Summary of Theories of Child Development

Develop-mental stage	Erikson	Freud	Piaget
Infancy (birth- 12 months)	"Trust vs. Mistrust" - child in stable functional family tends to experience the world as a safe place to explore	"Oral Stage" - child learns feeding is pleasurable, needs to be loved and nurtured	Concrete Þ Abstraction: progression from "Sensorimotor" (concrete) to "Object Permanence" (abstract) Sensorimotor: children learn by interacting with environment directly OP: understanding that just because something is not physically seen, it can still exist (peek-a-boo is no fun for a 1y/o)
Toddler-hood (12-36 months)	"Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt" - child is struggling between self needs and parental constraints on child’s impulsive behaviors, results in shame and doubt felt by child (typically from overcontrol of parents) Sense of Willpower - results from sense of self-control (autonomy) without loss of self-esteem (because of limited overcontrol by parents resulting in shame and doubt)	"Anal Phase" - needs to learn autonomy and self control. Struggles with compromising the desires of the id and the constraints set by Mom. Develop a sense of "doing for one’s own self" as primary motivation	"Pre-operational Thinking" - goal is to achieve Symbolic Thought - cognitive development. Interactive communication is critical for child to develop this and is dependent on kid’s emotional attachment to primary caregiver.
Pre-schooler (3-6 y/o)	"Initiative vs. Guilt" : Initiative - child exercising will power to do what it wants to; Guilt - results from over restriction of the initiative Sense of Purpose - develops from Initiative wihtout sense of guilt, child’s developing conscience helps control the initiative; prepares child for competitive schooling Socialization occurs	"Genital Stage" - learns whole body pride Castration Anxiety - generalized concern for body integrity (children have concept their body is an oozing mass covered in skin)	"Pre-operational Thinking - cont" - associate observations with experiences and personalize them (via magical thinking). Moral laws exist as indivisible parts of certain behavior. i.e. obeying adults is "good" but doesn’t realize why an act is "good" other than from the observation that adults don’t get mad when you obey them so it must be good
Elementary (6-puberty)	"Industry vs Inferiority" - focused on converting the energy of earlier stages to the task of learning Industry: ready to learn, successfully mastered other stages of development Inferiority: not ready to master new material, feel inadequate	"Latency" - sexual energy spend competing within the family is sublimated outward	"Concrete Operational" - inductive Þ deductive. Child can now reason and have scientific reasoning (replaces magical thinking). Stage of creative cultivation
Problems seen if proper develop-ment is absent	Infancy: develop notion that world is not a safe place and exploring is risky Toddler: child does not enjoy learning and helping Pre: children show aggressive initiative Elem: sense of inferiority when faced with challenges	Infancy: avolition - can’t experience pleasure (don’t feel worthy, e.g. anorexics) Toddler: problems with dependency Pre: gender identity (tomboy) Elem: homophobia - fear of being different	Infancy: Toddler: delay in cognitive development Pre: Elem: delay in creative cultivation

Simplified Summary

Age (yrs)	Erickson	Freud	Piaget	characteristics
0 - 1	Basic trust vs. mistrust	Oral	Sensorimotor (0-2 yrs)	Stranger anxiety
1 - 3	Autonomy vs. shame and doubt	Anal	Pre-operational (2- 7 yrs)	Separation anxiety
3 - 5	Initiative vs. guilt	Phallic-Oedipal		Imaginary companions
6 - 11	Industry vs. Inferiority	Latency	Concrete operations (7-11 yrs)	Logical thought
11 - 20	Identity vs. role confusion	Genital	Formal operations (11-20 yrs)	Abstract thought