Erik Erikson (Psychosocial Stages)
interaction with others
 Ideas influenced by Freud’s work with
personalities
 Ego psychologist
Believed that ego develops as it successfully
resolves social crises
 Maintained that personality develops in a
predetermined order and each builds upon the
previous stage
 Interested in how children socialize and how
that affects their sense of self
Erik Homburger Erikson
 Father of Psychosocial Development
 His theory, Post Freudian Theory
 Coined the term identity crises (a turning
point’s in one’s life that may either strengthen
or weaken one’s personality)
 A world fame psychologist, anthropologist,
psychohistorian and a medical school professor.
yet he have no college degree of any kind
 Intended his theory of personality to extend
rather than repudiate Freud’s psychoanalysis
and to offer a new “way of looking things”
 Regards his theory as the extension of Freus’s
psychoanalysis
 His theory is a reflection of his own background,
that consists of art, extensive travels,
experiences with varied culture and a lifelong
search for his own identity
What is Psychosocial Development?
 Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial
development is one of the best known theories
of personality in psychology
 Much like Sigmund Freud, Erikson believe that
personality develops in different stages
 Unlike Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages,
Erikson’s describe the impact of social
experience across the whole lifespan
 One of the elements of Erikson’s psychosocial
stage theory is the development of Ego identity
 According to Erikson, our ego identity is
constantly changing due to a new experience
and information we acquire in our daily
 Each stage in Erikson’s theory is concern with
becoming competent in area of life
 If stage is handled well, the person will feel the
sense of mastery, which he sometimes referred
to as ego strength or ego quality
 If the stage is managed poorly, the person will
emerged with a sense of inadequacy
Eight stages of Psychosocial Development
Infancy (Trust vs. Mistrust)
 Oral-sensory (0-1 years old)
 The first stage of infancy, is approximately the
first year or year and a half
 The goal is to develop trust without completely
eliminating the capacity for mistrust. If the
primary caregivers, like parents can give the
baby a sense of familiarity, consistency and
continuity then the baby will develop the
feeling that the world is safe place to be, that
people are reliable and loving
 If the proper balance is achieved, the child will
develop a virtue of hope
Early Childhood (Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt)
 Muscular-anal (2-3 years old)
 He/she begins to make choices to express his or
her will
 He or she develops a sense of autonomy and
independence
 A child may develop a sense of doubt and
shame manifested in feeling of worthless and
incompetence
 Laughing at toddler’s effort can lead the child to
feel deeply ashamed and to doubt his or her
ability
 Develop the virtue of willpower or
determination
Preschool (Initiative vs. Guilt)
 Locomotor-Genital (4-5 years old)
 Child begins to explore his/her social and
physical worlds discovering what he/she can
accomplish
  Developing a sense of initiative or positive
attitude of personal accomplishment
 Becomes aware of the various social role
presented by his/her environment
 The basic influence in this stage is the child’s
family who can help him/her to learn to be
responsible for his behaviour and action
 A good balance lead to the psychosocial
strengths of purpose
School Age (Industry vs. Inferiority)
 Latency (6-11 years old)
 The child’s world broadens technical skills are
learned and feelings of competence, enlarged
 Children will enter new world of the
neighbourhood and the school
 The children come to believe that they cannot
achieve according to their family, peers or
schools. Their sense of mastery will give way to
personal inferiority. Thus, they become
incapable in facing the transitory adolescent
years which lie directly ahead
 A happier thing is to develop the right balance
of industry and inferiority that is mostly
industry with just a touch of inferiority to keep
us sensibly humble. Then we have the virtue
called competency
Adolescence (Identity vs. Role Confusion)
 12-18 years old
 Characterized by an identity-formation crisis
 “Who am I and what can I do when I become
an adult?”
 His struggles is based not only on societal
demands as an emerging adult but also on the
pubescent age
 Peer group becomes and essential source of
general rule of behaviour
 Fidelity
Young Adulthood (Intimacy vs. Isolation)
 19-40 years old
 Individual develops a warm and intimate
relationship with another person
 If sense of intimacy is not acquired during this
time, a sense of isolation develops instead. Such
attitude is reflected in the ability to trust others
in close and intimate manners
 You will carry with you for the rest of your life
the virtue Erikson calls love
Middle Adulthood (Generativity vs. Self-
absorption)
 40-60 years old
 Compromise the productive years of adulthood
 The individual’s productivity is gauged by his or
her contributions to the family and to the
society
 If a person fails to develop this sense of
generativity becomes preoccupied instead with
his personal needs and interest or both with a
sense of self-absorption
 You will have the capacity for caring that will
serve you for the rest of your life
Maturity (Integrity vs. Despair)
 60 years old – Death
 Temporal limits of his life. It is the fulfilment
and culmination
 Achievement of a sense of integrity resulting
from identification with mankind
 If a person develops am attitude of regret and
fear of the end of life, then sense of despair is
develop
 If someone approaches death without fear,
he/she has the strength Erikson calls wisdom
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
 Born on August 9, 1896 in Switzerland
 Died on September 16, 1980 (age 84)
 Eldest son of Arthur Piaget and Rebecca Jackson
 PhD from University od Neuchatel in 1918
 Married to Valentine Chatenay in 1923
 Jacqueline, Lucienne and Laurent whose
intellectual development from infancy to
language was studied by Piaget
Introduction
 One of the 20yh century’s most influential
researchers in developmental psychology
 Trained in the areas of biology and philosophy
and considered himself a “Genetic
Epistemologist”
 He wanted to know how children learned
through their development in the study of
knowledge
 Administered Binet’s IQ Test in Paris and
observed that children’s answers were
qualitatively different
 His theory is based on the idea that the child
build cognitive structures
 The child’s cognitive structure increases with
the development
 His theory were based on his observations in his
three children
What is Cognition?
 Derived from the latin word “cognescere” which
means to know or to recognize or to
conceptualize
 It is the mental action or process acquiring
knowledge and understanding through thought,
experience and the senses
What is Cognitive Development?
 It is the emergence of the ability to think and
understand
 Acquisition of the ability to think, reason and
problems solve
 Process by which peoples thinking changes
across lifespan
 Piaget’s studied cognitive development by
observing children in particular, to examine how
their thought processes changed with age
 Growing apprehension and adaptation to the
physical and social environment
How Cognitive Development Occurs?
 Cognitive Development is gradual and orderly
changes by which mental process becomes
more complex and sophisticated
 Establishment of new schemes
 Assimilation and accommodation are both the
processes of the ways of cognitive development
 Equilibration is a symbol of a new stage of the
cognitive development
Key Concept:
Schema
- Internal representation of the world. It helps an
individual understand the world they inhabit.
They are cognitive structures that represent a
certain aspect of the world, and can be seen as
categories which have certain preconceived
ideas in them.
- Example: My Schema for Christmas includes:
Christmas trees, presents, giving, money, Santa
Claus. Someone else may have an entirely
different schema such as Jesus, birth and church
The Four Stages of Development
The Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 years old)
 Infancy
 Infant construct an understanding of the world
by coordination sensory experiences (seeing,
hearing) with motor actions (reaching,
touching)
 Develop Object Permanence (memory): realizes
that the object exist even if they are out of sight
 Beginning of solving problem solving
(intellectual) and symbolic activities (language)
toward the end of this stage
Preoperational Stage (2-7 years old)
 Toddler and Early Childhood
 The child starts to use symbols and language.
Period of developing language and concepts.
The child is capable of more complex mental
representations (words and images)
 Unable to use operations (logical mental rules
such as rule of arithmetic)
 Preconceptual stage (2-4 years old)
o Increased the use of verbal
representation but speech is egocentric
o Child uses symbol to stand for actions
o A toy doll stands for a real baby or the
child role plays mommy or daddy
 Intuitive stage (4-7 years old)
o Speech becomes more social less
egocentric
o The child base their knowledge on what
they feel or sense to be true
o Cannot explain underlying principle
behind what they feel or sense
Key Features
Egocentrism
- Child’s thought and communication are typically
egocentric (about themselves or their own
point of view)
- Inability to see the world from anyone else’s
eyes
- Explained by Piaget’s as Three Mountain Task
Animism
- Treating inanimate object as living ones
- Children dressing and feeding their dolls as if
they are alive
Concentration
- Process of concentrating on one limited aspect
of a stimulus and ignoring other aspects. It is
noticed in conservation
- Conservation
o Knowledge that quantity is unrelated to
the arrangement and physical
appearance of objects.
o Children at this stage are unaware of
conservation
Concrete and Operational Stage (7-12 years old)
 Concrete operational stage is characterized by
the appropriate use of logic. Important
processes during this stage are:
1. Seriation
a. Ability to sort objects in an order
according to size, shape or any
other characteristics
b. E.g. if given different size object
they may place them accordingly
2. Transitivity
a. Ability to recognize logical
relationship among elements in a
serial order
b. E.g. if A is taller than B and B is
taller than C then A must be taller
than C
3. Classification
a. Ability to group objects together on
the basis of common features
b. The child also begins the idea that
one set can include another
c. E.g. class of object called dogs,
there is also a class called animals.
But all dogs are also animals, so the
class of animals includes doges
4. Decentring
a. Ability to make multiple aspects of a
situation into account
b. E.g. the child will no longer perceive
an exceptionally wide but short cup
to contain less than normally-wide,
taller cups
5. Reversibility
a. The child understands that numbers
or object can be changed and
return to their original state
b. E.g. the child rapidly determine that
4+4=8 then 8-4=4 the original
quantity
6. Conservation
a. Understanding the quantity, length
or number of items is unrelated to
 the arrangement or appearance of
the object
7. Elimination of Egocentrism
a. Ability to view things from
another’s perspective
8. The child performs operation
a. Combining, separating, multiplying,
repeating , dividing etc

Formal Operational Stage (12 years old and above)

 Thought becomes interesting, flexible and

abstract, i.e.: can carry out systematic
experiments
 Ability to systematically solve a problem in a
logical and methodological way
 Understand that nothing is absolute; everything
is relative
 Develop skills such as logical thought, deductive
reasoning as well as inductive reasoning and
systematic planning
 Understands that the rules if any game or social
system are developed by a man by mutual
agreement and hence could be changed or
modified
 The child’s way of thinking is at its most
advanced, although the knowledge it hast to
work with, will change
Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1983)
- Born in New York City in 1927
- Graduated from the University of Chicago in
one year
- Attended Yale and earned a PhD in psychology
- Became fascinated by moral development in
children
- Theorized six stages of human moral
development
Levels of Moral Reasoning
1. Preconventional
- Moral reasoning that is based on external
reward and punishment.
2. Conventional
- Laws and rules are upheld simply because they
are laws and rules.
3. Postconventional
- Reasoning based on personal moral standards.
Kohlberg’s Stages
Preconventional
1. Stage 1: The punishment and obedience
orientation
2. Stage 2: The instrumental purpose orientation
Conventional
3. Stage 3: The “good boy-good girl” orientation
4. Stage 4: The social-order-maintaining
Postconventional
5. Stage 5: The social-contract orientation
6. Stage 6: The universal ethical principle
orientation
PRECONVENTIONAL
 Punishments and rewards dominate the sense
of right and wrong
 Morality is externally controlled
 Rules of authority figures must be respected
 Behaviour that results in punishment are bad
 Behaviour that results in rewards are good
Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Orientation (2-5
years old)
 Morality is based upon the physical punishment
that follows an action rather than right or
wrong. The concern is for self –“Will I get into
trouble for doing (or not doing)” Good
behaviour is associated with avoiding
punishment.
 For example: the child won’t grab the candy at
the supermarket for fear of being slap.
Stage 2: Relativist Orientation (3-5 to 7-9 years old)
 The concern is “What’s in it for me?
 Action is judged right if it helps in satisfying
one’s need or involves a fair exchange
 Example: a mother tells her child “If you are
quiet at the mall, I will buy you an ice cream”
CONVENTIONAL
 Needs of Laws and Society are the defining
features
 “Don’t steal” because it is against the law
 Good behaviour is motivated to maintain the
affection and approval of friends and relatives
 Understand that standards are set for the
current social system, not getting that there is
self interest involved (no such thing as bad law)
Stage 3: Good boy/ Nice girl Orientation (7-12 y/old)
 People should live up to the expectations of the
family and community and behave in good ways
 Good behaviour means having good motives
and interpersonal feelings such as love,
empathy, trust and concern to others
 Example: volunteering at nursing home is the
right thing to do
Stage 4: Social-order-maintaining Orientation
Stage 5: Social Contract Orientation (starts at early as 5. Tachypnea: rapid breathing; more than 22
12 years old) breaths/min
6. Bradypnea: slow breathing; less than 16
 At stage 4, people want you to keep the society breaths/min
functioning. However, a smoothly functioning
7. Dyspnea: difficulty of breathing
society is not necessarily a good one. Nazi
Germany was a well-organized society but nine
million were murdered in the process.
 At stage 5, people begin to ask “what makes for
a good society?” they begin to think about
society considering the rights and values that a
society ought to uphold.

Stage 6: Stage of Universal Ethical Principles

“Principled Conscience”

 As human beings, we are obligated to live

equally by the principle that “all men are
created equal” regardless of race, religion,
sexual orientation or political belief. Justice is
universal, so unjust laws must be broken.
 Example: Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of
the bus because it was an unjust law
discrimination against African American.

Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Theory

 Research has not supported Kohlberg’s belief

that the development of abstract thinking in
adolescence invariably leads people to the
formation of idealistic moral principles
 Some cross-cultural psychologists argue that
Kohlberg’s stories and scoring system reflect a
Western emphasis on individual rights, harm
and justice that is not shared in many cultures
 Kohlberg’s early research was conducted
entirely with male subjects, yet it became the
basis for a theory applied to both male and
female

Medical Terms

1. Febrile: having fever

2. Afebrile: without fever
3. Tachychardia: rapid heartbeat; more than 100
beats/min
4. Bradycardia: slow heartbeat; less than 60
beats/min