Erik had never met his biological father but had a stepfather. Several years later, he discovers that his stepfather is not his real father. “Discovering the truth left Erikson confused as to who he really was” (Cherry). This confusion sparked his interest in identity formation and followed him throughout his career. Erikson obtained a certificate from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. Erikson began working at the same school as Freud and after meeting at a party, they became friends. When he met Joan Serson, they married in 1930 and had three children. I think it was his children who inspired him to study theories about children. For the job, Erikson considered several different schools, Yale for example. “He wrote a number of books on his theories, including Childhood and Society and Young Man Luther” (McLeod). A big difference between Freud's theories and Erikson's was that Freud's theories focused on psychosexual aspects and Erikson's theories focused on a broader aspect to expand the psychosexual aspect.