Informal Theories of Human Development: A Discussion on Piaget and Freud

The informal theories of the human development are used to advise the majority of the
people. According to the opinions of Hoffnung et al. (2016), the informal theories on the
development are majorly used for the understanding of the children and the adults. The theories
tend to help us in the organisation as well as the understanding of the various conflicting
information that exists regarding development. The theories state that the development of the
concerned human being is influenced by the inborn biological drives of the person as well as the
unconscious and conscious expertise in the emotional and the social arena. The following essay
attempts a discussion on the theorists as well as the theoretical approaches that were put forth by
Jean Piaget and Sigmund Freud by explaining their focus as well as identifying their strengths
and the weaknesses of the theories.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is mainly known as the father of psychoanalysis. Cramer
(2014) opines that the main focus of Freud lies in the understanding and the caring of the various
issues that are related to psychology that form the basis of the psychodynamic theory. Freud in
his psychoanalytic theory suggests that the forces of the unconscious assist in the understanding
of the behavior and the personality of people during the resolution of the conflicts between the
social expectations and the biological drivers. Hoffnung et al. (2016) states that the superego is
considered to be the ethical and the moral component of the personality of the human beings.
The strengths and the weaknesses of the Freudian theory are balanced. Cramer (2014)
states that the theory has been famous for its comprehensive nature as well as an impressive
variety and range of the explanation of the phenomenon. Hoffnung et al. (2016) seconds that the
theory is rich in heuristic as well as applied worth. This has helped in influencing the
thinkers, who do not belong to the realm of the personality psychology, to implement the
Freudian theory and ideas. However, the Freudian theory tends to fail in terms of the testability