THEORIST/THEORIES PROJECT URIE BRONFENBRENNER 1

Theorist/Theories Project - Urie Bronfenbrenner

Bretten Allen and Alison McDowell

Westminster College
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Abstract

This paper contains information about Urie Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory,

biographical information that may affected his research and development of the theory, stemming

classroom implications, and critiques. The theory covers the different spheres that make up each

individuals environment and the ways that they can interact. These systems are the microsystem,

mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and the chronosystem. Bronfenbrenner was a huge

influence on developmental psychology and his theory is still applied in classrooms across the

world.
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Theorist/Theories Project - Urie Bronfenbrenner

Biography

Urie Bronfenbrenner was born in Moscow, Russia on April 29, 1917 (Fox, 2005). He and

his parents later moved to the United States when Bronfenbrenner was six years old

(Bronfenbrenner, American Psychologist, 1988). They first lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

before moving to Ithaca, New York. Bronfenbrenners father was a neuropathologist at a hospital

for the developmentally disabled (Lang, 2005). It is debatable that his father was the first one to

introduce him to and get him interested in studying development. Bronfenbrenner first got his

bachelor's degree in Psychology and Music from Cornell University in 1938 (Woo, 2005). Then,

his Masters degree in Education from Harvard University in 1940, and his Doctorate in

Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1942 (Bronfenbrenner, American

Psychologist, 1988). The day after he received his doctorate, Bronfenbrenner entered the United

States Army and worked as a psychologist in various military bodies (Early Intervention Can

Improve Low-Income Children's Cognitive Skills and Academic Achievement, 2004). After his

service in the war he worked briefly at the newly established VA Clinical Psychology Training

Program in Washington D.C. (Early Intervention Can Improve Low-Income Children's Cognitive

Skills and Academic Achievement, 2004). Bronfenbrenner then moved on to be an assistant

professor at the University of Michigan for two years before returning to Cornell University as

an assistant professor (Early Intervention Can Improve Low-Income Children's Cognitive Skills

and Academic Achievement, 2004). It was when Bronfenbrenner returned to Cornell University

that he really turned his focus to child development and the impact of social forces in this

development, where he would finish out his career (Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational

Research: Urie Bronfenbrenner, 2014). Within his extensive career Bronfenbrenner wrote over
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300 research papers and 14 books (Woo, 2005). Bronfenbrenner was survived by his wife, Liese

Price, their 6 children: 2 boys and 4 girls, 13 grandchildren, and one great granddaughter (Lang,

2005).

Work Outside Their Theory

Urie Bronfenbrenners was also well known for the work he did outside of his theory.

Primarily, as being one of the cofounders of the national Head Start program. It started when he

was appointed to be a part of a federal panel concerned with the development in impoverished

children in 1964 (Fox, 2005). From there he was invited to the White House to discuss the issue

with First Lady Claudia Johnson (Woo, 2005). They talked about child care programs of other

countries and how Head Start could be the driving force behind President Lyndon B. Johnsons

War on Poverty (Woo, 2005). Head Start was created with the goal of being a federal child

development program for low-income children and their families to help counteract the effects of

child poverty and put all children on equal educational footing (Head Start Programs, 2016).

Bronfenbrenners biggest contribution to this agenda was convincing the panel to focus its efforts

on involving a childs family and community in the intervention effort so as to expand the

program to also focus on the creation of a better environment for development (Head Start

Programs, 2016). He also helped develop some of Head Starts environmental intervention

methods, such as family support services, home visits, and education for parenthood (Head Start

Programs, 2016). To this day Head Start is still a major functioning organization aiming to help

meet the needs of poverty stricken children and their families.

Theoretical Concepts

Urie Bronfenbrenner is best known for the creation of the Ecological Systems Theory.

This is based on the assumption that human development takes place through processes of
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progressively more complex reciprocal interaction between active, evolving biopsychological

human organism and the persons, objects, and symbols in its immediate environment.

(Bronfenbrenner, 1994) This describes the different systems in the environment surrounding an

individual and how they interact. These areas of environment have been described as being

nested within each other. Like a Russian nesting doll, the smallest sphere is closest to the center

and as we move outward, the spheres become larger and encompass more. The smallest sphere is

called the Microsystem. This is considered to be one of the most important systems because of

the direct relationship it has with the individual (Bronfenbrenner, Ecological Models of Human

Development, 1994). This involves settings and people that the person has contact with often.

Examples include the family, school, peers, and religious institutions. The next sphere that

encapsulates the microsystem and the individual is called the Mesosystem. These are subgroups

of microsystems and how they connect with each other and with the child. For example, how

does school affect home life? If a student has a rough home life with little assistance from

parents, it can often be related to issues at school. The parents workplace, welfare services,

friends of the family, etc are a part of the Exosystem. The individual is affected by the

Exosystem pieces indirectly. The influence trickles down in ways that may not be recognizable to

the individual. The Macrosystem is a much broader system containing influences like customs,

culture, knowledge, attitudes and belief systems. The largest system is identified as the

Chronosystem (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). The consistency or change of government systems,

socioeconomic status, sociohistorical events, etc over the individual's lifetime. All of the

systems are interrelated and have great impact on development from birth to old age.
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Teaching Implications

Teachers need to be fully aware of what areas of the environment directly and indirectly

impact their students. In which ways the children in their classroom are different and which ways

they are similar. It is hard to incorporate every aspect of a students individuality but it is

important that the differences are at least recognized. That way, we as teachers begin to

understand some of the difficulties that students may encounter while they are at school (Ryan,

2001).

For example, compare a student that comes from an upper class, white, essentially crime

free neighborhood to a student that comes from an impoverished neighborhood with many

different cultures as well as high crime rates. These students are affected by different economic

and family structures, they may have different transportation opportunities, or maybe one is in

charge of taking care of the home while the other has a nanny who takes care of their needs after

school. When factors from the environment are distressing, it can negatively affect the

performance level in the classroom. Primarily, we need to remember that every single person is

different and will have their own challenges. It is our job to note these and facilitate a safe and

individualized learning environment.

Critiques

Urie Bronfenbrenner is a well renowned psychologist who is greatly respected in his

field. The Cornell Chronicle said, Before Bronfenbrenner, child psychologists studied the child,

sociologists examined the family, anthropologists the society, economists the economic

framework of the times and political scientists the structure. He did incredible work connecting

the bridges between the sciences and the people they pertained to. The Cornell Chronicle also

went on to praise him for his bioecological approach to human development [which] shattered
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barriers among the social sciences and forged bridges among the disciplines that have allowed

findings to emerge vital for developing the potential of human nature. The only slightly

critical views offered of Bronfenbrenners work was that it was contrary to the predominant view

at the time which was centered more around child development being purely biological and they

didnt think experience or environment were influential (Woo, 2005).

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References

Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research: Urie Bronfenbrenner. (2014). Retrieved from
Cornell University: College of Human Ecology: https://www.bctr.cornell.edu/about-
us/urie-bronfenbrenner/
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1988). American Psychologist. American Psychologist.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1994). Ecological Models of Human Development. Retrieved from
Columbia University: In the City of New York:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/courses/3615/Readings/BronfenbrennerModelof
Development(short%20version).pdf
Early Intervention Can Improve Low-Income Children's Cognitive Skills and Academic
Achievement. (2004, April 22). Retrieved from American Psychological Association:
https://www.apa.org/research/action/early.aspx
Fox, M. (2005, September 27). Urie Bronfenbrenner, 88, an Authority on Child Development.
Retrieved from The New York Times: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?
res=9D06E5D81530F934A1575AC0A9639C8B63
Head Start Programs. (2016, August 15). Retrieved from Office of Head Start: An Office of the
Administration for Children & Families: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/ohs/about/head-start
Lang, S. (2005, September 26). Urie Bronfenbrenner, father of Head Start program and pre-
eminent 'human ecologist,' dies at age 88. Retrieved from Cornell University: Cornell
Chronicle: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2005/09/head-start-founder-urie-
bronfenbrenner-dies-88
Ryan, D. P. (2001, July 12). Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory. Retrieved from
National Dropout Prevention Center/Network: At Clemson University:
http://dropoutprevention.org/wp-
content/uploads/2015/07/paquetteryanwebquest_20091110.pdf
Woo, E. (2005, September 27). Urie Bronfenbrenner, 88; Co-Founder of Head Start Urged
Closer Family Ties. Retrieved from Los Angeles Times:
http://articles.latimes.com/2005/sep/27/local/me-bronfen27