100% (1)
Pages:
5 pages/≈1375 words
Sources:
6
Style:
APA
Subject:
Social Sciences
Type:
Essay
Language:
English (U.S.)
Document:
MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 21.6
Topic:

Piaget versus Eriksson

Essay Instructions:
Subject: Psychology Piaget Versus Erikson 1) Write an essay (1,250, words) determining the stance that the theory/theorists would take on key issues related to developmental psychology. Examples of relevant issues include, but are not limited to heredity versus environment, active versus passive learning, critical versus sensitive periods, and continuous versus discontinuous change. 2) For each issue addressed, consider the following: a) Relevant information about the key issue. b) Indicate which issue is being addressed. c) Indicate the position the theorist would take on the issue. d) Explain why the theorist would maintain that stance. e) Address any issue the theorist did not address and why. Prepare this assignment according APA Style Guide. An abstract is not required.
Essay Sample Content Preview:
Running head: PIAGET VERSUS ERIKSSON
Piaget versus Eriksson
Name
Institution
Course
Lecturer
Date
Piaget versus Eriksson
Eriksson in his theory of psychosocial development believed in the importance of early childhood. He was interested in how children socialize and how this socialization affects their sense of self than focusing on cognitive development (Weiten, 2011). The theory identifies eight distinct stages each with double outcomes. According to the theory if a child successfully completes on stage he/she turns into a healthy personality and he successfully interacts with other children. Incase the child fails to successfully complete the first stage, then his ability to finish the other stages is minimal and he may result into a more unhealthy personality and sense of self. Therefore, in each stage a child faces challenges and the outcome depends on how the challenges are handled.
On the other hand, Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is concerned with how children think. According to Piaget the process of how the child thinks changes as the child matures physically and interacts with the world around them. As a child learns, he/she expands and modifies his schema or mental models through the process of assimilation and accommodation. Piaget proposes four stages of child development (Weiten, 2011). Therefore, both Eriksson and Piaget are concerned with the development of the child although Eriksson’s development stages tend to be longer than the Pigiet’s development stages.
Developmental Psychology Issues
Eriksson and pigeot views on development stages create different developmental psychology issues. The debate about developmental psychology rotates around various important questions; “is development due more to genetics or environment? Does development occurs slowly and smoothly, or do changes happen in stages? Do early child hood experiences have the greatest impact on development, or are later events equally important?” The answer to these questions can be found by discussing the different issues in developmental psychology as addressed by the different theorists (Shaffer & Kipp, 2010).
Heredity versus Environment (Nature versus Nurture)
The debate over this issue is whether ideas are inborn or they develop through experience. Some philosophers believe than ideas are inborn while others believe that the mind is a blank slate at birth, that it is experience that determines knowledge. According to Eriksson development is caused by interaction between ideas and knowledge received through experience. But Pieget theory argues that people are born with ideas which they use as they into adults. Some development stages are biological like adolescent and puberty but environmental factors tent to affect them; the diet and nutrition the child is introduced to may influence whether puberty or adolescent to comes earlier or late (Hill, 2001).
Active versus Passive Learning
This debate is whether a child actively contributes to his own development, or whether it is the passive recipient of the environment that influences. The question whether people actively seek knowledge and self-understanding, or whether people passively react to what they experience and learn. Pieget supports active learning arguing that people actively participate in their own development. That the development of children is mainly determined by forces within themselves. Eriksson on the other hand argues that individuals passively learn about events in their environment. According to Eriksson, child’s development is determined by external influence (Berger, 2000).
Early Experience versus Late Experience
These involve the experiences that occur early in ones life and those that come later. The debate is whether people are more affected by events that happen in their early childhood or if later events also affect them equally. Pieget considers events that occur in early childhood to be more influential thorough out an individual’s life. According to Pieget theory, much of the child’s personality is completely established at the age of five. Basing on Pieget argument, for children who are deprived or abused at tender age it is difficult for them to adjust or develop normally. On the contrast, Eriksson argues that the influence of childhood events does not have big impact on throughout the person’s life. Children who face abuse or deprived can still develop normal as they grows into adults. His argument is based...
Updated on
Get the Whole Paper!
Not exactly what you need?
Do you need a custom essay? Order right now:
Sign In
Not register? Register Now!