Sigmund Freud (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) cleanliness, perfection, and control; or anal expulsive where the person
ol; or anal expulsive where the person may
was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical
method for treating psychopathology.
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
“The ego is not master in its own house.”
- Sigmund Freud
Freud’s views about human development are more than a century old.
He can be considered the most well-known psychologist because of his very
interesting theory about the unconscious and also about sexual development.
Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development
Erogeneous zones – “ pleasure areas” that become focal points for the
particular stage.
Fixation – if needs are not met along the area.
1.) ORAL STAGE (Birth to 18 months)
The erogeneous zone is the mouth. During the oral stage, the child is
focused on oral pleasures (sucking). Too much or too little satisfaction can lead
to an Oral Fixation or Oral Personality which is shown in an increased focus on
oral activities. This type of personality may be oral receptive, that, have a
stronger tendency to smoke, drink alcohol, overeat, or oral aggressive, that is,
with a tendency to bite his or her nails, or use curse words or even gossip. As a
result, these persons may become too dependent on others, easily fooled, and
lack leadership traits. On the other hand, they may also fight tendencies and
become pessimistic and aggressive in relating with people.
2.) ANAL STAGE (18 months to 3 years)
The child’s focus of pleasure in this stage is the anus. The child finds
satisfaction in eliminating and retaining feces. Through society’s expectations,
particularly the parents, the child needs to work on toilet training. Let us
remember that between one year and a half to three years the child’s favorite
word might be “No!”, therefore a struggle might exist in the toilet training
process when the child retains feces when asked to eliminate, or may choose to
defecate when asked to hold feces for some reason. In terms of personality,
fixation during this stage can result in being anal retentive, an obsession with
become messy and disorganized.
3.) PHALLIC STAGE (Ages 3 to 16)
The pleasure or erogeneous zone is the genitals. During the preschool
age, children become interested in what makes boys and girls different.
Preschoolers will sometimes be seen fondling their genitals. Freud’s studies led
him to believe that during this stage, boys develop unconscious sexual desire
for their mother. Boys then see their father as a rival for her mother’s affection.
Boys may fear that their father will punish them for these feelings, thus, the
castration anxiety. The feelings comprise what Freud called Oedipus Complex.
In Greek Mythology, Oedipus unintentionally killed his father and married his
mother Jocasta.
Psychoanalysts also believed that girls may also have a similar
experience, developing unconscious sexual attraction towards their father. This
is what is referred to as the Electra Complex.
According to Freud, out of fear of castration and due to the strong
competition of their father, boys eventually decide to identify with them rather
than fight them. By identifying with their father, the boys develop masculine
characteristics and identify themselves as males and repress their sexual
feelings toward their mother. A fixation at this stage could result in sexual
deviancies (both overindulging and avoidance) and weak or confused sexual
identity according to psychoanalysts.
4.) LATENCY STAGE (Age 6 to puberty)
It’s during this stage that sexual urges remain repressed. The
children’s focus is the acquisition of physical and academic skills. Boys usually
relate more with boys and girls with girls during this stage.
Sexual desires are repressed and all the child available libido is
channeled into socially acceptable outlets such as school works or vigorously
play that consume most of the child’s physical and psychic energy.
5.) GENITAL STAGE (Puberty onwards)
The fifth stage of psychosexual development begins at the start when
sexual urges are once again awakened. In earlier stages, adolescents focus
their sexual urges towards the opposite sex peers, with the pleasure centered
on the genitals.
FREUD’S PERSONALITY COMPONENTS
Freud described the personality structures as having three components,
the id, the ego, and the superego. For each person, the first to emerge is the id,
followed by the ego, and last to develop is the superego.
Ego
One’s
Personality
Id – Freud says, a child is born with the id. The id plays a vital role in one’s
personality because as a baby, it works so that the baby’s essential needs are
met. The id operates on the pleasure principle. It focuses on immediate
gratification or satisfaction of its consideration for the reality, logicality or
practicality of the situation.
Nothing else matters to the id except satisfaction of its own needs. It is not
oriented towards considering reality nor the needs of others. When the id’s
wants something, it wants it now and it wants it fast!
Ego – As the baby turns into a toddler and then into a preschooler, he/she
relates more with the environment, the ego slowly begins to emerge. The ego
operates using the reality principle. It is aware that others also have needs to
be met. It practical because it knows that being impulsive or selfish can result to
negative consequences later, so it reasons and considers the best response to
situations. As such, it is the deciding agent of the personality. Although it
functions to help the id meet it needs, it always takes into account the reality of
the situation.
Superego – Near the end of preschool years, or the end of the phallic stage, the
superego develops. The superego embodies a person’s moral aspect. This
develops from what the parents, teachers and other persons who exert
influence impart to be good or moral. The superego is likened to conscience
because it exerts influence on what one considers right and wrong.
THREE COMPONENTS AND PERSONALITY ADJUSTMENTS
Freud said that a well-adjusted person is one who has strong ego, who
can help satisfy the needs of the id without going against the superego while
maintaining the person’s sense of what is logical, practical and real. Of course, it
is not easy for the ego to do all that and strike a balance. If the id exerts too
much power over the ego, the person becomes too impulsive and pleasure-
seeking behavior takes over one’s life. On the opposite direction, one many find
the superego so strong that the ego is overpowered. The person’s best effort to
be good may still fall short of the superego’s expectations.
The ability of a learner to be well-adjusted is largely influenced by how
the learner was brought up. His experiences about how his parents met his
needs, the extent to which he was allowed to do the things he wanted to do,
and also how he was taught about right and wrong, all figures to the type of
personality and consequent adjustment that a person will make. Freud believed
that the personality of an individual is formed early during the childhood years.
TOPOGRAPHICAL MODEL
Unconscious – Freud said that most what we go through in our lives, emotions,
beliefs, feelings and impulses deep within are not available to us at a conscious
level. He believed that most of what influence us is our unconscious. The
Oedipus and Electra Complex mentioned earlier were both buried down into
the unconscious, out of our awareness due to the extreme anxiety they caused.
While these complexes are in our unconscious, they still influence our thinking,
felling and doing in perhaps dramatic ways.
Conscious – Freud also said that all we are aware of is stored in our conscious
mind. Our conscious mind only comprises a very small part of who we are so
that, on our everyday life, we are only aware of a very small part of what makes
up personality; most what we are is hidden and out of reach.
Subconscious – This is the part of us that we can reach if prompted, but still not
in our active conscious. Its right below the surface, but still “hidden” somewhat
unless we search for it. Information such as our telephone number, some
childhood memories, or the name of your best childhood friend is stored in the
preconscious.
Because the unconscious is so huge, and because we are only aware of
the very small conscious at any given time, Freud used the analogy of the
iceberg to illustrate it. A big part of the iceberg is hidden beneath the water’s
surface.
The water, may represent all that we are not aware of, have not
experienced, and that has not been made part of our personalities, referred to
as non-conscious.
Jean Piaget (9 August 1896 – 16 September, 1980)
as a swiss psychologist known for his work on child development.
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together
called “genetic epistemology”. Piaget placed great importance on the
educational of children
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
“The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new
things, not simply of repeating what other generations have dong – men who
are creative, inventive and discoverers”
- Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Theory of development is truly a classic in the
field of educational psychology. This theory fueled other researches and
theories of development and learning. Its focus is on how individuals construct
knowledge.
For sixty years, Jean Piaget conducted research on cognitive
development. His research method involved observing a small number of
individuals as they responded to cognitive tasks that he designed. These tasks
were later known as Piagetian tasks.
Piaget called his general theoretical framework “genetic epistemology”
because he was interested in how knowledge developed in human organisms.
Piaget was initially into biology and he also had a background in philosophy.
Knowledge from both these disciplines influenced his theories and research of
child development. Out of his research, Piaget came up with the stages of
cognitive development.
BASIC COGNITIVE CONCEPTS
Schema – Piaget used the term “schema” to refer to the cognitive structures by
which individuals intellectually adapt and to organize their environment. It is an
individual’s way to understand or to create meaning about a thing or
experience. It is like the mind has a filing cabinet and each drawer has a folder
that contain files of things he has had an experience with.
Assimilation – This is the process of fitting a new experience into an existing or
previously created cognitive structure or schema.
Accommodation – This is the process of creating new schema. Adding a new
file to his cabinets.
Equilibration – Piaget believed that the people have the natural need to
understand how the world works and to find order, structure and predictability
in their life. Equilibration is achieving proper balance between assimilation and
accommodation. When our experience does not match our schemata (plural of
schema) or cognitive structures, we experience cognitive disequilibrium. This
means the discrepancy between what is perceived and what is understood. We
then exert effort through assimilation and accommodation to establish
equilibrium once more.
Cognitive development involves a continuous effort to adapt to the
environment in terms of assimilation and accommodation. In this sense,
Piaget’s theory is similar in nature to other constructivist perspectives learning
like Bruner and Vygotsky.
PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
STAGE 1. Sensori-motor Stage (Birth to infancy)
This is the stage when the child who is initially reflexive-in grasping,
sucking and reaching becomes more organized in his movement and activity.
The term sensori-motor stage focuses on the prominence of the senses and
muscle movement through which the infant comes to learn about himself and
the world.
Object permanence is the ability of the child to know that an object still
exists even when out of sight.
STEP 2. Pre-Operational Stage (2 to 7 years old)
 Roughly corresponding to the pre-school years. Intelligence at this
stage is intuitive in nature. At this stage, the child can now make mental
representations and is able to pretend, the child is now ever closer to the use of
symbols. This stage is highlighted by the following:
 Symbolic Function
This is the ability to represent objects and events. A symbol is a
thing that represents something else. A drawing, a written word, or
a spoken word comes to be understood as representing a real
object like a real MRT train. Symbolic function gradually develops in
the period between 2 to 7 years.
 Egocentrism
This is the tendency of the child to only see his point of view
and to assume that everyone also has his same point of view. The
child cannot take his perspective of others.
 Centration
This refers to the tendency of the child to only focus on one
aspect of a thing or event and exclude other aspects.
 Irreversibility
Pre-operational children still have the inability to reverse their
thinking. They can understand that 2 + 3 is 5, but they cannot
understand 5 – 3 is 2.
 Transductive reasoning
This refers to the pre-operational child’s type of reasoning that
is neither inductive nor deductive. Reasoning appears to be from
particular to particular.
Step 3. Concrete-Operational Stage (8 to 11 years old)
This stage is characterized by the ability of the child to think logically
but only in terms of concrete objects. The concrete operational stage is marked
by the following:
 Decentering
This refers to the ability of the child to perceive the different
features of objects and situations. No longer is the child focused or
limited to one aspect or dimension. This allows the child to be more
logical when dealing with concrete objects and situations.
 Reversibility
During the stage of concrete operations, the child can now
follow that certain operations can be done in reverse.
 Conversation
This is the ability to know that certain properties of objects like
number, mass, volume, or area do not change even if there is a
change in appearance. The children progress to attain conservation
abilities gradually being a per-conserver, a transitional thinker and
then a conserver.
Stage 4. Formal Operational Stage (12 and onwards)
In the final stage of formal operations, thinking become more logical.
They can solve abstract problems and can hypothesize. This stage is
characterized by the following:
 Hypothetical Reasoning
This is the ability to come up with different hypothesis
about a problem and to gather and weigh data in order to make a
final decision or judgement. This can be done in the absence of
concrete objects. The individuals can now deal with “What if”
questions.
 Analogical Reasoning
This is the ability to perceive the relationship in one
instance and then use that relationship to narrow down possible
answers in another similar situation or problem. The individual in
the formal operations stage can make an analogy. Through
reflective thought and even in the absence of concrete objects, the
individual can now understand relationships and do analogical
reasoning.
 Deductive Reasoning
 This is the ability to think logically by applying a general
rule to a particular instance or situation.
From Piaget’s findings and comprehensive theory, we can derive the following
principles:
1. Children will provide different explanations of reality at different stages of
cognitive development.
2. Cognitive development is facilitated by providing activities or situations that
engage learners and require adaptation (i.e., assimilation and accommodation).
3. Learning materials and activities should involve the appropriate level of
motor or mental operations for a child of given age, avoid asking students to
perform tasks that are beyond their current cognitive capabilities.
4. Use teaching methods that actively involve students and present challenges.
Erik Homburger Erikson (15 June 1902 – 12 May 1994)
Was a German-American Developmental Psychologist and psychoanalyst known
for his theory on psychological development of human beings. He may be most
famous for coining the phrase identity crisis.
Erikson’s Psycho-Social Theory of Development
“Healthy children will not fear for life if their elders have integrity enough not to
fear death.”
- Erik Erikson
Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development is a very relevant, highly
regarded and meaningful theory. Life is a continuous process involving learning
and trials which help us to grow. Erikson’s enlightening theory guides us and
helps to tell us why.
Introduction to 8 stages:
1. Erikson’s ‘psychosocial’ term is derived from the two source words – namely
psychological (for the root, ‘psycho’ relating to the mind, brain, personality, etc.) and
social (external relationships and environment), both at the heart of Erikson’s theory.
Occasionally you’ll see the term extended to biopsychosocial, in which “bio” refers to
life, as in biological.
2. Erikson’s theory was largely influenced by Sigmund Freud. But Erikson’s extended the
theory and incorporated cultural and social aspects into Freud’s biological and sexually-
oriented theory.
3. It’s also interesting to see how his ideas developed over time, perhaps aided by his
own journey through the ‘psychosocial crisis’ stages model that underpinned his work.
4. Like other influential theories, Erikson’s model is simple and well-designed. The
theory is a basis for broad and complex discussion and analysis of personality and
behavior, and also for understanding of the various environmental factors that affect
his own and his student’s personality and behavior.
5. Erikson’s eight stages theory is tremendously powerful model. It is very accessible
and obviously relevant to modern life, from several different perspectives for
understanding and explaining how personality and behavior develops in people. As such
Erikson’s theory is useful for teaching, parenting, self-awareness, managing and
coaching, dealing with conflict, and generally for understanding self and others.
6. Various terms are used to describe Erikson’s model, for example Erikson’s
biopsychosocial or bio-psycho-social theory (bio refers biological, which in this context
means life); Erikson’s human development cycle or life cycle, and variations of these. All
refer to the same eight stages psychosocial theory, it being Erikson’s most distinct work
and remarkable model.
7. The epigenetic principle. As Boeree explains, “This principle says that we develop
through a predetermined unfolding of our personalities in eight stages. Our progress
through each stage is in part determined by our success, or lack of success, in all the
previous stages. A little like the unfolding of a rose bud, each petal opens up at a certain
time, in a certain order, which nature, through its genetics, has determined. If we
interfere in the natural order of development by pulling a petal forward prematurely or
out of order, we ruin the development of the entire flower.” Erikson’s theory delved into
how personality was formed and believed that the earlier stages served as a foundation
for the later stages. The theory highlighted the influence of one’s environment,
particularly on how earlier experiences gradually build upon the next and result into
one’s personality.
8. Each stage involves psychosocial crisis of two opposing emotional forces. A helpful
term used by Erikson for these opposing forces is ‘contrary dispositions’. Each crisis
stage relates to a corresponding life stage and its inherent challenges. Erikson used the
words ‘syntonic’ for the first-listed ‘positive’ disposition (e.g., Trust) and ‘dystonic’ for
the second-listed ‘negative’ disposition (e.g., Mistrust). To signify the opposing or
conflicting relationship between each pair of signify the opposing or conflicting
relationship between each pair of forces or dispositions, Erikson connected them with
the word ‘versus’
9. If a stage is managed well, we carry away a certain virtue or psychosocial strength STAGE 7: GENERATIVITY VS. STAGNATION (MIDDDLE ADULTHOOD)
which will help us through the rest of the stages of our lives. Successfully passing
through each crisis involves ‘achieving’ a healthy ratio or balance between the two STAGE 8: INTEGRITY VS. DESPAIR (OLD AGE)
opposing dispositions that represent each crisis.

10. On the other hand, if we don’t do so well, we may develop, mal-adaptations and
malignancies, as well as endanger all our future development. A malignancy is the
worse of the two. It involves too little of the positive and too much of the negative
aspect of the task, such as a person who can’t trust others. A maladaptation is not
quite as bad and involves too much of the positive and too little of the negative, such as
a person who trusts too much.

11. The crisis stages are not sharply defined steps. Elements tend to overlap and mingle
from one stage to the next and to the preceding stages. It’s broad framework and
concept, not a mathematical formula which replicates precisely across all people and
situations.

12. Erikson was keen to point out that the transition between stages is ‘overlapping’.
Crisis stages connect with each other like inter-laced fingers, not like a series of neatly
stacked boxes. People don’t suddenly wake up one morning and be in a new life stage.
Changes don’t happen in regimented clear-cut steps. Changes are graduated, mixed-
together and organic.

13. Erikson also emphasized the significance of ‘mutuality’ and ‘generativity’ in his
theory. The terms are linked. Mutuality reflects the effect of generations on each other,
especially among families, and particularly between parents and children and
grandchildren. Everyone potentially affects everyone else’s experiences as they pass
through the different crisis stages. Generativity, actually a named disposition within
one of the crisis stages (Generativity v Stagnation, stage seven), reflects the significant
relationship between adults and the best interests of children – one’s own children, and
in a way everyone else’s children – the next generation, and all the following
generations.

THE EIGHT PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT:

STAGE 1: TRUST VS. MISTRUST (BIRTH TO 18 MONTHS)

STAGE 2: AUTONOMY VS. SHAME AND DOUBT (2 TO 3 YEARS OLD)

STAGE 3: INITIATIVE VS. GUILT (4 TO 5 YEARS OLD)

STAGE 4: INDUSTRY VS. INFERIORITY (6 TO 11 YEARS OLD)

STAGE 5: IDENTITY VS ROLE CONFUSION (12 TO 18 YEARS OLD)

STAGE 6: INTIMACY VS ISOLATION (YOUNG ADULTHOOD)