Author's Name:	Dr. Wellington Samkange
Subject Area:	Social Science and Humanities
Subject	Education
Section	Research Paper

personality; personality development; psychosexual theory; psychosocial theory.

Development in humans is characterised by such domains as physical development, cognitive development, emotional development, social development and personality development. This paper focuses on the domain of personality development. There are at least two common theories that have been used to explain personality development. These are the psychosexual theory and the psychosocial theory. The psychosexual theory was advocated by Sigmund Freud, whereas the psychosocial theory was advanced by Erik Erikson. The paper therefore focuses on Erik Erikson`s eight stages of the psychosocial theory which are then used to explain personality development at Early Childhood Development (ECD) level. The paper discusses the relevance of the theory to education and how an appreciation of the theory can contribute to a better personality development. This was done through examining the role of the school in the development of the child. The paper concludes that the relevance of Erikson`s psychosocial theory is found in its emphasis on the development of the ego and the relevance of life experiences in developing personality.