ABSTRACT
While much has been written on the influence of Erik Erikson’s contributions to education, little has been said about his place in terms of his contribution to the general theoretical notion of what it means to be a human being. This article aims to broaden current reflections on Erikson’s position in the spectrum of work done on human development in general and on early child development especially. A concise qualitative theoretical overview sheds light on some basic biographical details, Erikson’s academic background, the work for which he is an established name, and his views on people as sentient beings. Also discussed are the emergence of his psychosocial development theory and his core research and its possible impact on theory and practice are discussed as is his largely unacknowledged contribution to the intertwined disciplines of self – and career counselling and life design-related science, practice, and profession.
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Jacobus G. Maree
Jacobus G. Maree is an educational psychologist and a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Pretoria. He holds doctoral degrees in Education (Career counselling), Mathematics Education, and Psychology. A regular keynote speaker at national and international conferences, he has received multiple awards for his work and he has a B1 rating from the National Research Foundation. Prof. Maree has authored or co-authored 95+ peer-reviewed articles and 56 books/book chapters on career counselling, research, and related topics since 2011. In the same period, he supervised 42 doctoral theses and Master’s dissertations and read keynote papers at 30+ international and at 26+ national conferences.