Human Development

The purpose of this essay is to explore and discuss two different theorists with the main focus of these theorists will incorporate the understanding of Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory crisis in late adulthood and Jean Piaget’s cognitive development theory on the sensor motor stage. The essay will then move on after the discussion of theorists from Human development in the field of psychology, using literature from the field of psychology will be used to include how humans cope best with stress such examples will be exercise, social support and meditation. Human development is broken down into life stages. Within each of these diverse phases are numerous changes in physical, cognitive and psychosocial development (Drewery & Bird, 2004). Erik Erikson was born in Frankfurt, Germany 1902. He is well known for his theory on psychosocial development covering the lifespan. Erikson believed that without completion of a stage, the next level of psychosocial development would be harder to reach. Erikson also felt strongly that failure to resolve the applicable crisis of a stage would greatly affect human development (Drewery & Bird, 2004). According to Erikson’s stage theory of psychosocial crisis, the stages involve a virtue to each crisis or critical period. Erikson felt that much of life is preparing for late adulthood, in which one grows older and tends to feel fulfilled with happiness in life and looking back on life’s meaning. People could feel they have made some form of contribution to life itself, a feeling Erikson calls ‘integrity’. However some adults reach this stage and ‘despair’ at how their lives have come to a point where they could feel they have done nothing with their lives, with no experiences or not enough and they perceive this as failure. At this stage people could fear death, as others could feel prepared (Drewery & Bird, 2004). The virtue for ‘integrity’ versus ‘despair’ is wisdom. This example is the last of Erikson’s