Urie Bronfenbrenners

Ecological Perspective of
Human Development

Bronfenbrenners Ecological Model

Ecological Systems Theory, also
called "Development in Context" or
"Human Ecology" theory, specifies
four types of nested environmental
systems, with bi-directional
influences within and between the
systems.

The Four Systems:

Microsystem: Immediate environments (family, school,
peer group , neighborhood , and childcare
environments)
Mesosystem: A system comprising connections
between immediate environments (i.e., a childs home
and school)
Exosystem: External environmental settings which only
indirectly affect development (such as parent's
workplace)
Macrosystem: The larger cultural context (Eastern vs.
Western culture , national economy, political culture,
subculture)
Later a fifth system was added:
Chronosystem: The patterning of environmental events
and transitions over the course of life.

The Microsystem
An adolescent belongs
to a number of
different microsystems.
Depicted are a family
microsystem, a friends
microsystem, and a
sports-team
microsystem.
One person can play a
role in more that one
microsystem. For
example, friend 3 is
also player 3.

The Mesosystem
Relations between
microsystems,
connections between
contexts
Relation of family
experiences to school
experiences, school to
church, family to peers
Example: child who
experiences parental
rejection may have
difficulty with school;
certain peer influences
may cause family turmoil

The Exosystem
The Board of education,
local government, local
transportation systems,
and parents employer
exemplify the exosystem.
Some exosystem decisions
affect the individual
adolescent. However, these
influences are primarily
impersonal, indirect, and
one way.
The exosystem decision
maker usually does not
know the individual
adolescent, and vise versa.

The Macrosystem
The indavidual is part of
several microsystems,
and several microsystems
from the mesosystem.
Interactions at the
mesosystem level are
personal and direct.
The mesosystem is
embedded in the
exosystem and the more
general social cultural
macrosystem; effects at
this level are impersonal
and often indirect.

Ecological Theory Via Research

to Public Policy
Ecological model of
changes in early
adolescence.
The the common
microsystems (family,
peers and school) interact
with primary development
changes of early
adolescence (indentified
here as a biological,
cognitive and social) and
both contribute to
secondary changes in
such area as identity,
sexuality, and
achievement as well as
others not depicted here.

Upon the Shoulders of GiantsWho Influenced

Bronfenbrenner?
Lev Vygotsky
George Herbert Mead
Jean Piaget
Sigmund Freud
Edward Tolman
Kurt Lewin

Lev Vygotsky
Lev Semenovich
Vygotsky (
November 17 1896
June 11, 1934)
was a Russian
developmental psyc
hologist
and the founder of
cultural-historical
psychology
.

George Herbert Mead

George Herbert Mead (
February 27, 1863
April 26 , 1931) was an
American philosopher ,
sociologist and
psychologist , primarily
affiliated with the
University of Chicago ,
where he was one of
several distinguished
pragmatists .
He is regarded as one of
the founders of
social psychology .

Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget (August 9,
1896 September 16 ,
1980) was a Swiss
philosopher,
natural scientist and
developmental theorist ,
well known for his work
studying children, his
theory of cognitive dev
elopment
and for his
epistemological view
called "
genetic epistemology ."

Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
born Sigismund
Shlomo Freud
(May 6, 1856
September 23,
1939), was an
Austrian psychiatrist
who founded the
psychoanalytic scho
ol
of psychology.

Edward Tolman
Edward Chace
Tolman (1886 1959) was an
American
psychologist. He
was most famous
for his studies on
behavioral psychol
ogy
.

Kurt Lewin
Kurt Zadek Lewin (1890 1947), a German-born
psychologist , is one of the
modern pioneers of social ,
organizational , and
applied psychology .
Lewin is often recognized as
the "founder of social
psychology" and was one of
the first researchers to
study group dynamics and
organizational development .
Lewins single theory
pervaded much of
Bronfenbrennerss Thinking.

The Ecology of Human

Development (1979)
(The major statement of his
theory)
Has had widespread influence on the way
psychologists and other social scientists
approach the study of human beings and
their environments.
It has been said that before
Bronfenbrenner, child psychologists
studied the child, sociologists examined
the family, anthropologists the society,
economists the economic framework of
the times, and political scientists the
political structure.

A result of Bronfenbrenner's
groundbreaking work in "human
ecology"

These environments, from the family to economic

and political structures, have come to be viewed
as part of the life course from childhood through
adulthood.
The "bioecological" approach to human
development broke down barriers among the
social sciences, and built bridges between the
disciplines that have allowed findings to emerge
about which key elements in the larger social
structure, and across societies, are vital for
optimal human development.

Urie Bronfenbrenners Awards

(1917-2005)
The James McKeen Catell
Award from the American
Psychological Society
The American
Psychological Association
renamed its "Lifetime
Contribution to
Developmental
Psychology in the Service
of Science and Society"
as "The Bronfenbrenner
Award."
Chair, 1970 White House
Conference on Children