Class 9: Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory (Have read Article & Epilogue)
 
Quiz 9 (8 am)
Remind me to grade in class
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (or is it a Theory?) (8:30 am)
Urie Bronfenbrenner
What’s the big deal?
Developmental psychology at the time that Bronfenbrenner proposed his theory was dominated by laboratory studies
If DP DID consider environmental factors it was only in one or two area (e.g. home OR school OR neighborhood)
Individuals develop within overlapping systems of context
Principle 1
Development occurs in
increasingly complex reciprocal interactions
between individual and the environment
Example
Baby: Caregiver-child
Child: Caregiver-child, teacher-child, child-child
Adult: Mate-mate, parent-child, boss-worker, IRS-taxpayer, etc
Principle 2
Development is product of
Characteristics of the person
environment
and the nature of the outcome your are examining (e.g. IQ, grades, behavior problems)
Example 1
Birthweight
Mother Care
SES
Outcome is...
Proximal processes generally more influential than distal influences
Microsystem: Face-to-face
Provide an example

Mesosystem: linkages bewteen microsystems
Provide an example

Exosystem: linkages between microsystems ONE of which does not directly effect the person
Provide an example
SVG_Fishing ‘94-95.jpg
Macrosystem: cultural beliefs, customs
Provide an example

Chronosystem: History
SVG_Special Events 8 ‘94-95.jpg
Genetic inheritance and the environment
Heretability: A gene explains a certain percent variation of a behavior in a population
Heretability = gene effects - environmental effects
But Ecological Approach calls this definition into question because there are different levels to the environment and they interact with each other
Evaluation
Among the few theories to systematically consider contextual effects
Help generate much research (widely cited)
Makes development researchers more interested in the wider world?
Notoriously difficult to test for neighborhood effects.
But is this really a theory? is it testable?
Any questions on Epilogue?
Remember that by “developmentalists” Crain means Piagetians, Montessorians, etc.
Break (9:00 am)
Essay 9, Essay 10, Quiz 10, Make-ups, & Course Evaluations (9:15 to 12:30)
Essay 9
How well does the Ecological Model work for a person living in two worlds, someone who is bicultural. Pretend you are writing a novel and you are describing your main character, a 14-year old boy who is also a wizard. Describe him in context according to Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model. Be sure to describe all of the systems in which he is embedded. Take particular care on his mesosystem. Remember that he is a part of two cultures...
Epilogue Question (Essay 10)
Crain uses “developmental theories” to evaluate the Standards Movement. By developmental perspective he means the perspectives of Rosseau, Montessori, Piaget, Kohlberg, and probably Vygotsky. First, briefly describe his “developmentalist” critique of the Standards Movement. Second, apply what you know from social learning and ecological theory to evaluate the Standards Movement.