Theories of Human
Dynamics
Psychosexual Development
Sigmund Freud
an Austrian neurologist and
founder of psychoanalysis.
3 Levels of Consciousness
3 Psychic Energies
Pleasure Principle
Moral Principle
Reality Principle
• Libido - are the instinctual drives
• Regression and fixation are
common terms in this theory.
• Gave prominence to sexual
feelings.
– defined "sex" as anything that gives
gratification
STAGES
Oral Stage (0-2 years)
Gratification focus: mouth
Pleasures: sucking activities
like fingers, toes or nipples
Dissatisfaction: resurface at
a later
overeating, smoking, nail-
biting
Nursing Implication:
• Provide oral stimulation by giving
pacifiers
– Breastfeeding may provide more
stimulation.
• Do not discourage thumb sucking
Anal Stage (2 to 4 years)
Children's attention is focused on the
anal region.
Pleasure: elimination.
This covers the ideal age for "toilet
training" (2 1/2 years)
2 concepts:
Holding on
Letting go
Possible problems:
• Compulsive need to be clean and
orderly.
• Frugality and stinginess
• Greed
• Insistence on doing things at one's
own rate at the expense of others
• Rigid training
• Excessive messiness and disorderly
habits.
Nursing Implication:
• Help children achieve bowel and
bladder control without undue
emphasis on its importance.
Phallic Stage (4 to 6 years)
Pleasure: genital region.
activities associated with stroking and
manipulating their sex organs.
Oedipus complex
Electra complex
Concepts
Onset of “normal homosexuality”
Nursing implications:
• Accept child's sexual interest
– fondling with his / her own genitals as an
area of normal exploration
• Help the parents answer child's
questions about birth or sexual
differences.
Latency stage
(6 to 12 years)
Period of calmness / stable period.
Many of the disturbing behaviors are buried
in the subconscious mind.
Their energies are absorbed by the concerns
in:
school
peers
sports and other recreational activities
Nursing Implication:
• Help the child have positive
experiences.
Genital Stage (12 years & up)
Oedipal feelings are reactivated
toward opposite sex
The person is on his way in
establishing a satisfying life of his
own
Nursing Implication:
• Provide appropriate opportunities for
the child to relate with opposite sex.
• Allow child to verbalize feelings about
new relationships.
The Psychosocial
Development Theory
Erik Erikson
Erik Erikson
• Childhood is very important in
personality development.
• Rejected Freud's attempt to describe
personality solely on the basis of
sexuality,
– Believed that social factors greatly affect
– felt that personality continued to develop
beyond five years of age.
• Identified 8 developmental stages
throughout the whole life cycle.
• Stages 1-5 - childhood and
adolescent
• Stages 6-8 - Adulthood
STAGE 1
Period of Life Infant, 0-18 months, (Hope)
Psychosocial Crisis Trust vs. Mistrust
Relationship with Maternal person
Experiences, To get, to give in return
Decisions, Choices
Positive Resolution Reliance on the caregiver
Development of trust in the environment
Negative Resolution Fear, anxiety and suspicion
Lack of care, both physical &
psychological by caretaker leads to
mistrust of environment
Stage 2
Period of Life Toddler, 18 mos. to 3 years
(Willpower)
Psychosocial Crisis Autonomy vs. Shame/doubt
Relationship with Paternal person
Experiences, To hold on, to let go
Decisions, Choices
Positive Resolution Sense of self-worth
Assertion of choice and will
Environment encourages
independence, leading to sense of
pride
Negative Resolution Loss of self-esteem
Sense of external control may produce
self-doubt in others
Stage 3
Period of Life Preschool, 3 to 6 years (Purpose)
Psychosocial Crisis Initiative vs. Guilt
Relationship with Family
Experiences, To make, to make like
Decisions, Choices
Positive Resolution The ability to learn to initiate
activities, to enjoy achievement
and competence
Negative Resolution The inability to control newly
developed power
Realization of potential failure leads
to fear of punishment and guilt
Stage 4
Period of Life Schooler, 6 to 12 yrs. (Competence)
Psychosocial Crisis Industry vs. Inferiority
Relationship with Neighbors/School
Experiences, To make things, to make together
Decisions, Choices
Positive Resolution Learning the value of work
Acquiring skills and tools of
technology
Competence helps to order life and
make things work
Negative Resolution Repeated frustrations and failures
lead to feelings of inadequacy and
inferiority that may affect their
view of life
Stage 5
Period of Life Adolescent, 12 to 18 yrs, (Fidelity)
Psychosocial Crisis Identity vs. Role confusion
Relationship with Peer group
Experiences, To be oneself, to share being
Decisions, oneself
Choices
Positive Resolution Experiments with various roles in
developing mature individuality
Negative Pressures and demands may lead
Resolution to confusion about self
Stage 6
Period of Life Young Adult, 18 to 24 yrs., (Love)
Psychosocial Crisis Intimacy vs. Isolation
Relationship with Partners in friendship
Sex competition
Experiences, To lose and find oneself in another
Decisions, Choices
Positive Resolution A commitment to others
Close heterosexual relationship and
procreation
Negative Resolution Withdrawal from such intimacy,
isolation, self-absorption and
alienation from others
Stage 7
Period of Life Middle Adult, 24 to 54 yrs., (Care)
Psychosocial Crisis Generativity vs. Self-absorption
Relationship with Partner
Experiences, To make be, to care of
Decisions, Choices
Positive Resolution The care and concern for the next
generation
Widening interest in work and ideas
Negative Resolution Self-indulgence and resulting
psychological impoverishment
Stage 8
Period of Life Late Adult, 54 yrs. to death, (Wisdom)
Psychosocial Crisis Integrity vs. Despair
Relationship with Mankind
Experiences, To be, through having been, to face
Decisions, Choices not being
Positive Resolution Acceptance of one’s life
Realization of the inevitability of
death
Feeling of dignity and meaning of
existence
Negative Resolution Disappointment of one’s life and
desperate fear of death
An elderly client remarks to the nurse in
one their interactions “I realized I have
not been a good husband and father, I
wish I could turn back time and undo
things.” The client has probably failed
to accomplish Erikson’s development
task of:
a. Autonomy versus shame and doubt
b. Identify versus role diffusion
c.Generativity versus stagnation
Cognitive Development
Theory
Author: Jean Piaget
(A Swiss biologist)
Stages
Sensorimotor (0-2
years)
• Reflex to complex
• Begins to organize visual images
and control motor responses.
• Coordinates sensory impressions.
• Pre-verbal stage
Preoperational Stage
(2-7 years)
• Transitional period
• Egocentric and irreversible
thinking
• Words become symbols for
objects – symbolic thinking
• Formation of ideas of
categorization.
• Lack of ability to go
back and rethink a
process or concept.
• Mental image – the
symbolic process
which are evident in
plays
• Construction of verbal
schemas – preconcepts
Concrete Operations (7 –
11 years)
Thinking appears to be
stabilized
ability to think of the possible
consequences of actions
Logical implications
Formal Operations (11 years to
adulthood)
• Full patterns of thinking
• Ability to use logic and symbolic
processes
– mathematical and scientific reasoning
• Combinatorial thinking -
multidimensional approach
– hypothetic or hypothetico-deductive
reasoning
The Moral Development
Theory
Author: Laurence Kohlberg
Levels
Level One
(Preconventional Morality)
• Children’s judgments are based
on external criteria.
• Standards of right and wrong are
absolute and laid down by
authority.
Stage 1
• Behavior is based on the desire to
avoid severe physical punishment
by a superior power.
• Right or wrong is based on
consequences to him.
• Punishment = wrong act
Level Two
(Conventional Morality)
• Children’s judgments are based on
the norms and expectations of the
group.
Stage 2
• Actions are based largely on
satisfying one’s own personal
needs.
Stage 3
• Good behavior is that which
pleases others and judgments are
based on intentions.
• Children conform to rules to win
the approval of others and to
maintain good relationships.
Stage 4
• What is right is what is accepted.
• If the social accepts rules as
appropriate for all group members,
children will conform to them to
avoid social disapproval and
censure.
Level Three
(Post Conventional
Morality)
1. The individual recognizes the
arbitrariness of social and legal
conventions.
2. The individual attempts to define
moral values that are separate
from group norms.
Stage 5
Behavior recognizes the laws as
arbitrary and changeable.
For aspects of life not governed by
laws, right and wrong are personal
decisions based on agreement and
contracts.
Stage 6
• Morality is based on respect for
others rather than on personal
desires.
• The individual conforms to both
social standards and to internalized
ideals to avoid self-condemnation
rather than to avoid social censure.
Other Theories
• Behavioral Model (Ivan Pavlov, John Watson,
B. F. Skinner)
• Behavior is:
– a response to a stimulus from the environment
– learned and retained by positive reinforcement
• Interpersonal Model (Harry Stack Sullivan)
– Focused on the role of the environment and
interpersonal relations as the most significant
influences on a individual’s development.
– Anxiety is communicated interpersonally.
• Human Motivational Need Model.
(Abraham Maslow)
– Hierarchy of needs in order of importance
– Primary needs (physiologic) need to be
met prior to dealing with higher level
needs.
• Psychobiologic Model
– Focus is in mental illness as a biophysical
impairment.
– Human behavior is influenced by genetics,
biochemical alterations and function of
brain and CNS.
– The stress response is a neuroendoctine
response.
