Developmental Theory

Developmental Theory

Developmental Theory

Introduction

There are many theories on how a human develops. Most babies follow a certain pattern of development but the controversy is which person's developmental pattern of development is correct? Erik Erickson, Sigmund Freud and Jean Piaget's developmental theories are similar. Each of the theories goes through a human's development chronologically, giving a guideline of when certain developments happen. For example when a child is supposed to walk or when a child is going to speak. It is only a guideline and these theories are not supposed to be held too strictly.

Discussion

Sigmund Freud's developmental theory was his psychosexual stages of development. His stages were: the oral, the anal, the phallic, the latent and the genital. The oral stage focused on the mouth. It is the reason why all babies like to put everything in their mouth. It is how they explore the world. This stage is usually from ages 0-1. Not completing this stage means that the person will be orally fixated all their life (Klimstra 2009). They might pick up such bad habits as smoking. The anal stage is focused on the anus of the child. During this stage the baby is trying to conquer such tasks as toilet training. The consequence of not completing this stage is a person being "Anal Retentive." This stage lasts from 1-3 years old. The phallic stage is by far the most controversial stage of Freud's developmental stages. This stage states that a child wants the parent of the opposite sex and wants to kill the other parent. This is called the Oedipus complex. If you do not complete this stage then you can become sexually deviant. This stage lasts form ages 3-6 years old (Elkins 2005). The latent stage of development means that you want to identify with same sex peers. At this stage you develop defense mechanisms. This stage lasts from ages 6-12 years old. The last stage of this development is the genital stage. The major task in this stage is to achieve sexual intimacy. This is from 12 years old onward. You cannot get to this stage unless you complete all the other stages.

I can give a great example from my life that makes at lest one of the stages true. I have a baby cousin he is now 7years old. I saw him grow up and I have been there as his babysitter since he was born. I was there for his first words and most of his developmental stages. My cousin put everything in his mouth when he was younger. He ate everything from dirt to worms, and sometimes both. This is an example of Freuds oral stage. My cousin almost died because of it though. My cousin ate a Lego building block. He was choking until I stepped in. I am a lifeguard so I know all the CPR and first aide techniques. I had my uncle call 911 and I began to perform the Heimlich ...