Developmental and psychosocial theories

The developmental theory is a collection of various theories that tend to explain human development at different stages (Moursund, 2016). Psychosocial theory on the other hand is a theory that presents a series of eight stages through which a healthy person should undergo since infancy to adulthood. These two theories are closely related because they are typically talking about the stages of human development.

The developmental theory has been contributed by a number of researchers such as Piaget who expounds more about the sensory motor of a child. Others include Don Beck, James Fowlers an Judith Rich among many others McLeod, S., (2017). The psychosocial theory is contributed majorly by Erik Erikson and Joan Erikson. This theory consists of eight stages of development alongside with their age estimates.  They include infancy, early childhood, preschool age, school age, adolescence, early adulthood, adulthood and maturity after which death occurs at around 65 years. All these stages are explained both by nature and nurture McLeod, S., (2017). Erik’s strength is that he uses facts to explain his concepts. Inconsistent behaviors of human development have not been captured properly in this theory and therefore it has a weakness McLeod, S., (2017).

The developmental theory on the other hand only focuses on behavior changes and feelings at every stage of life (Moursund, 2016). Behaviors are qualitatively distinguished to mark the different stages of life. The theory has got a strength in that considers each individual to have different time spans for every individual. However, the theory does not consider the evolving factors but only focuses on traditions.

 

References

McLeod, S., (2017). Erik Erikson. Retrieved from: https://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html

 Moursund, D., (2016). Developmental Theory. Retrieved from: http://pages.uoregon.edu/moursund/Math/developmental_theory.htm