Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development model represents probably the most well-known and highly regarded map of the human life cycle in contemporary western culture.  This theory was first articulated in 1950 in chapter seven (“The Eight Ages of Man”) of his book Childhood and Society, and further developed in later books and articles. Erikson...Read More

In Sophocles’ play Oedipus the King, a monster called the Sphinx was killing travelers on the road to Thebes who could not answer its riddle:  “What creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?”  Finally, the hero of the play, Oedipus, came along and correctly solved...Read More

Founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud created a psychosexual model of human development based upon the erogenous zones of the body.  He believed that as these zones matured neurologically, they activated the emotional world of the child (largely resident in the unconscious), and in the course of doing so, created the basis for later emotional health...Read More

Thirty-five years ago, when I was at the beginning of my teaching career, Piaget was all the rage.  We read his books, and puzzled over how observation of children interacting with real life situations could enable us to understand the development of their minds.  We also were able to catch the tail end of interest...Read More