Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory

The study and research of human development has always been intriguing, yet intensive. There are five perspectives commonly discussed in human development. The perspectives include: psychoanalytic, learning, cognitive, contextual, and evolutionary/sociobiological. Those who follow the contextual perspective tend to believe that development can be better understood in its social context. Additionally, they observe the individual as an inseparable component of the environment. Psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner is responsible for producing one of the most well-known and essential contextual theories. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory views development within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment
This system refers to the connections that exist among microsystems that foster development (article 2). The mesosystem is commonly composed of linkages between home and school or between the family and the child’s peer group. Examples of the mesosystem and interactions include parent-teacher conferences and relationships that develop among families of children in a neighborhood play group. More simply stated, mesosystems are a linkage of systems that are in relation with each other in ever expanding circles of triads and even more expansive relations. Most importantly, without strong mesosystems families tend to fall apart (article 3). The third system, the exosystem, refers to influences on the individual that are not part of one’s immediate setting, including organizations and structures in which the individual is not physically present, but indirectly influence his or her immediate environments (article 6). The exosystem consists of linkages between a microsystem and outside systems or institutions that affect a person indirectly. Components of an individual’s exosystem may include family social networks, parents’ workplace, mass media, and neighborhood community