Topic > Evaluating Psychoanalytic Theory: Importance of Childhood for Personality Development

What are the common characteristics of human personality? What leads to the difference between people? Already at the end of the 19th century the discussion of human personality became a common and stable study. Influenced by Sigmund Freud, Eric Erikson alters Freud's stage of psychosexual development and establishes Erikson's stage of psychosocial development in the 1950s. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayBoth Freud and Erikson emphasize the importance of childhood for personality development. In Freud's psychosexual development, he proposed five developmental phases (oral phase, anal phase, phallic phase, latency phase, genital phase), each of which influences the mental development and health of the individual to varying degrees. If the enacted desire fails to be satisfied, it will leave behind and cause fixation. Taking the oral stage as an example, he proposed that from birth to 18 months, the child is satisfied mainly by sucking, chewing, swallowing and other activities in the oral cavity. At this time, if oral activity is limited, behaviors such as greed, alcoholism, smoking, nail biting, etc. may occur, and after growth, pessimism, addiction and cleanliness also appear in the personality. Similarly, in Erikson's psychosocial development stage, he divides human life into different stages (Infancy, Early Childhood, Early Childhood, Middle Childhood, Adolescence, Early Adulthood, Middle Adulthood, Late Adulthood), each of them must successfully complete the corresponding development tasks – including friendship, self-assessment, specific calculations, skill learning and teamwork. Otherwise, the next stage will be made more difficult, even impossible. Erikson suggested that people will face the Trust and Distrust task when they are 0 to 1 year old. If the child does not receive enough care from the mother at this stage, this will cause anxiety when faced with a new environment in the future, affecting the child's ability to succeed in the next stage of learning independence. At the same time, Erikson accepted Freud's idea that the development of the human personality is a contradiction between a number of points of view at each stage. Freud believes that there is a conflict between the ego, the superego and the id. How to address these contradictions becomes the key to future development. When children are in the anal stage, they must learn to control their physical needs and resolve the conflict between instinct and control in excretion. If parents can give adequate support and encouragement, they can help children balance the contradiction between “Id” and “Superego” and develop generosity, diligence and creativity. Instead, it will lead to stubborn, awkward, and violent personalities. Citing Freud's view, Erikson proposed that individuals must resolve conflict between threats and opportunities at each stage to acquire identity strengths. In Erikson's stage of psychosocial development, children will face conflicts of autonomy or shameful suspicions during early childhood. By providing adequate moderation and support, they can resolve the contradictions of the crisis, promote autonomous actions, and gain self-control. It can be seen that both believe that conflict resolution at every stage plays an important role in the growth and development of the individual. Although Erikson recognizes the importance of childhood experience for personality development, he did not ignore adult experience, which is equally important. Unlike Freud's stage of psychological development, theErikson's stage of psychosocial development includes the development of individuals after the age of puberty. As the first stage of adult development, Erikson proposed that dating, marriage, family, and friendship experienced by an early adult are important parts of the individual's developmental life stage. Through building relationships with others, individuals will experience love and intimacy. On the contrary, it will feel lonely and will affect the mental health and personality of individuals. However, Freud's psychosexual development is only a gradual process that highlights the sexual maturity of children towards adults. He suggested that individuals will develop a solid self as they mature and develop the ability to delay their desires. It focuses only on the importance of childhood experiences on personality development and ignores the psychological development of adults. What leads to the above differences? Freud believes that early experience shaped or even can fix an adult's personality, and this view is applied to his theory of development. Freud argues that human beings are driven primarily by unconscious motivations and conflicts. And most of the inner forces, memories and conflicts that are not perceived or controlled arise from the individual's childhood and continuously influence human behavior. Freud believed that “the basis of the adult personality lies in the child and his experiences,” particularly sexual experience. And the so-called “sexual life” mentioned here indicates above all the transition period of the boy's Oedipus complex and the girl's love relationship with her father. When the child can support the father or mother who is their competitor and learn characteristics from them, it can promote the development of the superego and develop correct behavior and relationships between men and women in the future. It can be seen that Freud believes that early experiences directly laid the foundation for personality development, not change over the course of life. However, Erikson does not agree with Freud's point of view. Erikson's theory of psychosocial development considers personality development as a continuous process throughout the entire life span. In the process of personality development, individuals learn to adapt to different difficulties at different stages, resolve different crises, and then gradually rise up and finally complete their holistic self. Erikson expects people to gain the benefits of hope, will, purpose, competence, loyalty, love, and care through the stages before the end of their lives, thus resolving the contradiction between self-glory and pessimism, in so that they can enjoy the remaining years. All developmental tasks in life must be completed to increase the chances of completing the self. Only healthy and sustained development at every stage can avoid the outcome of regret. Furthermore, Erikson underlined the role of conscience, overcoming the situation of slavery of the id. Furthermore, the environment in which children grow up is crucial in providing them with adaptation, self-awareness and recognition. In the psychosocial development stage, he proposed that the individual grows up in human society after birth. Behavior is influenced by others and society, rather than by unrestricted natural development, otherwise it will not be able to integrate. He suggested that teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 will face several questions: Who am I? How can I adapt? What should I achieve in my life? If parents can let their children explore and encourage them, they will be able to integrate their roles. However, if the parentscontinue to pressure or pander to them, they may face the problem of confusion. It can be seen that Erikson believes that external factors have a great impact on individuals. But Freud makes a different point. He believes that the energy of human spiritual activity comes from instinct. Instinct is the driving force of individual behavior and the unconscious dominates human actions. From his point of view, the sexual instinct is the internal motivation of all mental activities, which is why he created the theory of the psychosexual stage of development. He proposed that when a person is in the genital, sexual stage, the individual's organs begin to mature and the difference between the two sexes begins to be significant, sexual desires will shift from parents to heterosexuals of the same age. Driven by sexual needs, they began to have an ideal sexual life, consciousness of marriage and family, and finally developed a mature mind. From the above it can be known that while Freud focuses on the development of psychosexuality, the other influences the angles added by Erikson helped expand psychoanalysis. But is Erikson radically changing the theory of psychoanalysis? My answer will be yes. From a lifespan developmental perspective, development should have the characteristic of being permanent, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, contextual, co-constructed by different factors, and involving growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss. . And Erikson amply demonstrates that development is a whole process of continuation of life, and in his theory it will continue to progress after adulthood. He disagrees with Freud's statement that all mental illnesses can be traced back to early childhood experiences. He agrees that early childhood experience is important, but personality can still develop through the social environment as an adult. This is why Erikson's stage of psychosocial development is divided into eight stages, including the development of people from childhood to adulthood to death. It can be seen that the development he proposed lasts a lifetime. Additionally, individuals face and overcome new challenges at each stage, meaning they have the ability to continually make changes. For example, through connecting with peers or imitating idols, adolescents can build an ideal image in their mind, thus understanding who they are, what they can become, and helping them overcome embarrassment. This shows that consciousness can progress through practice and the development of better strategies. Development is plastic. Meanwhile, the change in people manifests itself in many directions. For example, in Erikson's stage of psychosocial development, children aged 4 to 6 years during the preschool period focus on developing their ability to work independently, for example, carrying children aged 7 to 11 years to acquire self-esteem and self-esteem. confidence by comparing the differences between themselves and other children's strengths, which is cognitive development. This shows that Erikson's theory is multidirectional. Furthermore, a multidirectional development also indicates that the development can experience gains or losses. Just as the life of a person between the ages of 25 and 65 tends to be stable, if the person feels uncomfortable in the process, he or she usually regrets the decision made, on the other hand, if he or she can find a purpose in life, like raising a child, then you can get motivation and progress. This also shows the process involving growth, maintenance and regulation of loss. When it comes to developmental diversity, it is a characteristic of how the physical, the.