A Comparison Of Erikson And Piaget

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The two giants of early childhood education that I will present in this research paper are Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget. The study of the psychological and cognitive development of children has been pioneered by several prominent figures throughout the centuries. However, I have chosen Erikson and Piaget because their work provided the framework for gaining important insight into understanding a child’s development (Gordon & Browne, 2016). In this paper, I will discuss Erikson, and Piaget’s historical background, theory overview and comparisons, and how their theories are used in today’s classroom. Erikson and Piaget both had very humble beginnings.
Erikson
Historical Background
Erik Erikson was born on June 15, 1902, in Frankfurt Germany. Although he was …show more content…

He expanded upon the theory of psychosexual development. Erikson later developed his psychosocial theory which gained him notoriety as a pioneer in developmental psychology. He died May 12, 1994, in Harwich, Massachusetts (Kivnick & Wells, 2013).

Theory Overview
Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development proposes that a child progress through eight stages of development throughout their lifespan (Dunkel & Harbke, 2016). Each stage is characterized by a new conflict which indicates a turning point in their life. Each conflict must be resolve before successfully entering into the next stage of development (Knight, 2017). Each stage of development is built upon the previous stage and presents the child with unique challenges. Conflicts that remain unresolved will continue to cause developmental problems throughout the child's life. For example, stage 1 of the 8 Stages of Psychosocial Development Theory describes a conflict turning point of Trust versus Mistrust (Knight, 2017). Successfully completing this stage could mean the difference of a child having a struggle with mistrust issues into adulthood (Gordon & Browne, 2016). According to Dunkel and

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