Ciarajoymcdevitt.weebly.com



Ciara McDevittECD 1404Theorist Erik EriksonErick Erikson was one of the most important theorists in early childhood education. Erik Erickson was born in 1902 and died at the age of 92 in 1994. He lived a very long life and changed early childhood education for the better. He was born in Germany in a city called Frankfurt. His mother and biological father spilt before he was born so Erikson’s mother was forced to raise him by herself through his early years. His mother later on married another man and Erikson grew up thinking it was his real father. When Erickson found out he wasn’t his real father he was very upset and torn. Erickson was teased going up for the fact he was Jewish and was left out of a lot of activities. A lot of the things that Erickson experienced during his early years left him feeling like he didn’t know who he was at all and needed to find himself.As soon as Erickson finished high school he decided to travel throughout Europe. Erickson tried many different things including experimenting with art, he wasn’t sure what he should go off and study so with a help from a friend he decided to study psychoanalysis and earned a his certificate from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. Psychoanalysis is as “school of thought emphasized the influence of the unconscious mind on behavior” (Cherry). It was developed by Sigmund Freud. “Freud believed that the human mind was composed of three elements: the id, the ego, and the superego”. (Cherry) Erickson took a great interest in Freud’s work and wanted to take it a step forward. Erickson continued his interest in Freud while working at a school. While working at the school Erickson met his wife who was a dance teacher there. Her name was Joan Serson. Erickson and Serson got married in 1930 and ended up having three children together. “Erikson moved to the United States in 1933 and was offered a teaching position at Harvard Medical School. He also changed his name from Erik Homberger to Erik H. Erikson, perhaps as a way to forge is own identity. In addition to his position at Harvard, he also had a private practice in child psychoanalysis. Later, he held teaching positions at the University of California at Berkeley, Yale, the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute, Austen Riggs Center, and the Center for Advanced Studies of the Behavioral Sciences.” (Cherry) Even when Erickson moved away from Germany to the United States he still had challenges overcoming his identity so he created his own. He became an huge inspiration and activist for early childhood education and taught his ideas around the United States. He soon grew very popular along with Freud and people around the world followed his theories on the young child’s mind. Erickson published a number of books on his theories and research that he had done throughout the years. One was called Childhood and Society and The Life Cycle Completed and his other book, Gandhi's Truth was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and a national Book Award. Throughout Erickson’s 92 years of life he accomplished a lot. Erik Erikson also spent a lot of his time studying the cultural life of the Sioux in South Dakota and the Yurok in northern California. He used the knowledge he gained of cultural, environmental, and social influences to further develop his theory in psychoanalytic.The main difference between Freud and Erickson’s believes was that Erickson carried them out further. “While Freud’s theory had focused on the psychosexual aspects of development, Erikson’s addition of other influences helped to broaden and expand psychoanalytic theory. He also contributed to our understanding of personality as it is developed and shaped over the course of the lifespan.” (Cherry) Erickson had researched Freud’s and experimented with Freud’s ideas and developed the reasons why children are the way they are and what makes them a better individual. In Erickson’s observations he did on children helped him later on develop his research. He believed children have an imagination, that they should be set free and left to explore creativity. Erick Erickson’s theory on psychosocial development was based on the fact that a child’s cognitive and social overall developments go hand in hand together and cannot be separated. Erickson believed that children’s personalities along with their social skills grow and develop with what is going on with the society around them and what everyone else demands, not what the child wants. Everyone has already set their own expectations for that child and how they should believe; the child doesn’t have the chance to develop it on their own. A child’s family, school, or child care center has already determined what they should be doing and what they should know how to do. Erickson was a huge activist for having parents and teacher help the child develop on their own and helping the child figure out what he/she wants or likes on his/hers own. School children who were demanded to learn new skills ended up failing and feeling unappreciated and incompetent. Later on in research children grew up to be very violent. Erickson focusses his theory of early childhood development into four stages. Stage one of Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development focusses on the child’s birth until it is 18 months. Erikson names this stage basic trust versus mistrust. He states that “during this stage, children learn to trust or mistrust their environment and their caregivers. Trust develops when child’s needs are met consistently, predictably, and lovingly. Children then view the world as safe and dependable.”(Morrison 130) This is incredibly logical and makes sense. In my own experience I have seen this working with infants. Infant depend on other’s to meet their needs because they cannot themselves. Infants are not hard to keep happy when all their needs are met and they have your attention. They feel safe and secure but when their needs are not met they feel sad and abandoned. The second stage of Erickson’s stages of psychosocial development is called Autonomy versus shame and doubt. This focuses on a child’s life from 18 months to they are three years old. In this stage children want to do things for themselves there done letting you do everything for them. “Given adequate opportunities, they learn independence and competence. Inadequate opportunities and professional overprotection result in self-doubt and poor achievement: children come to feel ashamed of their abilities.” (Morrison 130) This is extremely true when you’re trying to do everything for a child who is capable of doing things for them they get frustrated and might not develop to their full capability. As a teacher an early childhood educator it is our role to encourage and not shame children. Let the child explore what he/she can do on his/her own but at the same time make sure they are safe.In stage three of Erickson’s stages of psychosocial development it focuses on initiative versus guilt. This stage is for the preschool years from 3 to 5 years old. In the preschool years children have and experience many opportunities to respond to different activities and tasks that are placed in front of them. When they have to complete tasks and activities it gives children a sense of purpose and accomplishment. “Children can feel guilty if they are discouraged or prohibited from initiating activities and are overly restricted in attempts to do things on their own.” (Morrison 130) If a child is stopped or told their doing something the wrong it’s going to make the child not want to do that certain activity anymore. “Children are learning and want to undertake many adult like activities, sometimes over stepping the limits set by parents and feel guilty.” (Morrison 130) Children shouldn’t have limits and that’s what Erickson is trying to get a crossed, we should let children feel free to express their own ideas. We need to observe children’s interest and explore new ways and opportunities to do things they’re interested in. We also need to encourage the child’s imagination. The final and forth stage of Erickson’s stages of psychosocial development is called industry versus inferiority. This is for children ages 5 to 8 years old. Children display an active mind and what to be very productive in this period. They have the motivation to learn new things and experience with new ideas. They also have a huge need for recognition in what they do. “children actively and busily learn to be competent and productive or feel inferior and unable to do things well.” (Morrison 130) Children should always feel accomplished and happy about their work not disappointed in it. Erickson believed we should help children win recognition for things and assure children can be successful if they put their mind to it. In Erickson’s stages he makes some very good valued points. Everything in each stage he talks about is true and I can tell from my own experiences with children and his experiences he’s had with children. Erickson wants me to incorporate all these stages into how I teach as an early childhood educator. I want to make sure the children I teach have the ability to be successful and know they can be before they leave my care. I never want a child to feel like they are not capable of doing something. I want to be supportive, encouraging, and scaffold in my classroom. Learning about Erickson and his beliefs for early childhood education has changed me for the better and made me want to be a better teacher. As for many other early child hood educator’s just like me, Erickson had made me think about how my actions towards children affect them and the way they feel and I want children to feel like they can be anything they want to be. I don’t want to be the reason why a kid decided not to do something that could of turned out to be a wonderful opportunity for them. Erickson has done a lot for early childhood education and has made a huge difference in the way we teach today. Bibliography Cherry, Kendra. "Erik Erikson Biography (1902-1994)." Psychology. , n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. <, Kendra. "What Is? Psychoanalysis?" Psychology. , n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. <;."Erik Erikson." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Nov. 2012. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. <, George S. Early Childhood Education Today. 11th ed. N.p.: Jeffery W. Johnston, 2009. Print. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download