A Comparison of Erikson’s and Piaget’s Theories

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Theory Paper: A Comparison of Erikson’s and Piaget’s Theories Wayne State University Abstract Jean Piaget, a Swiss developmental psychologist, theorized that all children undergo the same periods of cognitive development. This theory is called “Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development,” and is largely used in the education of children. It is divided into four periods. Erik Erikson, a German developmental psychologist, expanded on Freud’s developmental model to create his own. Stages are characterized by a crisis, to which, the individual’s ego helps them attain balance in life. The theory is called “Erikson’s Eight Stages of Man.” While both theories present a model for the development of a person from birth to adulthood, they each do so in different ways, which makes it difficult to compare and contrast each individual stage of the two models. Piaget said that while a person continues to grow throughout adulthood, cognitive development does not occur past the age of 15. This is in contrast to Erikson, whose theory says that development occurs up until the time of death. It is the intent of this paper, through comparing and contrasting the two theories, to define a correlation between them and to determine their compatibility with social work ethics and practice. Theory Paper: A Comparison of Erikson’s and Piaget’s Theories Thesis Jean Piaget, a Swiss developmental psychologist, theorized that all children undergo the same periods of cognitive development. This theory is called “Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development,” and is largely used in the education of children. It is divided into four periods, to be explained below. Erik Erikson, a German developmental psychologist, expanded on Freud’s developmental model to create his own. “Each Eriksonian stage requires the mastery of a particular developmental task related to identity”
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