Bronfenbrenners Ecological Theory Of Development

Bronfenbrenner`s Ecological Theory of Development

Introduction:

Bronfenbrenner was a psychologist who was born in 1917, he developed the ecological theory of human development, in his theory of human development he analyzed three types of systems that aid in human development, they include the micro system, mesosystem, the exosystem, and the macro system and finally he developed the fifth system which is the chrono system. All this system as Bronfenbrenner stated have rules, norms and at the same time roles that shape development of human beings.

Ecological theory of human development by Bronfenbrenner

The micro system:

This are the settings in which a person lives in, this micro system includes the family, peer group, neighborhood and school life, this system helps shape a persons development in that a person have direct contact with them, the nature of this system is that the individuals who have direct contact with the agent will aid in the construction of the settings of this system.

The Meso System:

This system is the relationship between the Microsystems. the Microsystems interrelate with each other and this can be seen with the relationship between school life, the neighborhood and the family, an example is where the peer groups may distort the performance of an individual in school or even the relationship of an individual with his family.

Bronfenbrenner`s Ecological Theory of Development

The exosystem:

In this system the individual has no active role in determining the settings but the settings have direct influence on the individual, an example is where the government will build schools which will create a micro system environment. Also a parent may belayed off from work and this will result to certain outcomes to the family example low income levels leading to the lack of basic needs in the family.

The Macro system:

This is the system that is caused by the ideology in the society or the culture of the society, this influences the individual directly but the individual has less in determining his settings, this for example include ideologies such as democracy, capitalism and socialism, another example of the macro system is religion which may be Christianity, Islam, also the ethnic group example Asian or Indian.

The chronosystem:

This system is the last system that Bronfenbrenner developed, this system develops as a result of a persons experience in his life, this includes environmental events and transitions in an individual’s life, and this also includes the history of an individual.

Bronfenbrenner`s Ecological Theory of Development