Freud and Erikson Compared
Comparing Theories of Development
Sigmund Freud's psychosexual theory and Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory are two wellknown theories of development. While he was influenced by Freud's ideas, Erikson's theory
differed in a number of important ways. Like Freud, Erikson believed that personality
develops in a series of predetermined stages. Unlike Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages,
Erikson’s theory describes the impact of social experience across the whole lifespan.
Compare and contrast these two theories by looking at the overview of developmental
stages provided in the chart below.
ANSWER:
Approximate
Ages
Freud's Stages of
Psychosexual Development
Erikson's Stages of
Psychosocial
Development
Birth to 1 year
Oral Stage
Trust vs Mistrust
A child's primary source of
pleasure is through the mouth,
via sucking, eating and tasting.
Children learn to either
trust or mistrust their
caregivers.
Anal Stage
Autonomy vs. Doubt
Children gain a sense of mastery
and competence by controlling
bladder and bowel movements.
Children develop selfsufficiency by controlling
activities such as eating,
toilet training and talking.
Phallic Stage
Initiative vs. Guilt
The libido's energy is focused on
the genitals. Children begin to
identify with their same-sex
parent.
Children begin to take more
control over their
environment.
1-3 years
3-6 years
7-11 years
Latent Period
Industry vs Inferiority
The libido's energy is suppressed
and children are focused on
other activities such as school,
friends and hobbies.
Children develop a sense of
competence by mastering
new skills.
Genital Stage
Identity vs Role Confusion
Children begin to explore
romantic relationships.
Children develop a personal
identify and sense of self.
Adolescence
Adulthood
According to Freud, the genital
stage lasts throughout
adulthood. He believed the goal
is to develop a balance between
all areas of life.
Intimacy vs Isolation
Young adults seek out
romantic love and
companionship.
Generativity vs Stagnation
Middle-aged adults nurture
others and contribute to
society.
Integrity vs Despair
Older adults reflect on their
lives, looking back with a
sense of fulfillment or
bitterness.
Prior to the early twentieth century, scientific observations of children were not
common. Arnold Gesell was one of the first psychologists to systematically describe children’s
physical, social, and emotional achievements through a
quantitative study of human development from birth through adolescence. He focused his
research on the extensive study of a small number of children. He began with pre-school children
and later extended his work to ages 5 to 10 and 10 to 16. From his findings, Gesell concluded
that mental and physical development in infants, children, and adolescents are comparable and
parallel orderly processes.
The results of his research were utilized in creating the Gesell Development Schedules, which
can be used with children between four weeks and six years of age. The test measures responses
to standardized materials and situations both qualitatively and quantitatively. Areas emphasized
include motor and language development, adaptive behavior, and personal-social behavior. The
results of the test are expressed first as developmental age (DA), which is then converted into
developmental quotient (DQ), representing “the portion of normal development that is present at
any age.” A separate developmental quotient may be obtained for each of the functions on which
the scale is built.
Gesell’s observations of children allowed him to describe developmental milestones in ten
major areas: motor characteristics, personal hygiene, emotional expression, fears and
dreams, self and sex, interpersonal relations, play and pastimes, school life, ethical sense,
and philosophic outlook. His training in physiology and his focus on developmental milestones
led Gesell to be a strong proponent of the “maturational” perspective of child development. That
is, he believed that child development occurs according to a predetermined, naturally unfolding
plan of growth. Gesell’s most notable achievement was his contribution to the “normative”
approach to studying children. In this approach, psychologists observed large numbers of
children of various ages and determined the typical age, or “norms,” for which most children
achieved various developmental milestones.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Gesell was widely regarded as the nation’s foremost authority on child
rearing and development, and developmental quotients based on his development schedules were
widely used as an assessment of children’s intelligence. Gesell argued, in widely read
publications, that the best way to raise children requires reasonable guidance, rather than
permissiveness or rigidity.
Eventually, the preeminence of Gesell’s ideas gave way to theories that stressed the importance
of environmental rather than internal elements in child development, as the ideas of Jerome S.
Bruner and Jean Piaget gained prominence. Gesell’s writings have been criticized by other
psychologists because he did not readily acknowledge that there are individual and cultural
differences in child development, and his focus on developmental norms implied that what is
typical for each age is also what is desirable.
Although the developmental quotient is no longer accepted as a valid measure of intellectual
ability, Gesell remains an important pioneer in child development, and is recognized for his
advances in the methodology of carefully observing and measuring behavior, and
describing child development. He created a foundation for subsequent research that described
both average developmental trends and individual differences in development. He also
inaugurated the use of photography and observation through one-way mirrors as research
tools.
Lawrence Kohlberg: The Six Stages of Moral
Development






Kohlberg’s six stage theory was an extension of Jean Piaget’s cognitive development
theory (how people learn and use knowledge is affected by both social and psychological
factors).
Kohlberg extended on Piaget’s theory, proposing that moral development is a continual
process that occurs
throughout the lifespan (the stage
you are in life determines your level of moral development).
Kohlberg based his theory on interviews with groups of young children.
In the interviews a series of moral dilemmas were presented to children, who were then
interviewed to determine the reasoning behind their judgments of each scenario.
Based on the reasoning of choice he received, he determined a stage of moral
development that individual would be on.
“The Heinz Dilemma” was a moral dilemma that he explained to his interviewees and
then questioned them on the reasoning behind the decision they would make, he used the
results to

determine the individual’s level of moral development
Moral Judgement
Moral judgement is making decisions based on whether or not they are right or wrong. They are
many theories as to where young children develop moral judgment. Some many argue that they
learn it from experiences such as being punished or rewarded when displaying a certain type of
behaviour. Piaget outlined morality as an individual’s respect for rules and justice. He brought
forth the idea that children learn moral sense from the interactions between the social world as
well as their inner thoughts.