Cheryl Erno
Personality Theories
Argosy University

Abstract
During the course of person’s lifespan changes occur and developmental psychology is the scientific study of these psychological changes. The development psychology concerns itself with the changes that occur and the processes that produce a change in a person’s behavior over this time. People are affected by the behaviors of others and also by his/her environment. Many researchers have proven that the first two decades are important in a person’s life because it is important for their self-concept and their identity. Does a person’s identity unchanged after he/she becomes an adult or does it continue to develop throughout his/her life?

Erikson’s eight stages are what he believes that a person goes through during his/her lifetime. There are positive characteristics and negative characteristics that go along with each stage of a person’s life. A person who has a positive outlook on life will succeed better than a person with a negative outlook on life.
The eight stages are simple but also complicated. Every person goes through each stage but will have a different outcome for each. It can be devastating for some people if they do not receive any positive feedback from the people in his/her life. Each stage leads to the next and highly influences the next stage. When a person has a positive up bringing it can lead to a positive outcome because the effects of the positive or negative are built up but do not take the place of one another, so with the correct environment, experiences and notions a person can have everything they hope for.
Growing up is steady and only goes up. It is continuous and a gradual process. According to Sigmund Freud his theory is focused on the psycho-sexual theory of the five stages: zero to one years is the oral stage, one to three years is the anal stage, three to five/six is the phallic stage, five to six is the latency stage, puberty to adult is the genital stage but Erikson focused on the psychosocial theory in eight stages. Stage one trust vs. mistrust starts at birth to one year. Second stage is from two years to three years is the autonomy vs. shame. Stage three is three to five years and is called the initiative vs. guilt. Stage four the industry vs. inferiority is six years to twelve years. Stage five the identity vs. role confusion is thirteen years to eighteen years. Stage six is the intimacy vs. isolation is eighteen to forty years. Stage seven is generativity vs. stagnation is forty years to sixty years. The final stage is eight integrity vs despair is sixty five years and older. Each of the first four stages are similar in some ways. Both Freud and Erikson agree that if a person has bad experiences within these first stages it can have a negative effect and cause an unhealthy progress in his/her later stages (Feist, 2008 pg. 240).
The first person I chose is my five year old granddaughter. She is in stage three, the play stage of Erikson’s eight stages. Erikson’s third stage of development is the play age, a period covering the same time as Freud’s phallic phase-roughly ages three to five years (Feist, 2008 pg. 254). Freud places the Oedipus complex at the core of the phallic stage, whereas Erikson believes that the Oedipus complex is but one of several important developments during the play age. Children in this stage identify with his/her parents, but they also are developing their language skills, locomotion, they are curious, they use their imaginations, and they learn to set goals.
Olivia is the motherly type with her brother and by doing this she is expressing not only her genital mode but developing her locomotors abilities. She moves with ease, she can run, jump, climb with little to no effort and her play shows both initiative and imagination (Feist, 2008 pg. 254). Olivia’s cognitive abilities and she uses this ability to play the mother to her dolls and play the grown up with her friends. She also plays that