Similarities And Differences Between Erik Erickson

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Similarities and Differences between Erik Erickson’s and Daniel Levinson’s Theories Throughout the semester in my Human Growth and Development class, we studied the different stages of life and how the brain and the mind grow and mature with age. Within our studies we were introduced to two different theories on human growth and development; Erik Erikson’s life-span view theory and Daniel Levinson’s seasons of a man’s life theory. Although they are two different theories, these psychologists came up with some very similar approaches and also some very different approaches. With all their research and experience, we look at these two gentlemen as the fathers of human growth and development. We these two theories, a person can identify a person’s stage in life and how developed they should be as an individual. To begin with, Erik Erikson spent a great deal of time exploring the science of human growth. He realized that a lot of our traits come in opposites and that our traits came wrapped up in a bow when we were born while other traits were learned as we grew older and our brain became more developed. Through researching Erikson’s theory I realized that you are either one or the other. You’re either optimistic or pessimistic. You are either independent or dependent. You are either emotional or unemotional. You are either aggressive or passive. With that being the basis of his research, Erikson categorized life in eight stages. First stage is the infancy stage which occurs from birth to eight months. Erickson also referred to this stage as the oral sensory stage, where the major emphasis is on the mother's positive and loving care for the child, with a big emphasis on visual contact and touch the future. If we fail to experience trust and are constantly frustrated because our needs are not met, we may end up with a deep-seated feeling of
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