In the Human Development PowerPoint presentation (), you learned about several human development theories, including Freud, Erikson, and Piaget’s Theories.
Many professionals take a holistic approach, but it is common to favor a particular theory. Which one of the theories covered in this presentation do you believe is most valid? In a three-paragraph (5-6 sentences per paragraph) response, explain your answer and support it with material from the PowerPoint, real-life observations, and/or studies or outside reference material from a valid source.
Respond to two peers (5-6 sentences in each peer response), explaining why you either agree or disagree with their choices of theories.
RESPONCE TO THIS
The theory I believe is most valid would be Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory. From childhood to maturity, Erikson believed that personality develops in a fixed order via eight phases of psychosocial development. The individual goes through a psychological crisis at each level, which can have a beneficial or bad impact on their personality development. Personally I found it to make the most sense since it had a lot to do with our ideal self, and personal growth. The situations we deal with are what shape us to be who we are at the end of it all. It is almost like an equation of some sort, the way i think of it is everyone has their own unique equation and the outcome is never the same.
Erikson emphasized on a person’s entire existence, seeing how they progressed through each stage and ultimately became who they were. Take, for example, autonomy vs. shame/doubt. It’s the second stage, which lasts from 1-3 years and is characterized by “growing a sense of independence in a variety of tasks.” A child can learn to walk/run without stumbling at the age of three. They can do it without anyone’s assistance, and since they’re so young, they’ll see it as an accomplishment because they’ll see smaller children (age wise) that can’t walk or run. This would boost their self-esteem and help them establish their identity as individuals.
To summarize, I do not believe that one single indicator can perfectly explain social progress; rather, I believe that a thorough study of the numerous theories allows us to create a better understanding. I believe we also need to recognize that our perspective on developmental psychology is heavily influenced by the environment we live in and the people we look up to. Human psychology is a very deep and complicated aspect, one theory can prove something while another would change the perspective we view. Erikson’s is not ideal but it close enough in my opinion. Erikson also focused on ALL age groups which is very crucial since the brain and our personality changes in each stage/age.
