All theories of development discussed thus far advocate that children are born with the ability and motivation to learn and discover. All theories demonstrate a general progression of development that begins with the child or respondent having a limited understanding of the world, and various motivators, begins to expand her understandings outwards to family, community and society Each theory has a progression of skills or understandings that signify a growth from concrete thinking and egocentrism toward abstraction and higher-level thinking. Yet, the complexity of developme t cannot be explained by one single theory, and past theories need to be critically examined for their strengths and weakness. However, despite the flaws of past theories, the understandings and subsequent improvements to academic fields, such as education and psychology, have had long lasting implications. Discovery learning, using manipulative, peer collaboration, character education, and scaffolding concepts are all learning strategies use daily in the classroom and are credited to their origins in these past theories of development.

Erik Erikson
Erik Erikson (1950, 1963) does not talk about psychosexual Stages, he discusses psychosocial stages.
His ideas, though, were greatly influenced by Freud, going along with Freud’s ideas about the structure and topography of personality.
However, whereas Freud was an id psychologist, Erikson was an ego psychologist. He emphasized the role of culture and society and the conflicts that can take place within the ego itself, whereas Freud emphasized the conflict between the id and the superego.
According to Erikson, the ego develops as it successfully resolves crises that are distinctly social in nature. These involve establishing a sense of trust in others, developing a sense of identity in society, and helping the next generation prepare for