1. Theories of Life Stages & Human
Development
Presented by Vanessa Kiraly, Hannah DeVries, & Ghazala Nazeer
Peer Tutoring Unit 2

2. Introduction to Life Stages & Human
Development Theories
Today we will be learning about 3 different theories that
describe the psychological development of humans!

3. Materials Needed
For this lesson, you will need:
-Paper & Pens
-A ruler
-A computer to view this presentation
-A clean workspace
-Willingness to learn and stay focused!

4. Expectations/ Lesson Goals
 Have a general understanding about the
key discoveries of Piaget, Erikson, &
Freud.
 Be able to apply these three theories to
real-life situations when dealing with
children.
 Understand the foundations and basic
concepts that each of the following three
theories presented are based upon.
 Be succesful at understanding the
differences between each theory.
 Have a general understanding about the
life and biography of Piaget, Erikson, &
Freud.

5. All About Jean Piaget
 He developed French variations of questions on English intelligence
tests at the Binet institute during the 1920s.
 After becoming intrigued as to why children gave incorrect answers
on logical thinking questions, he proposed that these actions may be
vital evidence to reveal different thinking processes between adults
and infants.
 Before Piaget, it was thought that children were just less proficient
thinkers than grown-ups; however he demonstrated that children think
in unusually different ways in comparison to adults.
 Piaget stated that infants are born with basic mental structure that is
evolved and genetically inherited which is the start or the basis of the
way we learn to think.

6. How Piaget's Theory Differs from
Other Theories
 Piaget’s theory is specific to children.
 It targets development instead of learning directly.
 Piaget’s theory is about development in discrete stages noticeable by
qualitative differences instead of ideas and behaviors that become
increasingly complex.
 Piaget’s theory is based on the fact that environmental experiences and the
reorganization of mental processes in the brain allows children to mature and
have a further understanding about topics or physical objects that they
identify as familiar. Children must be able to hypothesize the inconsistencies
between two or more substances/persons using what they already know.

7. The 3 Basic Parts to the Piaget
Theory
 Schemas (The building blocks and creation of
knowledge)
 Processes that enable the child to transition from one
stage to another (equilibrium, assimilation, and
accommodation)
 Stages of Development (Sensorimotor,
preoperational, concrete operational, formal
operational)

8. Schemas & Transitions
A schema is a representation of cognitive connections and our
world. In this case, schemas are attributes that a child can
associate with their experiences in order to identify an
object as what it is supposed to be.
When the existing schema is enough information for the child
to understand what it is observing, their mind is in a state
of equilibrium.
As infants we adapt to our world through…
The Assumption is that children store the information gained
from environmental experiences for later application.
Assimilation is the process of combining various attributes
learned to become familiar with what a child is viewing,
and to be able to use a known schema to distinguish other
objects.
Accommodation occurs when a schema a child knows does
not fit, and they need to change it to deal with their newly
found situation.

9. A Visual Example for Tactile
Learners of This Process

10. Development Stage
Features and Facts Studies
Conducted
Sensorimotor- 0 to 2 years old Object permanence (that objects may
exist even though they are not always
around)
Blanket and
Ball Study
Preoperational- 2 to 7 years old Egocentrism (Preoccupation with one’s
internal world)
Three
Mountains
Concrete Operational- 7-11 years old Conservation (Dealing with numerical
values, conserving an object)
Conservation of
Number
Formal Operational- 11 years old and up Manipulation of ideas inside brain
(Reasoning for yourself, assuming
responsibility)
Pendulum Task
Stages of Development
Jean Piaget was intrigued by the method that children learnt and thought. He observed
three children from infantry to adolescence to form his theory that children go
through 4 stages in which their mindset changes biologically. These changes occur at
varying rates but happen in all children.

11. About Sigmund Freud
-He was born May 6th 1856 in the Austrian Empire (now called Czech Republic)
and died September 23rd 1939 in London, England.
-He was an Austrian neurologist who founded the term psychoanalysis.
-Freud grew up in a family that had financial issues.
-At age 17 Freud enrolled in the University of Vienna, to originally study law
but changed his mind into studying medical sciences and philosophy.
- Freud worked at the Vienna General Hospital in 1882. He worked various jobs
at his time there before it led him to a lecture in neuropathology, which
sparked his interest in “nervous disorders”.
- In 1886 he created a private practice to help patients with several disorders and
started to use hypnosis techniques as a remedy to the disorders.
-Freud stopped using hypnosis and developed his “psychoanalysis” approach.

12. The Principles of His Theory
-The way you developed is decided by your experiences as a child.
-Your attitude, views, traits are effected by non-logical actions.
-These actions are unconscious.
-It is difficult to bring these mannerisms to recognition because the
patient will oppose to believe them or discuss them.
-These conflicts between the conscious actions and unconscious
actions lead the patient to neurotic disorders such as anxiety,
depression and neurosis.
-To deal with the disorder you must bring forth the suppressed
actions to the alert mind with therapeutic intervention.

13. Freud’s technique is to analyze the patients verbally
through “free associations” and dreams. The
psychoanalyst will then introduce the suppressed
thoughts that are causing the patients problems and
will bring these problems to the patient’s alert mind
to resolve the conflicts.
Sub theories of Psychoanalysis are the topographic
theory, the structural theory. There are other sub
theories derived by other psychoanalysis as well.

14. The Two Theories of Freud
Topographic Theory: Theory of dividing the brains mental procedures into
conscious, pre conscious and unconscious.
Structural Theory: Freud separates the human soul into three sections. The id,
ego and super-ego. Freud theorized that the id starts off at childbirth and it
functions solely on the “pleasure principle” which means looking for
happiness and avoiding suffering. Next the ego progresses steadily and
slowly, and it functions the “reality principle” which is the same as the
pleasure principle but being able to meet the commands of the real world.
Lastly the super-ego is closely related to the ego but in addition it is were the
mind begins to criticize itself and judgmental abilities arrive.

15. An Example for Tactile Learners...
When you are hanging out with your friends and
you want to overeat (your id is telling you to
eat) your superego tells you it is not
acceptable to do so in public. The id is
always being repressed by the superego.

16. Freud on Psychosexual Development
Freud believes that everyone is born with sexual desire
(a.k.a. libido) and it contains five stages. He
suggested that if an infant experienced “sexual
frustration” in their psychosexual growth, they would
experience anxiety, which would continue as an adult
and become a mental disorder.

17. Stages of Psychosexual Development
After Freud had passed away, many “neo-freudians” went further into Sigmund Freud’s theories
by regarding other components such as culture, environment and society.

18. The Biography of Erik Erikson
Erik Erikson was born on June 15, 1902 and passed away on May 12, 1994. Erik
Erikson was a psychologist. Erik was Freud's student and was influenced by
the latter theories of personality development. Unlike Freud Erik believed
that personality development or a persons psychological development is
influenced by their social environment and is through different stages. Erik's
theory is called the psychosocial theory of personality development. His
theory states that everyone passes through many different stages in life from
the day they were born to the day they will die. The main idea in Erikson's
theory is that everyone faces a conflict at every stage, which sometimes are or
are not resolved within that stage.Through every stage a person goes through
according to Erik there is a major issue that occurs but he indicates the stages
are not watertight. Problems of one stage overlap with problems of another
stage; how a person deals with earlier issues determines how they will solve
issues later. Most significantly there is a huge connection with future thinking
and feeling, and previous unresolved or resolved developmental issues.

19. The main key point in Erikson's theory is the development of ego
identity (conscience sense of self). We develop ego identity as
we make social interactions. Erickson believed that as we
experience and encounter information in our every day
interactions with others our ego identity changes. The stages in
Erikson's theory all concern with one becoming proficient in an
area of life. If the stage goes well, the person will feel a sense of
pride, feel like they have accomplished a mastery, this is also
referred to as ego strength. If however the stage does not go well
the person will feel a sense of insufficiency. All these feelings
during the stages is what makes the person's personality and
makes them who they are as individuals.

20. How His Theory Differs from Other
Theories
- Erikson's theory focuses on full stages of a person's life
The difference between Erikson's theory and Piaget's theory is that Erikson's
theory focused on how character growth happens in full stages of a person's
life, on the other hand Piaget believed that kids generally develop mental
models to symbolize the world.
- Erikson's theory was based mainly on society, culture, religion and parents.
His theory explained how all these (parents, culture, society) influence and
impact who you are and what you become.

21. The Stages of Predetermined
Development
Erikson believed that the stages of predetermined development are
formed by social aspects and social experiences. The names he
gave his stages were:
1) Trust vs. Mistrust
2) Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
3) Initiative vs. Guilt
4)Industry vs. Inferiority
5) Identity vs. Role Confusion
6) Intimacy vs. Isolation
7) Generatively vs. Stagnation
8) Integrity vs. Despair

22. Development Stages Explained
Trust vs. Mistrust is the first development of emotions and feelings. And infant view on
society and everyone will be based on either trust or mistrust. An infant that is given
a lot of care to and love will most likely grow up to be a loving child. The child will
easily be able to establish healthy and good relationships with others. An infant that
grows up with step parents, foster homes or neglected parents will most likely have
issues with other people. They may find it hard adjusting to life. This child may grow
up to be depressive and involved in criminal behaviour.
Autonomy vs. shame & doubt occurs at the age of approximately 2-3 years old. The
main mission of this stage is to get one to achieve courage and independence while
minimizing shame and doubt. In this stage parents should give their kids freedom . If
parents are over protective of their kids, their kids could either be overly shy or very
rebellious. Having said that, if parents start giving their kids overly freedom and
becoming careless this could cause the kid to become impulsive and not be
concerned for their actions. There should be a balance of both, autonomy and shame
and doubt, this will develop the kid to be confident, have determination, self-esteem,
self-control, and have willpower.

23. Development Stages Explained
Stage number 3 is innitiation vs. guilt. According to Erikson this stage
happens during the ages of 3 and 5. At this stage of development kids
are exploring the world by playing and interacting with others. When
kids play pretend and get invovlved in social activities this teaches
them how to direct their own actions, apply control over their
environment and develop a sense of meaning to life.
Industry vs. inferiority is stage number 4. This stage occurs at the age of
6-11. At this stage, school has a huge role in a child's development. as
they interact with teachers and students at school they get a sense of
their own abilities, what they are good at and what they need to
improve on. They feel pride for their accomplishments and try to
overcome their weaknesses. They have a good idea of what they enjoy
learning and where their interest is.

24. Identity vs. role confusion occurs at the ages of 12-18. How one sees them self is what identify is.
It is a sense of who you are in the circumstances of life and what lies in advance of you. Role
confusion is when a person cannot figure out who they are and where they fit in. They either
have a negative perspective of them self or no perspective at all. This stage is also impacted by
puberty and adolescence. Teenagers struggle to fit in, they want to fit in with the rest but at the
same time they want to be independent and be individual. This is a hue dilemma the kids have
to face at this stage aside from the other confusions that they will experience. Role confusion
could also be replaced with "Identity diffusion" meaning the same exact definition.
Intimacy vs. isolation occurs at the age of 20-40. Intimacy is when you can open up, share your
thoughts and secrets with someone. It is the process of making relationships with family,
friends and mating partner(s). This stage is explained in terms of sexual mutuality- making
emotional connections with one, sharing thoughts and feelings either physically or
emotionally. Intimacy is the stage where you give and receive different sort of love with one
another, especially between sexual or marital partners. Isolation is when you feel like lonely,
and you feel like you will never get love and affection. At this stage one could feel as if they
were not meant to be loved, they would feel excluded from the dating experience.
Development Stages Explained

25. Development Stages Explained
Generatively vs. stagnation occurs approximately at the age from 50-60. At this stage
people are focused on making memories that would outlast them. They want to feel
useful and helpful, they want to spend time wisely and make sure its towards a good
cause. Working or doing community work are ways that people forge a sense of
purpose and they feel like they would be leaving good reputation on them self when
they leave. People would remember them for good reasons.
Integrit vs. despair is the final stage of Eric Erikson's stages of human development. this
stage occurs at the age of 60-65. At this stage people reflect on their life; what they
have done, what they have accomplished and what their mistakes were. People that
believe they have lived a purposeful and meaningful life resemble in peace, they are
happy and not worried. On the other hand people that feel regretful, or may look back
with embarrassment and shame may experience bitterness and despair feelings at this
stage.

26. How These Three Theories Relate to
Our World and Lesson Summary
 In order to understand others, we must understand
the mechanisms behind the way we think. This
applies especially to children because they require
more effort to understand and teach information than
a full grown adult and the way they are taught in
their early stages is critical to their development.
 The three theories by Erikson, Freud, & Piaget
explain several possible concepts about the way we
think and develop that can help us understand and
solve problems we encounter throughout life.

27. Review & Work for You!
 Watch the following links below on Piaget, Erikson
and Freud and make a table of the differences
between each theory to submit to your portfolio/ in
the discussion forum! This activity is very useful for
thos of you that learn well by listening and
visualization!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRF27F2bn-A
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vs8uE8_02E
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpE18fKhAeY

28. Thank you for Attending our Lesson
Today!
 Piaget: Vanessa Kiraly
 Erikson: Ghazala Nazeer
 Freud: Hannah
 Power Point by: Vanessa Kiraly