During the course, you will learn more about topics, such as - Theories of Moral Development
There are a number of important theories of moral development. Two of the important theories are Piaget's and Erikson's.

Erikson’s Psycho-Social Stages
Erik Erikson was born in Germany in 1902. He is a post-Freudian or Freudian ego-psychologist. This means that he accepts Freud’s ideas as basically correct and other ideas on the ego added by other Freudians e.g. Anna Freud and Heinz Hartmann.  However, Erikson is more culture and society oriented than most Freudians.  He based his theory on the recognition that we are social beings, so our psychological attributes cannot be treated as isolated phenomena.  Erikson is most famous for refining and expanding Freud’s theory of stages.  He argued that development functioned by the epigenetic principle.  This principle is that we developed through a predetermined unfolding of our personalities in eight stages.  We progress from each stage depending on our success or lack of it in previous stages.  We develop at a certain time in a certain order which is determined through genetics. If we interfere with this natural order of development, we will ruin our development.  Imagine our development as a flower – genetically, the flower will develop at a certain time in a certain order. But imagine that we try to make the flower grow a petal before it is ready, the flower may be ruined. The same can be said of our personalities and development.  Try and make a baby walk before they are ready, and we could cause physical harm.

In his view, therefore, each stage of a person’s psychological development involves an aspect of relating to others, and the way in which we cope with each theme has a profound effect on our general social being for the rest of our lives. Unlike Piaget’s and Freud’s stages, Erikson’s eight stages extend from the cradle to the grave. For each of Erikson’s stages, there is a dominant social theme or psycho-social crisis which the individual is challenged to resolve, before continuing a healthy pattern of development.

Each stage involves developmental tasks that are psychosocial in nature.  Erikson calls these tasks crises.  For example, a child at senior school has to learn to be industrious and this industriousness is learned through the social interactions of the family and school.   The tasks are usually referred to by two terms. For example, infants have a task called “trust-mistrust”. They must learn trust and not trust.  This is a balance we must learn.

At each stage there is an optimal time.  It is useless to try to rush children towards adulthood, which can happen.  Also, it is not advisable to slow down their progress to protect them from the demands of life. There is a time when each task is optimal.  If a stage is well managed, we will carry away from that stage a virtue or social strength.  If we do not do so well, we may develop malignancies or maladaptations, which can endanger our future development.  A malignancy is the worst of the two and involves too little positive and more of the negative of the task, for example, a person who can’t trust others.  A maladaptation involves too much positive and too little negative, for example a person who trusts too much.

Freud argued that a child’s parents influence his/her development dramatically.  Erikson also felt that there was an interaction between generations, which he called mutuality.   Erikson argued that children can influence their parents’ development as well.  When children arrive, this will change a couple/person’s life quite considerable and moves the parent(s) along their developmental path.  Also, we may be influenced by grandparents and great-grandparents, and they can be influenced by new additions to the family also.

What Are the Advantages of Studying Psychology with ACS Distance Education?

• You can start at any time to suit you.
• The courses are self-paced.
• You can study when and where suits you. They are flexible to fit in around you and your lifestyle.
• It is not just a course, it is a package of learning that includes – course notes, tutor feedback, self-assessment tests, research tasks and assignments.
• Our tutors are all experts in their field, with years of experience in psychology and counselling.
• They are also keen and enthusiastic about their subject and enjoy working with students to improve their knowledge and skills.
• Courses are also updated regularly to meet the demands of the changing needs for knowledge and to keep our courses up to date.

What Next?

Where Might this Course Lead You?

Understanding the way that adolescents think and behave can provide you with useful knowledge and skills when working with teenagers, such as in education, youth work, social work, sports coaching, counselling caring, fostering and parenting.

The course will provide you with a greater understanding of

• The changes that occur during adolescence.
• How to support adolescents during these changes.

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