Study on Two Human Development Theories

This report compares and analyzes Erickson's theory of developmental stages and Bowlby's attachment theory, specifically focusing on the psychological crisis of Trust vs. Mistrust applicable to infants. The report concludes with an analytical approach, which establishes the importance of the two theories.

Running head : STUDY ON TWO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
STUDY ON TWO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1STUDY ON TWO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
Executive Summary
This report shows an analytical view of one of the stages of Erickson’s theory of
developmental stage and Bowlby’s attachment theory. The study shows specific comparison
of psychological crisis –Trust vs. mistrust, which is applicable to infants or newborns. The
Bowlby’s theory is also applicable for the same age group. These two theories are applicable
to infants but with entire different perspectives. Bowlby’s theory concentrates on the
caregiving and the parenting quality related to infant psychology. Trust vs. Mistrust, is one of
the psychological crisis mentioned in Erickson’s theory, which shows the relation between
actions of parents to their child. The report concludes with an analytical approach, which
establishes importance of the two theories.

2STUDY ON TWO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Psychological Crisis – Trust vs. Mistrust...............................................................................3
Bowlby’s Attachment Theory................................................................................................4
Comparison of Bowlby’s Attachment theory and Erickson’s theory....................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

3STUDY ON TWO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
Introduction
Erickson’s stage of development is one of the revolutionary psycho-sociological
developmental model and the Bowlby’s attachment theory. These models are considered as
approved psychosocial theories or the model across the world and still highly significant
among the psychologists. Erickson’s model of developmental stages depicted the eight stages
of a lifespan and the related psychological crisis. Bowlby’s attachment theory observes the
responses of the infants with the environment and the connection with the caregiver. The
report focuses on the comparison and relationship of Trust vs Mistrust with the Bowlby’s
attachment theory.
Discussion
Psychological Crisis – Trust vs. Mistrust
Developmental stages of Erickson’s model was based on the debated
psychosexual theory of Freud and the theory explored on the basis of conflict of
consciousness and individual complexities which are dependent on the psychological virtues.
The developmental stages are also described with the reference of ages and psychological
attributes. The developmental stages are Trust vs. Mistrust (0-1.5 year), Autonomy vs. Shame
(1.5-3 year), Initiative vs. Guilt (3-5 year), Industry vs. Inferiority (5-12 year), Identity vs.
Confusion (12-18 year) ,Intimacy vs. Isolation (18-40 year) , Generativity vs. Stagnation (40-
65 year) and Integrity vs. Despair (65+ year) (McLeod, 2013). The virtues responsible for the
conflicts are hope, will, purpose, competence, fidelity, love, care and wisdom. Trust vs
mistrust is the first developmental stage, which includes the infants of age group 0 to 18
months (Knight, 2017). The stage focuses on the demands and responses of infants for their
caregiver’s attention. An infant is unable to express his or her self to the world, and the

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surrounding environment is very new for him or her. Being a new individual, the child can
only recognise the primary caregiver or parents and familiar with their actions. Children need
attention, and they have a sense of doubt as they cannot speak or express themselves like
adults, so the parents or the caregiver needs to understand the behavioural nature of the child
(Moniz, 2019).
Bowlby’s Attachment Theory
John Bowlby postulated the attachment theory, which analyses the mental and
behavioural health of a child (Fonagy, 2018). According to the theory, behavioural dispute or
lack of attention can cause problems to the mental health of an individual and depression in
early adulthood. The theory explained that the connection between mother or caregiver and
child is one of the behavioural factors for the life of an individual. According to Bowlby, a
child has an inborn attachment to one main attachment person and the second conception is
that a child should have an attachment with a prime caregiver for at least first two years
(Young et al.,2017). The theory reveals that maternal deprivation can cause some
consequences such as delinquency, reduced intelligence, increased aggression, depression
and affectionless psychopathy. There is another model called PDD model, which was
proposed, by Bowlby and Robertson, and the model leads to distress. Full form of PDD is
Protest, Despair, Detachment and the model talks about the different activities of a child and
demonstrates these with his or her psychology (Van Rosmalen, Van Der Horst & Van der
Veer, 2016). The connection of child and the primary caregiver can lead to a cognitive
working model, which elaborated the actions of a child and the interactions with others will
give an effect on their future expectations and memories. Bowlby believed that the life of an
inborn could be affected by the relationship with his or her mother, and this helps him or her
to make social contacts and future relationships.

5STUDY ON TWO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
Comparison of Bowlby’s Attachment theory and Erickson’s theory
Bowlby’s theory indicates and analyses the actions of an infant, which are affected by
the relationship between the child and primary caregiver. On the other hand, Erickson’s
Developmental Theory describes the psychological crisis and the virtue related to each one of
these crises. According to the theory, establishing the virtues can resolve the plight of human
life. This report focuses on the comparison and critical analysis of Bowlby’s theory and a
stage of Erickson’s theory called Trust vs Mistrust (Stubbs, 2018). These two theories
discussed in the responses of child and their relationship with parents or the primary
caregivers, which can shape their psychological framework and future actions.
Primary psychological crisis of Erickson’s theory is trust vs. mistrust, which explains
that a child needs a sense of confidence from parents and others, and the lack of attention can
cause a feeling of distrust in them whereas Bowlby’s theory of attachment focuses on the
quality parenting which can give a positive effect on the mindset of a child. Both the theories
are inspired by the Freud psychosexual theory and show trust as the critical component or the
prime psychological virtue (Schachter,2018). Erickson’s theory relies on dependable and
consistent care from the primary caregiver, and this dependency leads to trust between child
and parents. Although there are some similarities in the theories but both theories, have
entirely different perceptions about child psychology.
Bowlby’s theory was inspired by the psychological attachment theory conducted by
Harlow & Zimmerman in 1959 and influenced by ethology (Gaudin et al.,2018). Bowlby’s
theory has several stages such as pre-attachment(0-6 weeks), attachment in the making (6
weeks -6 months), clear cut attachment(6 months -2 years) and formation of reciprocal
relationship (18 months to 5 years) (Peter & Water, 2017). Erickson’s theory of
developmental stages has several psychological crises for different stages of the lifespan, so

6STUDY ON TWO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
the trust and mistrust do not focus on the attachment entirely. Bowlby’s theory has some
components such as the increasing quality of the caregiving can help to reduce the fear in the
future of the child. The lack of confidence in infancy can cause psychological dilemmas in
their early adolescences.
Erickson’s developmental stages are solely influenced by the Freud psychosexual
theory, which emphases that human life has several steps and an individual has to go through
the process of development. The psychological virtues are also established throughout the
lifespan, so the initial sense of trust and mistrust helps to form the psychological aspect of the
child towards his or her parents (Mooney, 2016). Interpretation of a child is different, for
example, if a child cannot see the parents and starts to cry as it interprets the absence of
parents as a sign of mistrust. The act of cry can be considered as the attention-seeking action.
There is another example of mistrust if the parents fall asleep or missed something about the
child’s care, it will start crying, as it feels uncared (Kroof & Greene,2017). The concept of
trust and mistrust does not focus on the quality of parenthood but prominences the attention
factor with the sense of security.
Conclusion
The report concludes that both the theories are fundamental to understand as these
discussions about the same age group and the effect of parenting or care on a newborn.
Theories are essential to the learners as it gives two similar but different perspectives of child
psychology. Human beings are attached, and the bonding shared by the individuals are not
sudden incidents as there are specific theories and psychological analysis. Bowlby’s theory
and Erickson’s developmental theory are capable of describing infants’ psychology and how
they reciprocate with the surrounding environments.

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References
Fonagy, P. (2018). Attachment theory and psychoanalysis. Routledge.
Gaudin, S., Chaillou, E., Wycke, M. A., Cornilleau, F., Moussu, C., Calandreau, L., ... &
Nowak, R. (2018). All bonds are not alike: A psychoendocrine evaluation of infant
attachment. Developmental psychobiology, 60(1), 90-103.
Knight, Z. G. (2017). A proposed model of psychodynamic psychotherapy linked to Erik
Erikson's eight stages of psychosocial development. Clinical psychology &
psychotherapy, 24(5), 1047-1058.
Kropf, N. P., & Greene, R. R. (2017). Erikson’s eight stages of development: Different
lenses. In Human Behavior Theory(pp. 75-92). Routledge.
McLeod, S. (2013). Erik Erikson. Retrieved August, 9, 2013.
Moniz, C. M. (2019). Training Home-based Caregivers towards a Holistic Development of
Infants (aged 0-2 years) in Kenya (Doctoral dissertation, Tangaza University
College).
Mooney, E. F. (2016). Erik Erikson: Artist of moral development. In Volume 13:
Kierkegaard's Influence on the Social Sciences (pp. 101-114). Routledge.
Petters, D., & Waters, E. (2017). Bowlby's attachment control system approach: An
alternative history of emotion modelling. In Proceedings of the International

8STUDY ON TWO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
Symposium onComputational Modelling of Emotion: Theory and Applications (pp.
127-137).
Schachter, E. P. (2018). Intergenerational, unconscious, and embodied: Three
underdeveloped aspects of Erikson’s theory of identity. Identity, 18(4), 315-324.
Stubbs, R. M. (2018). A review of attachment theory and internal working models as relevant
to music therapy with children hospitalized for life threatening illness. The Arts in
Psychotherapy, 57, 72-79.
Van Rosmalen, L., Van Der Horst, F. C., & Van der Veer, R. (2016). From secure
dependency to attachment: Mary Ainsworth’s integration of Blatz’s security theory
into Bowlby’s attachment theory. History of Psychology, 19(1), 22.
Young, E. S., Simpson, J. A., Griskevicius, V., Huelsnitz, C. O., & Fleck, C. (2019).
Childhood attachment and adult personality: A life history perspective. Self and
Identity, 18(1), 22-38.