Theories of Growth and Development.

1. Overview of Growth and Development Theories and Theorists
Erickson’s Theory Freud Piaget Maslow’s Human Needs Theory Kohlberg
Erickson talked about developmental
stages and tasks of life from early
childhood to elderhood. Erickson said
people return again and again to the task
that was poorly resolved in the past.
Erickson’s Theory has eight stages.
Stage 1 – Trust vs. mistrust
(birth to 18 months)
Stage 2 – Autonomy vs. sense of
shame & doubt
(18 months-3 years)
Stage 3 – Initiative vs. guilt
(3 – 6 years)
Stage 4 – Industry vs. inferiority
(6-11 years)
Stage 5 – Identity vs. role confusion
(12-20 years)
Stage 6 – Intimacy vs. isolation
(20-30 years)
Stage 7 – Generative vs. stagnation
(30-65 years)
Stage 8 – Ego Integrity vs. despair
(65 years and over)
Freud proposed that the personality
development in childhood takes places
during five psychosexual stages. They are:
Stage 1 – Oral (birth to 1 year). The mouth
is source of all comfort and pleasure. This
includes sucking & biting.
Stage 2 – Anal (1 year - 3 years).
Pleasure is shared between mouth and
organs of elimination. Toilet training
happens at this stage, giving a child a sese
of self control and independence.
Stage 3 -Phallic (3 to 6 years). Associated
with conflicting feelings of pleasure and
disgust with genital organs. Interested in
sexual organs and masturbation.
Stage 4 – Latency (6-12 years). Child’s
sexual energies are dormant. The child
focuses energy on intellectual pursuits.
There is an increase in peer relationships.
Stage 5 – Genital Stage (onset of puberty).
Physical changes prepare body for
reproduction. Awakening sexual attractions
to relationships.
Freud’s Three Functional Components of
the Mind
Id – pleasure principle, of libido. Id
demands immediate satisfaction.
Ego- executive mind. It is the part of the
mind most intricately linked to reality. Ego
may delay satisfaction.
Superego – a further development of the
ego. Superego judges, controls and
punished. Superego is also called the
conscience.
Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
suggests children move through four different
stages of mental development.
Stage 1 – Sensorimotor (birth to 2 years).
Infants respond to the environment
primarily through reflexes.
Stage 2 – Preoperational (2-6 years).
The child is concerned with development
and mastery of language.
Stage 3 – Concrete Operational (7-11
years). Increased cognition allows the
child to think and convers on many topics.
The child is lesss egocentric and mre sical.
Child can think and converse on many
topics. The child can think logically and
problem solve but not in abstract ways.
Stage 4 – Formal Operational (12 -15
years). The child can think logically in
hypothetical and abstract terms.
Human behavior is being motivated by needs
that are ordered in a Hierarchy.
There are 5 levels o need in Maslow’s Theory.
In each level the need is met and the individual
moves on. Need not met – individual stays at
this level being pre-occupied with most
pressing need.
1.Physiological Needs – O2, food, H20, Rest
elimination, sexual needs.
2. Safety Needs – physical needs, feels secure,
free from danger. Safety needs include
personal security, financial security, health &
well-being, safety net against accidents/illness
& adverse impacts.
3. Belonging-being accepted by another
person, relationships. Bonding at birth &
continuing throughout human development.
We need affection & meaningful relationships.
4. Self-Esteem- People need to feel good about
themselves & their accomplishments. Need for
approval /recognition for his or her worth. Two
versions of self esteem- lower is need for
respect from others and higher version is need
for self respect.
5. Self-Actualization – the achievement of
one’s full potential. Maslow did not believe
everyone could be self actualized but can make
progress toward the goal. Self actualized means
being comfortable with one’s self, self -directed
in ideas and actions and orientated to reality.
As an individual a self-actualized person
maintains own individuality.
Moral development is a continuous process
that occurs throughout the life span. There
are three stages of moral development.
Stage 1 –Preconvention Thinking (4 -10
years). The child learns reasoning through the
parents’ demand for obedience.
Stage 2 –Conventional Thinking (10-13
years). School age child begins to seek
approval from society.
Stage 3 – Postconventional Thinking – (post
adolescence). Adolescents develop their own
moral codes based on the individual’s own
principles.
Carol Gilligan
Studied under Kohlberg. She expressed
concerns that Kohlberg failed to explore
unique female experiences as they pertained
to morality.
Gilligan also believed women were more
concerned with how their decisions affect
other. She also believed males make moral
decisions based on justice, abstract
reasoning and principles.
Reference: Journey Across the life Span, 2019), 6th ed.
2023, Stenberg College