: Psychosocial Development Across the Lifespan

: Psychosocial Development Across the Lifespan

Introducing the two selected theorists, their associated approaches, and the main focus of each theorist

For this submission, the selected theorists are Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson. On the one hand, Jean Piaget is associated with cognitive development theory. This theory primarily focuses on children’s cognitive development. According to Escobar (2017), the theory concentrates on understanding the way in which children often acquire knowledge. The theory also focusses on the nature of the children’s intelligence. On the other hand, Erik Erikson is prominent for his Psychosocial Development theory. According to Malone, Liu, Vaillant, Rentz, and Waldinger (2016), the theory is centered on the way a person’s engagement with their psychosocial world may play a role in maintaining stronger cognitive abilities in their late life.

The key concepts for each theorist

Jean Piaget

The theory by Jean Piaget posits that children often construct knowledge actively through exploration and manipulation of the world around them. In other words, children usually adapt to the environment (Ahmad, Ch, Batool, Sittar, & Malik, 2016). Additionally, the theory holds out that cognitive development takes place through three interconnected processes. These are the organization, adaptation, and equilibration. The organization is defined by the initial schema in which the young one starts to develop an understanding of what something is and how it works (Ahmad, Ch, Batool, Sittar, & Malik, 2016). The second stage, adaptation, is where the child expands their understanding of what something is by observing it within the environment (assimilation).

It is also at this stage that the child gains the ability to understand the difference between two things that appear the same, for example, a cat and a dog. This is known as accommodation. This, then, leads to equilibration in which the child begins to gain an understanding of cats. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development does not stop at this point. Rather, the theorist identifies four stages of development. He claims that between zero and two years, a child develops sensorimotor skills followed by pre-operational competencies at the age of between two and seven years. At 7-11 years and beyond 11 years, respectively, the person develops concrete operation skills and formal operation capacities.

Erick Erickson

Erickson’s theory identifies five phases that parallel those established by Sigmund Freud but goes beyond to include three other adult stages. Hence, according to Erickson, the first stage, which occurs when one is between zero and 18 months, is known as the infancy stage (Chávez, 2016). This is where the trust vs. mistrust crisis becomes the norm. The underlying virtue is hope. The second stage is toddlerhood, which is between one and two years (Erskine, 2019). During this period, the widespread conflict is between independence vs. doubt and shape. The related virtue is will. The child then moves to the preschooler phase, which is between three and six years. The problematic issue is the conflict between guilt and initiative, while the virtue cultivated is purpose. The middle childhood stage, which takes place between seven and 11 years, involves a conflict between inferiority and superiority (Erskine, 2019). Where a child is able to confront this challenge, he or she is able to gain the competency.

During the teenage years, also referred to as adolescence, the person faces identity vs. role confusion upon which successful maneuver leads to fidelity (Chávez, 2016). The period between 20 and 20 yeas is known as early adulthood, and it is where a person faces intimacy vs. isolation conflict. Love is the most apparent virtue at this stage. The next stage is called middle adulthood and occurs between 40 and 60 years (Chávez, 2016). At this point, a person faces the conflict between stagnation and generativity, with care being the virtue in the officing for those who succeed in confronting the challenge. Finally, people in late adulthood, those aged 60 years and above face despair vs. integrity. They tend to show a great sense of wisdom, but only if they manage to address the underlying conflicts.

Strengths and weaknesses of the theoretical approaches of each theorist

Jean Piaget

Sigelman and Rider (2017) purport that Jean Piaget’s definition of intellectual development has been tested and found to be valid, even though not in its entirety. In addition to this, Piaget’s theory is key to education and child-rearing, given that it advocates for pitching educational programs to the level of children’s understanding. Besides, the theory is the key to stimulating the young ones to discover novel concepts through their own direct grappling with problems (Sigelman & Rider, 2017). However, the theory has been criticized with commentators claiming that it is not clear whether the theorist’s hang together as general thinking modes applied to different types of problems. It is also determined that the theorist overlooked the full importance of the cognitive abilities of infants as well as young children (Sigelman & Rider, 2017).

Erick Erickson

A major strength of the theory by Erickson is that he included the place of culture in the development of a child’s psychosocial development. Besides, as illustrated by Parker (2020), the theory considers individual differences within a framework of normal development. At the same time, the theory covers cognitive structures and provides insights into psychosocial crises. Nonetheless, as Parker (2020) illustrates, the theory does not explain the mechanisms of crisis revolution as well as the process of transitioning across stages. Another weakness is that the effects of culture on one’s psychosocial development is not elaborate.

References

Ahmad, S., Ch, A. H., Batool, A., Sittar, K., & Malik, M. (2016). Play and Cognitive Development: Formal Operational Perspective of Piaget’s Theory. Journal of Education and Practice, 7(28), 72-79.

Chávez, R. (2016). Psychosocial development factors associated with occupational and vocational identity between infancy and adolescence. Adolescent Research Review, 1(4), 307-327.

Erskine, R. G. (2019). Child Development in Integrative Psychotherapy: Erik Erikson’s First Three Stages. International Journal of Integrative Psychotherapy, 10(1), 11-34.

Escobar, C. R. (2017). Understanding our cognitive processes. Int. Educ. Res. J, 3(3), 29-30.

Malone, J. C., Liu, S. R., Vaillant, G. E., Rentz, D. M., & Waldinger, R. J. (2016). Midlife Eriksonian psychosocial development: Setting the stage for late-life cognitive and emotional health. Developmental psychology, 52(3), 496506.

Parker, J. (2020). Introducing Social Work. London, UK: SAGE.

Sigelman, C. K., & Rider, E. A. (2017). Lifespan human development. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.