalent living situations (i.e. they both live with single mothers), but have abundant differences in their physical, cognitive, and social development. This paper will examine Erik Eriksons Eight Psychosocial Stages as explained by Dacey, Fiore, Travers (2009) in an effort to explain the noniceable differences in the twain children that this writer has chosen to observe. These two children were chosen beca pr actionice they ar both be raise in a single parent ho theatrical rolehold, which is something that this writer derriere relate to, as this writer is a single mother. This writer will a manage explore the cognitive ripening Approach theories of Jean Piaget and Albert Banduras brotherly cognitive Learning in an attempt to further explain the substantive differences in these two children.Childhood ObservationTheories on Hu cosmos cultivationMany psychologists have different perspectives when it comes to analyzing theories on human development. For the purposes of these observations, this writer has chosen to take a fill upr look at the views of three intumesce k nown psychologists. The psychological theories of development that this paper will explore are the theories of Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget, and Albert Bandura.First, this writer will discuss Erik Erikson and his Psychosocial Theory of Development. It is a wide accepted belief that, Erik Erikson was the chief proponent of a psychosocial surmisal of development (2009). This writer believes that Erikson had a great understanding of the human life process. Erik Erikson is surmount known for his ideas on Stages of Psychosocial Development and Identity Crisis. Erikson broke down the attainment of human life into a series of eight stages, each of these stages beingness marked by a crisis that must be resolved so that the individual shadower move on to the next stage. It put forwards perfect hotshot that everyone should all in all overcome a crisis in order to successfully move on to the next stage in their life. In a seminal work, Erikson use the term crisis as a developmental term that is a meter of increased vulner qualification and heightened potential (Erikson, 1968). Erikson also contributed to our understanding of personality as it developed and shaped over the course of the lifespan. While we must commix the theories of many psychologists in order to understand the development of humans by dint of the lifespan, Erik Eriksons views on development seem to be the ones with which most people gouge closely relate.Now, we will move our help to Jean Piaget, a man who was well ahead of his time. It has been said that, Jean Piaget was among the head start researchers to study figure intellectual development (2009). Jean Piaget is credited as being one of the most cutifi contributet psychologists of the twentieth century. Piaget focused his attention on the roles that cognitive mechanisms play in development. Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development consist of four stages Sensorimotor, Preoperational, cover operational, and Formal operational. Piagets commencement stage is the Sensorimotor stage, which lasts from birth to about two years of age. During the Sensorimotor stage, the infant uses good senses and motor abilities to understand the world, beginning with reflexes and goal with complex combinations of Sensorimotor skills (http//webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/piaget.html). Piagets indorsement stage of Cognitive Development is the Preoperational stage, which lasts from two to seven years of age. It is during this stage that children are able to make use of symbols and rapid growth of language occurs. The third stage of Piagets Cognitive Development is the concrete operational stage, which lasts from seven to eleven years of age. In this stage, the child can reason about physical objects. The final stage of Piagets Cognitive Development is the Formal operational stage, which occurs from eleven years of age and up. During the Cognitive Development stage, Piaget believed that abstract thinking leads to reasoning with more complex symbols. In this stage we become increasingly competent of adult-style thinking (http//webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/piaget.html).Lastly, the writer would give care to discuss Albert Bandura and Social Cognitive Learning. Banduras Social Cognitive Learning theory suggests that people learn from one a nonher, via observation, imitation, and exemplar. For instance, The theory has a good deal been called a bridge over between behaviorist and cognitive lea rning theories because it encom departes attention, memory, and motivation (http//www.learning-theories.com/social-learning-theory-bandura.html). As Bandura and Walters (1963) noted, children often do not do what adults tell them to do but quite a what they see adults do, hence learning by observation. There is much to be gained in the area of Social Cognitive Learning by law-abiding others. That is, By law-abiding others, children may acquire new responses, including socially set aside behaviors (2009). Banduras term for observational learning is modeling. In order for effective modeling to take place, there are four conditions that must be pass these conditions include attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. That is, Social learning theory explains human behavior in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences (http//www.learning-theories.com/social-learning-theory-bandura.html).sermonThis writer will begin by describing the subjects of her observations. For this exercise, the researcher used her son, Aidan, and, Samantha, the puppyish woman of her friend, both of which she has known since birth. Aidan is a 5-year-old, white male with no siblings. He is raised in a single parent household and has no contact with his father. Aidan and his mother live in a very gigantic house with the subjects grandfather on several acres of farm land. Aidan has huge contact with his grandfather, aunts, uncles, cousins, and close family friends that are considered family. Up until recently, Aidan also had extremely close contact and a wonderfully close relationship with his grandmother and great-grandfather, both of whom have passed away within the last two years. In classifying the socio-economic consideration from which Aidan comes, this writer would secern it as a middle class socio-economic emplacement. Aidan also attends private develop with a very small class size. thus he is privy to mor e one-on-one contact with his teacher, which is something that may not be available to children attending public schools.The plunk for subject that the writer observed is, Samantha, who is a 10-year-old girl, with one male sibling (age 4). She is being raised by her single mother and has never had any contact with her father. Samantha lives in a lower-middle class neighborhood with her mother and younger brother. Before paltry into her current family unit, Samantha grew up in an income based housing complex. Samanthas mother industrial plant full time in order to support her two children. Because of her mothers grouchy work schedule, Samantha spends most of her time with her maternal grandparents. Samantha is of a lower socio-economic status than the other subject of this paper, attends public school and seems to have a stiff time socializing with her classmates and teachers. She also appears to struggle with anger issues and has a alternatively severe lack of self-confidence .Given the observations on the subjects above, the writer will now explore the developmental theories of Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget, and Albert Bandura, respectively. First we will begin with Erik Erikson and his Psychosocial Theories of Development. Aidan, the researchers first subject, appears to be on track with all of Eriksons Psychosocial Stages, within his age range. For instance, In Ericksons first stage, which is by far the most important, infants should develop a sense of basic trust (2009). In Aidans case, this stage was successfully realised due(p) to him being on a set schedule and being environ by warmth, care, consistency, and discipline. Though he faced a multitude of wellness problems during this phase of his development, the love and warmth that was bestowed upon him enabled him to successfully complete Erik Eriksons first stage. Eriksons endorsement Psychosocial stage, self-reliance versus shame and doubt, takes place during early childhood and is focused on chi ldren developing a greater sense of personal project (http//psychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/psychosocial.htm). Important events associated with this stage of Psychosocial Development include gaining more keep over food choices, children wanting to dress themselves and choose their own clothing, bum training, and control of ones body functions. Aidan was very insistent about doing these things during this phase of his development. interestingly enough, he displayed some of these behaviors during Ericksons first stage of Psychosocial Development. For example, Aidan was potty trained by the time he was 18 months old, chose his own clothes, and began trying to dress himself. This brings us to Eriksons third stage of Psychosocial Development, Initiative versus Guilt. This phase takes place during the preschool/nursery school years and is marked by children beginning to assert their power and control over the world by directing play and other social interaction (http//ps ychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/psychosocial_2.htm). Manipulation of surroundings are overabundant in this stage of a childs development, as they are building on the ability to control themselves, children now acquire some influence over others in the family (2009). This is the phase of development that Aidan is in currently, and he is definitely an emphatic atomic boy who likes to direct play and be in charge. Aidan can be manipulative in certain situations, such as, if mommy says no, he will immediately go ask his granddaddy. Overall, this researcher feels that Aidan has successfully finished all of Erik Eriksons Psychosocial stages thus far.Now, we will discuss the researchers second subject, Samantha. Upon the researchers observations, Samantha was unsuccessful in completing the Basic trust versus doubt phase. This writer believes that this may be due to caregivers who were inconsistent, emotionally unavailable, or rejecting. The afore mentioned variables could very well have contributed to feelings of mistrust in Samantha as an infant. With that stated, Failure to develop trust will end point in fear and a belief that the world is inconsistent and freakish (http//psychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/psychosocial.htm). Samanthas mother had her at a very young age and may have been ready to deal with the complete tilt of life that comes with bringing a child into the world. Because of the unsuccessful completion of this first and most important stage in Samanthas development, she exhibited signs of inadequacy and self-doubt during the Autonomy versus Shame, Doubt phase, thus meaning that she was unsuccessful in completing the second stage as well. When Samantha reached the third stage of Eriksons Psychosocial Theory of Development, there seemed to be a marked improvement in her behavior, even so she still displayed characteristics of a child who was very hard to deal with. It was at this time that she was enrolled in a stable preschool where she remained until it was time for her to start kindergarten. This researcher believes that this was probably the stability that Samantha was longing for and so desperately needed. Before being enrolled in preschool, it was not uncommon for her to be subjected to her mothers various relationships, which often were unsuccessful. Since Samantha has never had a father, she always became easily attached to these various men. This leads this researcher to believe that this may be an underlying reason for Samanthas lack of trust and inability to fit in with others. At this point, Samantha has now moved into Eriksons fourth stage of Psychosocial Theory of Development, assiduity Inferiority. For instance, Children expand their horizons beyond the family and begin to explore the neighborhood (2009). In Samanthas case, she can best be described as a recluse. From the moment she gets home from school, she doesnt emerge from her room until it is dinnertime. This researcher f eels that this is certainly not a rosy-cheeked environment, as there is no communication between mother and daughter. At times, Samantha seems to be very resentful of her mother. In this researchers opinion, Samantha has not successfully completed any of Erik Eriksons Psychosocial Stages of Development thus far.The writer will now explore Jean Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development. As stated earlier, Jean Piaget believed that cognitive development means that we form more sophisticated cognitive structures as we pass through four stages the Sensorimotor, the Preoperational, the Concrete operational, and the Formal operational (2009). The Sensorimotor stage, which begins at birth and goes to about 2 years of age, is marked by an infants ability to use their bodies to form cognitive structures. The researchers first subject, Aidan, had various complications that required physical and occupational therapy, as well as neck surgery all forrader two years of age. Due to these complicat ions, he was somewhat slow in moving from the Sensorimotor stage to the Preoperational stage. Once he got all of the physical and occupational therapies and neck surgery behind him, he quick moved into the Preoperational stage. During this stage, children ages 2 to 7 years, are able to make use of symbols and there is a rapid growth in language. Aidan, being the researchers son, was taught sign language from three months of age until he was about 2 years old. The reasoning for this was so that he would be able to communicate with others before he was able to talk, but when the time for rapid growth in language came, Aidan preferred to use sign language over verbalization. by and by a few talks and much encouragement, Aidan soon began to chatter away.Samantha, the writers second subject, flourished throughout the Sensorimotor stage and Preoperational stage. She was a very active little girl with a great imagination and amazing verbal skills. It is the Concrete operational stage th at Samantha struggles with. It is during this stage that accommodation occurs. Accommodation is Piagets term to describe the manner by which cognitive structures change (2009). Samantha seems to be unable to make rational judgments, which in turn causes her to be very manipulative. This researcher believes that this goes back to a very lax parenting style in which Samantha is treated as more of a burden than the gift that she is.The final theory to be discussed is Albert Banduras Social Cognitive Learning Theory. Simply stated, Bandura believed that we obtain information from observing other people, things, and events (2009). Bandura stresses the importance of modeling in observational learning. In Aidans case, he has been surrounded by the positive influence of modeling. He is a polite, however sometimes rambunctious little boy who knows how to use his manners. Children are like sponges, always observing and soaking up everything around them. This can sometimes lead to bad behavior s or socially appropriate behaviors. In Samanthas case, she is a product of her surroundings. This researcher believes that due to her stressful home life, Samantha only knows to act out in order to get attention. The unfortunate things about this is that the attention she gains from acting out is never the attention she desperately needs.