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Personality Developmental Stage Comparison

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How does movement through Erikson's stages influence personality development?
How do Erikson's stages of development compare to Freud's stages? How are they similar and how are they different?

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Solution Summary

This solution compares and contrasts Erik Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development and Sigmund Freud's Theory of Psychosexual Development in relation to Personality Formation.

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I feel it's important to identify both Freud's and Erikson's Stages of Development before we can begin to compare and contrast them.

Erik Erikson believed that children develop through certain predetermined stages. He called these the Stages of Psychosocial Development. He was interested in how children socialize and how that relates to their sense of self. Erikson believed that if the child completes each stage successfully they will grow to be healthy adults. If they don't, they will grow to have an unhealthy personality and sense of self.

There are 8 stages:

Trust versus Mistrust (birth -1 yr)- child begins to trust caregivers. If child successfully feels they can trust their parent(s) they grow to be able to trust the world around them, even when threatened. If they don't feel this trust, they are more likely to have anxiety and feel mistrust towards those around them.

Autonomy vs Shame (1yr-3yr)- child begins to seek independence (walking, making choices etc.). If they complete this stage successfully they feel more confident that they can survive alone and take care of themselves. Failure to successfully complete this stage may have overly dependent personalities and doubt their abilities.

Initiative vs Guilt (3-6yrs)-child begins to make up games and initiate play with other children. A successful child will grow to have a leadership personality while an unsuccessful child will be more of a follower and have less ...

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