hen becoming an adolescent in other words the stage of identity versus confusion, adolescents look for setting their own personality and sense in what they are and stand for. This can lead them to a sense of control and independence or confusion and insecurity about their future. When one becomes an adult, according to Erikson four more stages or life crisis are present in an individuals life.
One could notice that although the set ages in both theories differ slightly, it can be seen a cognitive growth on the psychosocial development of Erikson’s theory as it expands with each stage, and a connectivity between Piaget and Erikson theories. For instance the concrete operational stage and the industry aspect are both passing on the view that children start getting eager to learn things and develop understanding concepts of the world.
Another example would be the relation among Piaget’s formal operational stage and Erikson’s identity versus role diffusion both mention the undergoing changes in adolescence stage. Nevertheless, while Piaget focus on the children mistakes and identify patterns of cognitive processes which he believed to happen in an orderly sequence, Erikson focus on the social relationship of children with others and the world; he extracts the positive and not so positive aspects of each life crisis, their consequences and results.
While Erik Erikson’s believed that an individual goes through every stage and life crisis at a time, Jean Piaget was convinced of that not everyone passes through each stage. He focused on cognitive psychology unlikely Erikson who based his theory on psychoanalytic perspectives which is influenced by sociocultural impact on an individuals personality. However Piaget himself could see that there was no contradictions among his stages and Erikson’s, as Erik Erikson mentions in his book ‘The Life Cycle Completed’.
Piaget was also of the opinion that development is an active process in which people are able to build differentiated and comprehensive cognitive structures by making an effort to understand their environment. One can see that the comparisons and contrasts of both theories views have been of great help to understand not only a child’s development and behaviour but also the whole process of cognitive and psychosocial development through a life time of a human being.
References:
An overview of Moral Development and Moral Education, online material available from http:/tigger.uic.edu/~lnucci/morale/overview text.html, retrieved in April 2008.
Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory, by Arash Farzaneh, Sep.30,2008, material available online, from suite101.com, retrieved 09/10/2008.
Erik and Joan Erikson psychosocial development theory 1950-97; Alan Chapman review and contextual material 2006-7, online material from www.businessball.com, retrieved in April 2008.