Issues in Human Growth and Development

Erik Erikson is a German psychologist who studied under Freud and later disagreed Freud’s theory. Before Erik was born, his father had abandoned his mother which caused some identity problems for him that he was able to resolve later on in life. In addition, the reason for his theory mainly has to do with his father not being around. In refining Freud’s theory, Erikson assumed that personality developed in eight stages which started from infancy and ending with old age. He believed that each stage could have a positive or negative outcome, and positive outcomes at one stage make the crisis in the other stage easier to understand and solve. One of the unique things about Eric Erikson is that he researched and wrote until he was over 90, and with that his theory is still considered applicable. In addition he is actually the only theorists who researched about young, middle and older adulthood. An individual can agree more with Eric Erikson’s theory than Freud’s theory. Even though Freud had once thought Eric Erikson’s, he later became independent and researched more about young, middle and older adulthood. Eric Erikson’s theory is more realistic.
Eric Erikson developed eight stages that humans come across during their life. Therefore, making his theory realistic. He’s theories are very useful and powerful because his theories can help others and make them aware of what is happening or going to happen as one grows. Eric Erikson’s first stage is Trust vs. Mistrust. He says that this is the stage where children gain trust or mistrust depending if their needs are met and the major importance is on the mother's positive and loving care for the child. When the child is between the ages of 18 months- 3 years he or she learns basic things for survival. This includes learning how to walk, talk and feed themselves. It will help them gain more control over their bodies. This stage is called Autonomy vs. Survival. Initiative vs. Guilt is a stage where children have the desire