Developmental Stage Theories - Examples of Stage Theories

Examples of Stage Theories

There are many stage (discontinuous) theories in developmental psychology including:

  • Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development described how children represent and reason about the world.
  • Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development
  • Michael Commons' Model of Hierarchical Complexity.
  • Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development expanded on Freud's psychosexual stages, he defined eight stages that describe how individuals relate to their social world.
  • James W. Fowler's stages of faith development theory.
  • Sigmund Freud's Psychosexual stages described the progression of an individual's unconscious desires.
  • Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development described how individuals developed moral reasoning.
  • Jane Loevinger, Stages of ego development.
  • Margaret Mahler's separation-individuation theory of child development contained three phases regarding the child's object relations.
  • James Marcia's theory of identity achievement and identity status.
  • Rudolf Steiner's seven-year phases, similar to Piaget's stage theory but extending into adulthood.
  • Maria Montessori's sensitive periods of development.
  • Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
  • Clare W. Graves' Emergent Cyclic Levels of Existence Theory.
  • Judith Rich Harris' Modular theory of social development.
  • Don Beck and Chris Cowan, Spiral Dynamics.

While some of these theories focus primarily on the healthy development of children, others propose stages that are characterized by a maturity rarely reached before old age.

Read more about this topic:  Developmental Stage Theories

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