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Erikson's Eight Stages Of Human Development

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Erikson's Eight Stages Of Human Development
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When Erikson developed his psychosocial theory, he used Sigmund Freud as a basis for his theory (Capps, 2011, p. 881-882). Erikson expanded on Freud's stages because he wanted to include old age, since Freud did not explain his psychosexual theory passed adolescence (Fleming, 2004, p. 9-3). It is significant that Erikson continued his stages of human development through old age; it shows us that development continues past adolescence. In Erikson's theory he creates eight stages of development in an individuals "lifespan," each stage has a crisis that must be addressed before the start of the next stage, (Sneed, Whitbourne, & Culang, 2006, p. 149). Although each stage is critical for the next stage to be successful, each stage can be "revisited" because each stage effects the next stage (Sneed Whitbourne, & Culang, 2006, p. 149). In Erikson's first stage Trust vs. Mistrust (0-1 yr.), the child learns to either trust or distrust their mother as she responds or doesn't respond to the basic needs of the child crying (Mooney, 2000, p. 41). If the baby learns to trust the parents, the baby will then develop a sense of hope for the future (Erikson, 1964, p. 274). This is significant
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3). For instance, with the stage trust vs. mistrust the person has the potential to develop a sense of hope, if that persons parents respond to their basic needs in early childhood (Markstrom & Hunter, 1999, para. 3). Just like Piaget, Erikson's limitation is the structure of his theory. His theory doesn't explain in my opinion why some people make it to the next stage without having successfully completed the last stage. Another limitation of Erikson's theory is it tends to be male biased. Meaning it does not focus enough on the differences between male and female during development (Fleming, 2004, p.

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