Erikson Vs Piaget's Research

In the field of psychology, a multitude of psychologists study and examine the development of humans. These professionals construct theories based on their research. Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget are two psychologists who studied human development from two opposing viewpoints. Erikson was a psychologist whose “lifespan development theory” was incredibly influential during the twentieth century (King, 2010, p. 305). Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who studied children’s minds to advance the way we view human development (King, 2010, p. 294). While Piaget and Erikson theorized about human development, the two theorists obtained vast views on the basis of their theories and organization of the subject that are both different yet similar.
Erikson and Piaget’s beliefs contrast when viewing how human development should be examined.
Erikson believed that to properly study human development, one should consider the social relationships that a developing person will face (King, 2010, p. 305). This concept came about because Erikson began to explore how social life impacts psychological life, such as the relationships people make and the way they communicate within those relationships. Arguably, Piaget believed that to accurately understand human development, one must investigate children’s minds. He considered that to be able to understand their experience, human beings use schemas which is the brains categorical system for organizing knowledge (King, 2010, p. 294). An example of schemas is, if a child has only seen small dogs they many believe that all dogs are small. However, when the child sees a large dog, the brain will add this new information into the current schema made for dogs. This realization caused Piaget to take more of a cognitive approach to theorizing the development of humans. Both theorists believed that the idea of human development could be found in separate areas of people’s lives and by doing so, they developed two organized systems to follow the
development. Erikson and Piaget’s views on human development were different; however the two theorists shared similarities in dividing the lifespan into stages. They both believed that significant phases in a person’s life should be divided. Both theorists separated the stages of the lifespan, similarly categorizing them by age. By doing so, the two theories are much more organized. Erikson and Piaget’s similar choice to divide the lifespan is beneficial to the theory as a whole.
While Erikson and Piaget did similarly divide the lifespan, each had their own independent ideology on the matter. Erikson “believed that humans developed throughout their lifespan” (Thomas, 2002). His theory divides the lifespan into eight individual stages ranging from infancy to late adulthood. In contrast, Paiget’s theory considers only four stages ranging from birth to adulthood. His theory intensely focuses on cognition during childhood and lacks study in the later years of the lifespan. Though there are differences in the quantity of stages, the two theorist’s contradicting views are what made their theories so interesting and unique. Theorists Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget had similarly recognized the development of children in order to better understand human development.
Both theorists studied the years between infancy and puberty to gain insight on how these fundamental years of childhood affect people as they develop into their adult lives. Though Piaget did have a more in-depth focus on children, mainly stemming from his year at a boy’s institution in France administering his “standardized Burt’s test of intelligence” (Smith, 2000), Erikson allotted four of his eight stages to examining the process of children’s growth. Both theorists clearly show that because the brain is changing and growing exceptionally more in childhood than at any other stage of life, it seems to shape the person into whom they will be personally and cognitively. This can be seen in Erikson’s belief that trust in others is established in infancy only if the child’s needs are met emotionally and physically (King, 2010, p.
305).
Although theorists Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget each had vastly different views on how humans develop throughout their lifespan, the theorists’ ideas do in fact contain similarities such as lifespan division. The contrasting between the theories are beneficial, because they allow for diversity in the study of human development. As more psychologists reference Erikson and Piaget’s theories to investigate their own studies, it can be expected that an advance in information will arise with new insight on human development.