Erik_Erikson_vs._Sigmund_Freud

Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual theory of development and Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory are two widely acknowledge in the field of personality psychology. Each of these two psychologists believed that personality develops in predetermined stages in everyone. Both theories focus on unconscious motivations and biological and instinctual drives within the mind. The structure of personality is based on three stages in the developing human. First, there is the “ID” or the demanding child, which functions in the irrational and the emotional part of the mind. The “ID” is a primitive mind and revolves around the needs of a baby initiated by the limbic system in the brain. Then there is the “EGO” which functions with the rational part of the mind. The Ego realizes the need to compromise between the Id and the Superego. Essentially the Ego’s responsibility is to satisfy the wants of the limbic system (Id) but to be reasonable and to reduce the risk of long term consequences. The Superego or the moral part of the mind is the last to develop. The Superego is the mental embodiment of the values put in place by parents and society. The Superego is the part of the mind responsible for creating anxiety in humans; this comes from its duty to enforce individual morality. The Superego has two subdivisions; the Ego Ideal and the Conscience. The Ego Ideal includes the ideal behavior that the Ego strives to achieve. The Conscience consists of the properties that would constitute bad behavior and is what the child feels his or her parents would normally disapprove of. The structure of the mind could be compared to a system of checks and balances put in place by a government, if one part of the mind is too strong or too weak it precipitates and unhealthy mind. As I stated earlier, Freud and Erikson’s theories of development both involve similar stages of development, if any of these stages are not healthily conquered it may lead to negative ramifications later in life. The first stage begins at birth and continues until the first birthday, to Freud it is known as the oral stage, to Erikson it is the stage of trust vs mistrust. According to Freud’s stages of psychosexual development each stage concentrates on a specific body part, and each result in behavior later in the adult life. The oral stage fittingly focuses on a child putting things in their mouths, they begin sucking on things and according to Freud if a neonate becomes fixated at this stage he or she will exhibit similar behaviors as an adult, namely smoking and overeating. Erikson also holds the first year of life as being a critical one in a person’s life, his stage is known as the trust vs mistrust stage. In this stage of development the child learns to either trust or mistrust its caregiver. In order for trust to take place the infant must feel maximum comfort with minimal uncertainty in his or her environment and the people in the child’s life. If the child’s needs are met in this stage he or she will begin to count on the caregiver when faced with uncertainty or discomfort. If the needs are not sufficiently met the child may become fearful and ultimately, adapt and learn not to trust people around him or her. The next age range for the two theories of development is from one to three years old. Freudian’s believe this to be the anal stage, while followers of Erikson would call it autonomy vs. doubt. In the anal stage children accomplish a sense of mastery by controlling bladder and bowel movements. During the toilet training stage of a child’s life they may not cooperate, this can be displayed in one of two ways; anal retentive and the other is known as anal expulsive. Anal retentive refers to a child that refuses to use the toilet at all. According to Freud this type of person as an adult is meticulous, irritable, overly organized and in some cases anti-social. As for anal expulsive, this refers to a child that reacts violently to being toilet trained and will soil his or her pants as an act of protest. Freud says that an anal expulsive person in the adult form is characterized by brashness, unorganized, and normally disconcerned with the wants, needs, and feelings of others. Conversely, there is Erikson’s autonomy vs. doubt stage. Toddlers are basically little scientists according to Jean Piaget, and this stage of Erikson’s theory coincides with that idea. This is when a child realizes that he or she is a separate individual with its own desires, talents, and weaknesses. A toddler’s favorite word is generally “no” and serves as a bid for increased autonomy. A toddler desires to become independent and this push is enhanced by the myelination of the muscular system. The child’s newfound abilities to run, jump, climb, and explore their environment could potentially put them in harmful situations. For this reason it is a parent’s responsibility to balance the child’s wants to explore and the potential danger this may put the child in. if the child’s efforts to do things on his or her own are frustrated or limited by over-protective parents it may hinder the child’s ability to develop autonomy. However, on the other end of the spectrum, if a child is criticized too harshly by the parent’s for “accidents” that occur at the hand of the toddler, he or she may develop a sense of doubt about his or her own abilities and their drive to pursue new challenges. The third stage of personality development occurs from the ages of three to six years old. In Freud’s psychosexual theory he called this the phallic stage, while Erikson named it the initiative vs. guilt stage. In Freudian theory, at this stage the child’s libido energy is focused on the genitals and children begin to identify with their same-sex parent. It is at this stage when the Oedipus and Electra complexes may surface. The Oedipus complex is described as the phase when a young boy wants to kill his father in order to marry his mother. While it may not be as literal as the Greek myth is, it is a fairly well established principle. According to Freud, a young boy idolizes his mother and feels a sense of attraction to her. He is therefore, jealous of the attention she gives his father. This stage is conquered once the boy stops resenting his father and realizes his mother is not god-like and is a mere human. Erikson believes a three to six year old child’s favorite word is “why” and they learn through play. Play is their "work." Children who are given much freedom and opportunity to initiate imaginative and motor play have their sense of initiative reinforced. Parents who inhibit or ignore their children's imaginative play or deride them as silly may cause them to develop a sense of guilt over self-initiated activities. If the parent’s see their questions as a nuisance the child may feel ashamed of themselves. Stage four ranges from the age of seven to eleven and is yet, another key period in the development of personality. To Freud this is the latent period, when the child’s libido is suppressed while he or she becomes entranced on school, friends, and other activities. For Erikson this stage is known as industry vs. inferiority. In this stage children develop a sense of competence by mastering new skills that were unknown to them prior. This is the period when a child shifts from home to school life and his or her focus is on school more so than play. Prior to this stage there was little to no importance on the quality of the results in a child’s life but at this age the need to produce good results is critical. A child that meets the proficient level and receives praise from parents and teachers will gain self-confidence. Conversely, a child who cannot master their school work may consider themselves a failure and incompetent resulting in an overwhelming feeling of inferiority. Next is stage five and according to Freud is the last and is called the genital stage, this is when children begin to explore romantic relationships. If the previous psychosexual stages have been successfully completed then the individual will develop into a well-balanced, warm, and caring adult with healthy romantic relationships. However, if he or she remains fixated on one of Freud’s stages then he or she will remain to be troubled by that specific stage and must struggle to overcome the repression in order to have healthy relationships. According to Erikson the adolescent stage is the stage for identity vs. role confusion, when a child tries to integrate many roles; child, sibling, student, athlete, etc. into a self-image. If parents encourage and support exploration and offers new possibilities to explore, the child will develop a willingness to explore and experiment and develop an identity. If adults inhibit the exploration process and are unwilling to provide new possibilities, the child may force an identity on him or herself without exploring options resulting in role confusion. Erikson’s theory continues into adulthood with three more stages on the person’s way to fully developing his or her personality. There is the intimacy vs. isolation stage, when young adults seek out romantic love and companionship, generativity vs. stagnation, when middle-aged adults nurture others and contribute to society, and finally integrity vs. despair when older adults look back on their lives with either a sense of fulfillment or bitterness. Freud’s concept of the id, ego, and superego was revolutionary to the fledgling field of psychology even though there has been much skepticism from many of the recent researchers. Erikson built further upon Freud’s theory and developed his eight-stage theory, one of the best known theories in psychology still today. While the theory is based upon Freud’s stages of psychosexual development, Erikson believed there was a more important area of focus on how social relationships impact the development of someone’s personality. Another glaring difference between these two theories is the fact that Freud’s does not extend past adolescence while Erikson believed that the personality continues to develop from birth until death. Both men were great thinkers and have contributed greatly to the field of psychology. It is important to remember that psychology is fairly new and young to the world of science and is still in development, much like the personalities of young humans. Intimacy vs. Isolation: 19-25 important event; love relationships In intimacy the “I” that previously existed now becomes an “Us”. Culture identifies this as marriage. In order for a person to become intimate, the individuals involved must have their own independent identity. If there have been too many negative outcomes in the earlier stages of psychosocial development, instead of intimacy, a sense of isolation and loneliness will manifest within the young adult. Generativity vs. Stagnation: 45- 65 important event; parenting Generativity is the drive to provide for the future generation. Their duty might be to provide safety and stability, ideally we will aim to provide for our children what they providing for us. In other words, in this stage a person in a sense will be assume the debt that their parents gave them and pay it back by caring for the next generation. People aim to have a sense of generativity because they are interested in their own success as a parent. Stagnation on the other hand, is a sense of not contributing to safety or stability to the next generation. Integrity vs. Despair 65+ important event; reflection on and acceptance of one’s life Essentially can be boiled down to “my life has been meaningful, or it has not”. The person that has integrity has successfully accomplished what he or she wanted in life, developed healthy relationships, is leaving behind something meaningful. Older people that have a sense of integrity are not fearful of death, it is a part of life and this person is at peace with this fact. On the other hand, someone that has shame, guilt, feelings of inferiority, and lacks meaningful relationships, the person may be filled with remorse and are more or less terrified of death, this is due to their ego holding onto its need to become a more ideal human with not enough time left.