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The studies of children and their brain has been around for a long time. There are in fact many theories in the world that describe how a child’s mind works, but one in particular stands out. Erik Erikson, a well known psychiatrist, discovered that in life you go through many different stages which in turn forms your personality.
Erik Erikson discovered that as children age they go through different stages where they face problems which makes a big impression on their future life. Stage one starts at infancy which introduces the conflict of trust vs. mistrust. After infancy comes early childhood which has the conflict of autonomy vs. shame and doubt. Stage three introduces preschool which makes the child face the conflict of initiative vs. guilt. After stage three is stage four which is school age, and the conflict for this stage industry vs. inferiority. Adolescence is the next stage which has the conflict of identity vs. role confusion. Stage five introduces young adulthood where people have to deal with the conflict of intimacy vs. isolation. Next would be middle adulthood which has the conflict of generativity vs. stagnation. Lastly would be stage eight which is maturity, and has the conflict of ego integrity vs, despair. The amount of detail and substance that Erikson produced in his theory suggests that he has one of the best theories out of all of the other theorists.
One of the things that Erik Erikson explained in his theory was that the things that happen in our earlier stages of life end up impacting our later years. Another theorist named Sigmund Freud also had this same idea. Freud also concluded that the events that took place in the early stages of life had a role in what that person’s personality would be like. Erikson also agreed with this theory. One thing that is different about Erik Erikson and Sigmund Freud is that Sigmund Freud mainly focused on the early stages of life while Erik Erikson looked at all stages of life, and how that impacted people.
Abraham Maslow and Erik Erikson differed on many things, but one thing they both had in common was that they both said that problems that occured in their needs/ stages would have a big impact later on in life. Maslow introduced the thought that there were needs that needed to be met for a person to be successful. ( Physical, security, social, ego, and self actualization). This was different from what Erikson said. Erikson said that the key to later life was dealing with conflicts that arouse while Maslow said that there was a hierarchy of needs that has to be met for later life.
A well known psychiatrist named Erik Erikson is in my opinion the best theorist because the information he gave made the most sense in my mind. All of the other theorists were mostly correct and still had good information, but Erik Erikson really hit the nail on the coffin. Erikson’s theory on the stages of life and how the conflicts that appear during them impact later life is a really good indicator of how good of a theorist he is. Although many things have been discovered and many theories made, there is always room for more expansion of knowledge. Maybe in a couple of years or decades, a new psychologist will come along and produce theories that end up being better than Erik Erikson. Until that psychologist produces that theory, Erikson will remain the best.
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