Final answer:
Erikson emphasized the psychosocial aspects of personality, differing from Freud's psychosexual focus, by highlighting how personality development spans across the entire lifespan and is influenced by social relationships.
Step-by-step explanation:
In contrast to Freud's emphasis on sexuality, Erikson emphasized the psychosocial aspects of personality. Erikson's psychosocial theory posits that personality development continues across one's entire lifespan. While Sigmund Freud focused on psychosexual stages and argued that our personality predominantly forms during childhood, Erikson extended the notion to include continuous development influenced significantly by social relationships and challenges inherent to each stage of life.
Erikson's eight stages of development each address a central conflict or developmental task, underpinning the formation and evolution of ego identity - the conscious sense of self shaped by social interactions and experiences.