Erikson Paper

Erikson Paper

  • Submitted By: kels20591
  • Date Submitted: 01/26/2009 3:10 PM
  • Category: Psychology
  • Words: 2936
  • Page: 12
  • Views: 1431

Erik Homburger was born of Danish descent in Frankfurt, Germany in 1902 by his mother, Karla. His father abandoned his family before Erik was born and left them with nothing. Karla had to find a job and support Erik. Three years after Erik’s birth, Karla married pediatric doctor Theodore Homburger, the man who cured Erik of a childhood illness. Because the family had a great bond together, Dr. Homburger decided to adopt Erik as his son. Since Erik was raised in an ordinary Jewish home, he attended a Jewish school. At the school, he was often teased by the other Jewish kids because of his blonde hair and blue eyes—the ideal race that Hitler envisioned as the perfect German. Later on, Erik attended a Public school, but was still harassed for being Jewish. Since Erik never met his father, that impact often contributed to his theories. His stepfather wanted Erik to become a doctor, but instead became an artist. After Erik’s years of formal schooling were over, he backpacked through Europe. In Europe, Erik met with an old friend, Peter Blos, who found him a job as an art teacher at a Montessori School in Vienna, Austria. He taught in small, independent classes of about four to six students. This allowed children to expand on detailed work. At the Montessori school, Eric met Anna Freud, daughter of Sigmund Freud. She introduced him to the Psychoanalytic Institute of Vienna where Erik was trained and psychoanalyzed by Anna and Sigmund. After finishing his psychoanalyzation, he changed his name to Erik Erikson because he felt as if he was reborn. He became a Neo-Freudian and expanded on Freud’s ideas in three specific ways. First, Freud had four stages and a latency period that ended with adolescence, while Erikson believed in eight stages from birth to death. Second, Freud’s theory was psychosexual and based on the impact of sexual urges. Erik’s theory was psychosocial and included the impact of the entire environment. The last way in which...

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