Amber Sage

May 7th, 2014

TCH_LRN 301
FINAL PROJECT: REFLECTION

Erikson and Piagets: How they relate

I decided to connect two theories together for my final project. I took
Eriksons eight stages of psychosocial development and Piagets four stages
of cognitive development and connected their similarities. I mostly
connected them in regards to age. I felt it was not necessary to go all the
way into late adulthood with Eriksons stages. This choice was made because
I feel as an elementary education major, I am mostly focused on the
development of children. In conclusion, I decided to only do stages one
through five of Eriksons and all of Piagets stages.
Eriksons first stage is Basic Trust vs. Basic Mistrust. This generally
happens in the time between birth and 12-18 months. In this stage children
are beginning to develop trust. As long as their caregiver is providing
reliability, care, and affection they will develop a good sense of trust. If it is
lacking in any way there is be mistrust. The second stage is Autonomy vs.
Shame/Doubt. This goes on between 18 months and three years. During this
stage children are developing a sense of personal control in relation to
physical skills. At this same time, they are getting a sense of independence
as well. If this development happens successfully, they get the feeling of
autonomy. If development is not good it results in shame and doubt. I
connected Piagets first stage with both the first and second stage of

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Eriksons. This stage is the sensorimotor stage between birth and two years.
The ages line up as well as what is happening with the child at this time of
their life. During sensorimotor behavior is developing around sensory and
motor effects. Object permanence is also a big part of this stage. Children
are beginning to understand objects continue to exist even when out of
sight.
The third stage of Eriksons psychosocial development is Initiative vs.
Guilt. This stage contains the need to begin affirming control and authority
over their environment. If they are successful you get a sense of purpose
within the child. Failure leads to too much power being exerted resulting in
disapproval and guilt. Piagets second stage is preoperational. During this
stage children are having egocentric thoughts and they do not understand
alternative viewpoints. They only understand their perspective and cannot
comprehend other peoples perspectives.
In the fourth stage of Eriksons developments, children are being
forced to cope with new social and academic hurdles. This is the Industry vs.
Inferiority stage. Competence is the outcome if they are successful.
Inferiority is the outcome if they fail. The third stage of Piagets cognitive
development was connected here. This stage is concrete operational. At this
time alternative viewpoints are being adopted and understood. In class we
discussed the pouring of water into two different sized glasses, one short and
wide, and one tall and thin. A child in this stage would understand that
although the glasses look different, the water amount is the same.
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The last stage that I included in my poster was stage five, Identity vs.
Role Confusion. This time has new social relationships forming along with a
need to understand and develop self and personal identity. Staying true to
yourself will lead to success. Role confusion and a weak sense of self will
lead to failure. I connected Piagets final stage here. The fourth stage is
formal operational. Now the child is no longer limited to concrete thinking.
They can abstractly and logically reason.
By connecting these two developmental theories it is easier to see
what is happening in a childs life both cognitively and psychosocially. Lining
up each stage helps to show what is going on mentally and physically. This
whole semester has helped me to understand the development of children
and has showed me how important it is to understand these stages for
teaching. My students will be going through these stages at some point and I
will need to know how to address these stages in a good way.

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