Developmental Contexts

Question 1

Bioecological model (Bronfenbenner, 1979)

Answer 1

• Views the child as developing within a complex system of relationships between developing person and their setting
• Environment is conceptualised as a series of nested structures

Question 2

Historical context of Bronfenbrenner’s writing

Answer 2

Lab based research treating child development free of context

Question 3

Macrosystem

Answer 3

Broad ideology, laws and customs of one’s culture, subculture or social class

Question 4

Microsystem

Answer 4

Immediate environment in which the child directly interacts like family, school, peers

Question 5

Mesosystem

Answer 5

Connections between microsystem elements

Question 6

Exosystem

Answer 6

Community factors, extended family, neighbours

Question 7

Chronosystem

Answer 7

Societies change over time with implications for child development
* Child development should be viewed in a temporal context

Question 8

Proximal and distal effects

Answer 8

• Every level impacts on the child’s development either directly or indirectly
• We cannot understand direct effects without taking account of the more distal processes that affect the developing child indirectly

Question 9

Drawbacks of the bioecological model

Answer 9

• Neglects internal world of the child
• Struggle to test with traditional approaches in psychology
• No relative strength considered
• Not considering the way the child or family influences other things