Personality Essay, Research Paper

Freud, Piaget, Erikson, and Maslow are the last name of prominent psychologists. They have all gone to great lengths to develop their own unique theories. The theories that they have created, pertaining to personality, happen to be the four best-known theories of personality growth.

Sigmund Freud developed the Psychoanalytic Approach. It centers on how instincts propel development. Freud Suggested a chain-reaction would occur if a child had a difficulty in a certain point in life. He identified five development stages from birth to the middle of adolescence.

One who was influenced by Sigmund Freud was Jean Piaget. He focused on the stages of intellectual development in children. He found that the responses of children and the peers to questions on many subjects to be quite similar.

Erik Erikson examined development in terms of social reinforcement. Erikson believed that a person’s progress and development depended upon his or her social relations at key points in life. Erikson also created eight stages called social development stages.

Abraham Maslow was another developer of an important theory. Maslow believed that human needs were classified into different levels. He came up with the idea that the lower basic needs, in the “human needs pyramid,” need to be met before more complex needs can be fulfilled.

All of these psychologists created great theories that are used widely today. These people contributed a great amount in their research. They did so because they never gave up.