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Personality Development

Developmental stage theories propose that child development occurs in distinct stages characterized by qualitative differences in behavior. While some theorists view development as continuous, stage theories posit that it is discontinuous with separate stages defined by different types of behaviors. Examples of prominent stage theories include Freud's psychosexual stages, Erikson's psychosocial stages, Piaget's theory of cognitive development, and Kohlberg's stages of moral development. Stage theories aim to describe the typical sequence and characteristics of development but recognize that timing may vary between individuals.

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152 views

Personality Development

Developmental stage theories propose that child development occurs in distinct stages characterized by qualitative differences in behavior. While some theorists view development as continuous, stage theories posit that it is discontinuous with separate stages defined by different types of behaviors. Examples of prominent stage theories include Freud's psychosexual stages, Erikson's psychosocial stages, Piaget's theory of cognitive development, and Kohlberg's stages of moral development. Stage theories aim to describe the typical sequence and characteristics of development but recognize that timing may vary between individuals.

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Girish Narayanan
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Developmental stage theories From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Developmental stage theories are theories that divide

child development into distinct stages which are characterized by qualitative differences in behaviour.[1] There are a number of different views about the way in which psychological and physical development proceed throughout the life span. In addition to individual differences in development, developmental psychologists generally agree that development occurs in an orderly way and in different areas simultaneously.[2] Continuous versus discontinuous development[edit] One of the major controversies in developmental psychology centres whether development is continuous or discontinuous. Those psychologists who support the continuous view of development suggest that development involves gradual and ongoing changes throughout the life span, with behaviour in the earlier stages of development providing the basis of skills and abilities required for the next stages. Not all psychologists, however, agree that development is a continuous process. Some view development as a discontinuous process. They believe development involves distinct and separate stages with different kinds of behaviour occurring in each stage. This suggests that the development of certain abilities in each stage, such as specific emotions or ways of thinking, have a definite starting and ending point. However, there is no exact time at which an ability suddenly appears or disappears. Although some types of thinking, feeling or behaving may seem to appear suddenly, it is more than likely that this has been developing gradually for some time.[2] Stage theories of development rest on the assumption that development is a discontinuous process involving distinct stages which are characterized by qualitative differences in behaviour. They also assume that the structure of the stages is not variable according to each individual, however the time of each stage may vary individually.[1] Stage theories can be contrasted with continuous theories, which posit that development is an incremental process.[3] Examples of stage theories[edit] There are many stage (discontinuous) theories in developmental psychology including: Don Beck and Chris Cowan, Spiral Dynamics. Michael Commons' Model of Hierarchical Complexity.

Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development expanded on Freud's psychosexual stages, he defined eight stages that describe how individuals relate to their social world.[3] James W. Fowler's stages of faith development theory.

Sigmund Freud's Psychosexual stages described the progression of an individual's unconscious desires. Clare W. Graves' Emergent Cyclic Levels of Existence Theory. Judith Rich Harris' Modular theory of social development.

Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development described how individuals developed moral reasoning.[4] Jane Loevinger, Stages of ego development.

Margaret Mahler's separation-individuation theory of child development contained three phases regarding the child's object relations. James Marcia's theory of identity achievement and identity status. Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.[5] Maria Montessori's sensitive periods of development.

Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development described how children represent and reason about the world.[3] Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development

Rudolf Steiner's seven-year phases, similar to Piaget's stage theory but extending into adulthood.[6] While some of these theories focus primarily on the healthy development of children, others propose stages that are characterized by a maturity rarely reached before old age.

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