Theories of Development
There are many branches of psychology. The field of human development is divided into five theory groups. The theory groups are Psychodynamic, Cognitive, Systems, Biological and Behavioral. Each theory group has many contributing theorists. Some theories overlap while others are independent. Often theories are credible whereas others cause skepticism. There are many contributors to the world of psychology with different views and beliefs about human development.
Psychodynamic Theory
Sigmund Freud was one of the most influential contributors to the field of psychology. Freud was born in 1856, in Moravia. In 1881, Freud received a doctorate in medicine. Freud’s main focus of study was neurology; this led him to begin concentrating his research on nervous disorders. Freud’s research brought him to his psychoanalytical theory. Freud’s theory suggests that an individual’s unconscious processes or thoughts contribute to one’s personality and influences one’s behavior. Freud’s theory included the concept that personality is composed of three elements: the id (pleasure seeker), the ego (deals with reality), and the superego (one’s sense of right and wrong). Freud also believed that human development consisted of five psychosexual stages: the oral stage (birth-18 months), anal stage (18 months-3 years), phallic stage (3-6 years), latency stage (6-12 years), and the genital stage (12 years and up). The theory included the belief that if one wants to develop a healthy personality, one has to complete all five psychosexual stages successfully.
Another great contributor to the Psychodynamic field of psychology is Erik Erickson. Erickson was born in 1902, in Germany. Erickson travelled around Europe and attended t...
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...ps of human development have led to many breakthroughs in psychology. There are many theorists that have contributed to the five theory groups. However, there are also theorists that are considered to be the founders of each group. All of the theories are relative and may help explain human development, including one’s personality or behavior.
Works Cited
Crain, W. (2011). Theories of development: Concepts and applications. (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Craig, G. J., & Dunn, W. L. (2010). Understanding human development. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Mike Wade (October 18, 2005) Theories used in Research General System Theories http://www.istheory.yorku.ca/generalsystemstheory.htm
Walonick, David S. (1993) General Systems Theory. http://www.statpac.org/walonick/systems-theory.htm
Crain, W. (2011). Theories of development: Concepts and applications (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Schuster, C. S., and Ashburn, S. S., (1980). The Process of Human Development: A Holistic Approach. Boston: Little, Brown and Company Inc.
Crandell, Thomas. Crandell, Corinne Haines. Zanden, James W. Vander. (2009). Human Development. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Theories abound around how people develop emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. This essay will examine the theories of five leaders on the subject of development.
clearly. Therefore, much about what experts know about mental and cognitive development is based on the careful observation of developmental theorists and their theories, such as Piaget's theory of cognitive development, which we discussed.
There are various theories of development which have an influence on current practices in schools today.
What is the definition of human development? Human development is the process of enlarging people’s freedom and opportunities, to improve their well-being. Children are like aliens to our world, knowing nothing about our world or what it has to offer. In this essay I discuss how children develop using and comparing 4 types of developments: cognitive development, social development, psychological and psychosexual development. Along with those developments there are theories like psychoanalytical and psychosocial theories. I will be comparing two different age groups to show the developments and compare how different those developments and theories are between the ages 0-7.
According to Freud’s biography “The Psychopathology of Everyday Life,” by Peter Gay; Sigmund Schlomo Freud was born May 6 1856 to Jewish Galician Parents in a small town located in which is now know as Czech Republic. In 1865, Freud was nine years old and entered the “Leopoldstädter Kommunal-Realgymnasium”, a prominent high school. He proved an exceptional learner and graduated from the Matura in 1873 with honors. He showed great affection for literature and was proficient in different languages; for instance, German, French, Italian, Spanish, English, Hebrew, Latin and Greek. Freud also read William Shakespeare and it’s believed that his understanding of human psychology was originated from Shakespeare’s literatures. Freud then entered the University of Vienna at the age of 17 with plans to study law, but under the joined the university’s medical faculty where he studied philosophy, physiology and zoology. In 1881 at the age of 25, Freud graduated from Vienna with an MD (Doctor of Medicine).
Human development issues have remained critical in understanding how and why people behave the way they do. Several human development theories exist to explain human development from birth through to death. Some of these have focused on the psychological aspects of human development while others on the cognitive aspect (Piaget, 1971; Lerner, 2001; Swick and Williams, 2006). Other human development theories have also focused on the social and environmental aspects (Bronfenbrenner & Bronfenbrenner, 2009; Swick, 2004). This current essay examines one of the major social theories relating to child development. The theory to be examined is the Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of human development. The essay will further examine the applicability of the Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory to my personal development, growing up as a child between the ages of 4 years and 12 years. In the first instance, the essay will focus on explaining the – Bronfenbrenner’s theory including the four types of systems described by the theory. Subsequently, the essay will examine how these systems apply to my life in relation to the social systems in which I grew in South Sudan in Africa. It will be seen that the Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory
Erik Erikson was influenced by Freud and his concept of the ego. Erikson observed the impact of external factors on personality from not just childhood, but throughout the entire lifetime. He developed eight stages, which are split into different age brackets. As an individual passes through these stages, they must successfully complete the crisis to move forward onto the next one.
From a Freudian perspective, human development is based on psychosexual theory (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). Psychosexual theory indicates that maturation of the sex drives underlies stages of personality development (Shaffer et al., 2010). It was Freud’s perspective that there are three components of personality (the id, ego, and superego) that become integrated into his five stage theoretical model. The id was the biological or drive component that is innate from birth. The sole purpose of the Id is satiate an individual’s internal drives (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). The ego is the conscious portion of our personality that mediates between our id and superego. Throughout development the ego reflects the child’s emerging ability to...
According to Sigmund Freud who founded the approach, human personality and behaviour work at three levels of awareness in the mind; what we are thinking of now (conscious), thoughts, memories we can recall (preconscious) and inaccessible desires, thoughts which can be brought into the conscious mind by psychoanalytic techniques (Erickson and Murphy, 2008). He also inferred that the adult personality is made of three parts: Id, ego and superego (Gross, 2010).
Craig, G. J., & Dunn, W. L. (Ex.: 2010). Understanding human development (2nd Ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Piaget and Freud’s theory are universally known and used in every aspect of human development. While parts of each are used to guide the current theories of human development, ultimately the Freudian and Piagetian theory are very different and have different explanations for what is characteristically observed through human growth and development.
Sigmund Freud was one of the trailblazers of modern-day psychology. After several years of clinical practice, Sigmund Freud became concern about finding a new way to cure his patients. He developed a new way of treatment, the psychoanalytic therapy based on the existence of the unconscious. According to his theory, our behavior is driven by sexual and destructive feelings. Freud mentions in his psychoanalytical theory of personality there are five stages of psychosexual stages structure of personality. However, the three main elements of a personality are id, ego and superego, which come together to generate intricate human behavior. The three essential parts of human psyche are listed below.