Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory

Mesosystem

Involves relations between microsystems or connections between contexts. e.g. relation of family experiences to school experiences. Children whose parents have rejected them may have a harder time developing positive teacher-student relationships.

Macrosystem

Culture in which the indiv. lives. e.g. the culture can vary darastically from one area to another and has affects on how the population lives.

Chronosystem

environmental events and transitions over the life course; sociohistorical conditions. e.g. transition - the effects on a child in a family going through a divorce. sociohistorical - the increased career opportunities for women since the 1960's.

Exosystem

social settings that a person may not experience firsthand but that still influence development. e.g. A child's home life can be affected by a mother's work in multiple ways. Can also be things like social services.

Describe the major points of Bronfenbrenner's theory

That development reflects the influence of several environmental systems. Identified in the theory are 5 systems; micro-, meso-, exo-, macro-, and chrono-system.

Microsystem

the setting in which the *individual lives*. Includes the *family, friends, peers, school, neighborhood*. This is the system in which most direct interactions with social agents takes place. The indiv. is not a passive recipient, rather, someone who helps to *construct the settings*.