Personality And The Development Of Karen Duvall. Evergreen...

Personality and the development of Karen Duvall Evergreen State College There are many factors that effect the way that children develop. Children progress through many stages as they grow and what happens in each of the stages can have an impact on their social and emotional well being. Many theorists have speculated as to what goes on in the depths of our psyche. Why do we make certain choices? How do our interactions within society impact our development? Self definition has been a studied from a variety of perspectives - historical, cultural and developmental (Kroger, 1996). Throughout history, we have asked ourselves the age old question, Who am I? Developmental psychologists study the way that we function. All the magnificent ways that are bodies work, the way we think and obtain new information and how these factors change across our life span. These theorists look at how these factors are affected by genetics, culture and experience (Wade, 2008). One such theorist was Erik Erikson. The central thesis of Erikson is the esta blishment of an ego-identity. Freud believed the ego could be described as the part of the psyche that develops in order to ensure the health and safety and sanity of the personality as it mediates between the demands of the Id (the unconscious) and external reality (Fadimen Frager, 2005, p. 50). Erikson postulated that the ego had a more important role, â€Å"a selective, integrating, coherent and persistent agency central to personality function†