• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
 
8ronfenbrenner' s 8ioecological Approach
Dimensions
of Family
Interaction
The Emotional Tone of the FamilyMethods of ControlCommunication Patterns
CHAPTER
Patterns
of child 
Rearing
Parenting StylesA Research Example: The Work of Steinberg and DornbuschRacial and Ethnic Differences in Parenting StylesAdding Up What Is Known about Parenting Style
Other Aspects
of Family Dynamics
The Child's CharacteristicsDifferential Treatment of SiblingsThe Parents' Characteristics
 Family
Structure, Divorce, andParental
Employment
Family StructureDivorceUnderstanding the Effects of Family Structure an.d DivorceParents' JobsSocial Support for Parents
Summary
Key 
Terms
 
In
the story,
a
group of boys
ranging in age
from
6
or so to
early
adolescence
arestranded on an
island with
no adult supervision.
The hero ,Ralph ,
attempts
to
estab-
lish
acivlllzed
community for the boys ,
based on
the rules of the English society fromwhich they
have
come. Exploiting the
tendency
of the
younger
boys
toward
fearful-ness
and
superstition, his
nemesis,)ack ,
sets
up a
'culture"
in
which he enjoys absolute power .Although there
have been many interpretations
o f G-olding's work,
one
mes-
sage
seems
clear: children need
adults to
become
civilized, or, to
put it differently,
to
channel
their 
natural
impulses into behaviors
that
wlll
enhance
both their own devel-opment 
and
the collective good of 
humankind.
While most develop mentalists would 
probably flnd
G-oldings
characterization
of 
unsupervised children and
adolescents
a bit
too pessimistic ,they would 
probably,
nonetheless,
agree
with the
basic
premise
that children require
relationships withadults
in
order to develop optimally.
But
wllljust 
any adult
do ,or is there
a need
for 
a
special adult-child r elationship to ser ve
as a context in
which culture is
transmitted
 from
one generation
to the
next? In
other word s , do
children
really
need famllles?In
search of answers to this
question,
developmental scientists
have turned
to
systems theory
(Lamb
&
Lewis,
2005).
Systems theorists emphasize
that any
sys-tem-biological ,economic,or psychological-has
several
key properties.
Flrst and
 foremost,
a
system has"wholeness
and
order ;' which is
another way
of saying
that
thewhole is
greater than
the sum of its parts. The whole consists of the parts
and
their relationship to
one another. often an
analogy is
made between a
system
and a
melody.
A
melody is
far
more
than a
set of 
individual
notes:
it
is the relationship of notes to
one another that creates
the melody.
A
second 
feature
of 
any
system is
that it
is
adaptive in
precisely the
same
way
asPiaget
theorized the childs
cognitive
system is.
When any part
of 
a
system
changes
or some
new element
is
added,
the system "assimilates"
if it can but"accommodates" if it
must .50 systems resist 
change as
much
as
they
can by absorbing new data
or 
new
 parts into the existing
structure;
if 
that
doesn' t work-as
it often
doesn't-only
then
wlll the system
change.
For example,
when a
family' s
second
child is
born,
the
parentsmay
try to
keep
to their old 
routines as
much
as
possible; the
presence
of this
new in-
dividual
in
the
family
system wlll, however,
inevitably
force accommodations.
That
wlll
be
particularly
true
if the
new baby
is temperamentally very
different
from the first child.
You can
see
that
these two
features
of systems-wholeness
and adaptivity-cause any change in any one part
of 
a
system to
affect
every other 
part.Furthermore,
systems
have feedback 
loops. For example,
a husband
who is
suffering
from depres-sion is likely to
be
more
negative toward
his wife
than
he
used
to
be.
This
negativity
wlll
put a strain on
their relationship.The worsening of the relationship ,coupled with the
man's
depression ,wlll
cause
these
parents
to
treat
their 
children differently-
 perhaps they wlll
be
less
attentive in
general ,
but
more critical
and
strict 
when
theydo pay
attention.
The children wlll
react
with
changes
of their own, perhaps
becom-ing deflant.
The
parents then become
more strict 
and demanding, and a
cycle is set 
in
motion.
Viewed
from the perspective of systems theory ,the boys
in
G-oldings tale
adapted
to
a new context, that
of 
living
without adults
in a
primitive
environment,
 
by
creating a
system of rdationships that differed greatly from the sociat systemthey had teft 
behind in Engtand. It was
not simpty the
tack 
of 
adutt
supervisionthat ted to the
emergence
of their rather 
crud
society.
Instead,
the perceived neces-sity of protecting themsdves from
dangers
that they
tacked
the cognitive
devdop-ment
to
understand was
the driving force
behind
their behavior 
and a centrat
theme of the society they constructed.
Motivated
by
fear,
the younger boys
turned
to the most aggressiveof the
older
boys,
Jack,
for leadership,
because
t hey
bdieved
him to
be
the one who
was
most 
capable
of protecting them.Likewise, they re- jected 
Ralph because
he represented 
a
system-rules premised 
upon adult
affection
and
authority-that had worked 
wdl in England but was
of 
little rdevance
totheir 
new
situation. Thus, though nobody
would argue
that 
living in a
society such
as
the one depicted 
in croldings novd would be beneficial
to children's
devdop-ment,
it is nonethdess
true
that the boys' behavior was
adaptive in nature,
rather 
than
simpty moralty
"bad"
behavior that flourished 
because
there were
no adults
to punish it. Although
virtualty all
psychologists now
accept
the
general validity
of the systemsapproach, figuring out how to
conceptualize and
study the
various
part sof such sys-tems has
been no small task 
(5ameroff 
&
Mackenzie,
2003).
Togive you some
feding
 for the complexity of this
task, we turn
to Urie
Bronfenbrenner's
(1917-2005)
ap-
 proach to the bioecology of development 
 Bronfenbrenners
 Bioeco~ogica~
Approach
O
f all the various systems theories, none has been more influential than that of de-velopmental psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner (1979, 1989,2001). For Bronfen-brenner, the family is the filter through which the larger societyinfluences childdevelopment. As such, the family can help the larger culture achieve the goal of social-izing new members, but it can also serve as a buffer against harmful elements in theculture-at-large. Thus, according to Bronfenbrenner, although other institutions cansubstitute for it to some degree, the family is "the most efficient means of makinghuman beings human" (Bronfenbrenner, quoted in EBC, 1991).Of course there are many developmental theories, such as Freud's psychoanalytictheory, that emphasize the importance of the child's family. What distinguishes Bron-fenbrenner's bioecological approach from other developmental theories is his attemptto explain how all of the various environmental influences on children's developmentare related to one another.Moreover, Bronfenbrenner also provides an explanation for how all of these interrelated influences mesh with the child's own biological make-up.For this reason, his theory is now known as the
bioecological approach.
Just how does Bronfenbrenner achieve such a comprehensive account of the roleplayed by environmental factors in individual development? The fundamental premiseof his theory is that the bioecological system in which the child develops can bethoughtof as a series of layers,or concentric circles. The innermost circle,made up of  elements Bronfenbrenner calls
microsystems,
includes all those settings in which thechild has direct personal experience, such as the family, a day-care center or a school,and a job setting (for a teenager).The next layer, which Bronfenbrenner calls
exosystems,
includes a whole range of system elements that the child does not experience directly but that influence the child
CRITICAL·n·t\NKIN~)
Draw a set of concentric circles like those in Figure 13.1andde- scribe the ecologicalsystem of your life at about age 5.What were the microsystems,exosys- tems,and macrosystem thataf- fected your life?
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...