Bronfenbrenners Ecological Systems Theory of Human Development in Contemporary Psychology - Literature review Example

? Constructivist Epistemologies Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory of Human Development in Contemporary Psychology 05/09/2011 Abstract: Constructivist epistemology represents a verification framework for Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Ecological Systems Theory’ of human development. This essay explores the relationships between constructivist epistemology and cognitive psychology, social psychology, educational psychology, and ecological psychology through the ‘Ecological Systems Theory’ of human development. The view of human development as a process within an inter-relationship of environments will be contrasted with traditional theories of the self and models of consciousness in the historical schools of Western psychology. Piaget’s development of a framework for a constructivist epistemology as well as the need for the expression of this in a theory of social psychology can be seen as a fundamental influence on the development of Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Ecological Systems Theory’.1 Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 I. Introduction 3 II. Constructivist Epistemology 5 III. Cognitive Synthesis & Knowledge Processing 7 IV. The Social Construction of Knowledge 8 V. The Role of Education in Knowledge Construction & Personal Development 10 VI. Ecology, Psychology, and Systems Theory 12 VII. Conclusion 14 15 VIII. References 15 “Ecological systems theory is an approach to study of human development that consists of the 'scientific study of the progressive, mutual accommodation, throughout the life course, between an active, growing human being, and the changing properties of the immediate settings in which the developing person lives, as this process is affected by the relations between these settings, and by the larger contexts in which the settings are embedded.” “Making Human Beings Human: Bioecological Perspectives on Human Development” + Urie Bronfenbrenner (2005, p.107) I. Introduction Psychology can be viewed as both an inquiry into a theory of knowledge or simultaneously as requiring a theory of knowledge as part of its methodology and focus of its inquiry. The interrelationship between the mind in classical psychology and the processes of cognition as they are understood in developmental psychology relate to different fundamental epistemological frameworks that validate the psychological inquiry. In the “Handbook of Child Psychology: Social, Emotional, and Personality Development” (2006), William Damon and Richard M. Lerner make the statement that "the self is a personal epistemology," which in its simplicity has profound implications for the approach to psychological methodology, a theory of knowledge, and also personal identity. (Damon & Lerner, 2006) Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Ecological Systems Theory’ of human development is based in a constructivist epistemology that explains personal development through interweaving environments that relate to knowledge systems in the family, school, workplace, culture, and history. Learning, memory, thinking, and behavior all include aspects of the way the mind apprehends, processes, and applies knowledge systems to the environment. In basing psychological methodology on a constructivist epistemology, a phenomenological approach to understanding human development through language, knowledge, and behavioral pattern conditioning related to systems theory is proposed by Bronfenbrenner. Damon & Lerner (2006) cite the following studies as psychological references for the understanding of the self as a “personal epistemology”, the diversity accentuating the range of ‘Ecological Systems Theory’ in practical application: The “McMaster Model of Family Functioning” (NB Epstein, DS Bishop - Family Studies Review, 1984 – also: 1973, 1981, 1991) “Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes, Self-esteem, and Stereotypes” (AG Greenwald, Psychological Review, 1995) “The Psychology of Personal Constructs - Vols. 1 & 2” (GA Kelly, New York: Norton: 1955) “The Self in Thought and Memory” (H Markus – ‘The Self in Social Psychology’, Oxford University Press, 1980) “A New Model of the Behavior Disorders” (TR Sarbin - Nederl T Psychol, 1962) Constructivist learning models of human development use phenomenological methods so as to evaluate the qualitative aspects of mental experience and subjectivity without the reductionism inherent in behaviorism and the idealism inherent in psychoanalysis. Understanding about the mind, brain, and consciousness is related to the school of interpretation and language of deconstruction, as well as the theoretical model and methodology. The application of constructivist epistemology as a means to describe the process of self-becoming, self-realization, and self-actualization can be found in child psychology, development stages, family counseling, education, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, behavioral psychiatry, linguistics, semantics, etc. II. Constructivist Epistemology Dimitrios Thanasoulas (2009) cites Giambattista Vico as the founder of modern constructivist theory with Jean Piaget and John Dewey leading figures in the 20th Century. (Thanasoulas, 2009) Piaget’s “genetic epistemology” establishes the basis for Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Ecological Systems Theory’ of human development, and makes clear the important relationship between subjectivity and knowledge systems in the construction of self-identity. Piaget based his theory of genetic epistemology in child development in a similar manner that Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Ecological Systems Theory’ reflects his work in child psychology, family development, and community relations. Bronfenbrenner and Piaget both agree that the establishment of a theory of knowledge and human self-development are interrelated and must be approached through psychological inquiry. In approaching the self through phenomenological methodology is to view it as a “cognitive construction, or a theory that should possess the characteristics of any formal theory.” (Damon & Lerner, 2006) In this manner, the ‘macrosystem,’ ‘exosystem,’ ‘ecosystem,’ ‘microsystem,’ ‘chronosphere,’ etc. in Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Ecological Systems Theory’ can all be seen as interwoven and interrelating environments in which the human individual tests his or her “theory of self” in knowledge, understanding, trial and error, and other aspects of learning while building or evolving a personality, character identity, conscience, social role, etc. As Markus and Wurf (1987) wrote in “The Dynamic Self-Concept: A Social Psychological Perspective,” “The unifying premise of the last decade's research on the self is that the self-concept does not just reflect on-going behavior but instead mediates and regulates this behavior.” (Markus & Wurf, 1987) In mediating and regulating behavior while simultaneously synthesizing and systematizing knowledge through language, thought, and identity, the self performs in a phenomenological manner the operations related to constructivist epistemology, and through this subjectivity is articulated as self identity. Nevertheless, as Greenwald & Banaji (1995) write, “Social behavior is ordinarily treated as being under conscious (if not always thoughtful) control. However, considerable evidence now supports the view that social behavior often operates in an implicit or unconscious fashion.” (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995) If the “self” is a guiding and mediating force in behavior, or experienced as such, the proper inquiry of psychology is to conduct further research into its phenomenology. In doing so the psychologist may discover that the self is a theoretical framework that is being superimposed by the projection of subjective bias onto the field of experimentation, which is mind or consciousness itself, but also the material basis of physiology, chemistry, and electrical patterns of neuron signaling. In recognizing the degree to which the socially constructed aspects of awareness in the greater environment of Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Ecological Systems Theory’ themselves condition the self-identity, what is understood as psychology, and also the theoretical model of consciousness, relates not only to language but to the constructivist epistemology at the basis of both the scientific method (objectivity) and the self (subjectivity). III. Cognitive Synthesis & Knowledge Processing Piaget reportedly related his studies in embryology to the stages of childhood development in psychology, presenting an important aspect of his theory of human development as related to the growth cycle through which the person develops from fertilized egg, to embryo, to infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The increased application of scientific and psychological methodologies to the growth cycle of the human being determines that the organism actually learns differently at various stages of the process than others because of aspects contingent on the physiology. Similarly, in Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Ecological Systems Theory’ different environments will inevitably produce different results in conditioning the individual to experience patterns of behavior. As Urie Bronfenbrenner writes in “Making Human Beings Human: Bioecological Perspectives on Human Development” (2005): “An Ecological Paradigm for Development in Context: The paradigm is derived from, and hence most appropriately introduced as, a transformed and extended version of Kurt Lewin's (1935) classical formula: B = f(PE) [Behavior is a joint function of person and environment] The first transformation involves a provocative substitution: D = f(PE) [Development is a joint function of person and environment]." (Bronfenbrenner, 2005, p.108) Bronfenbrenner further cites the fact that in Lewin’s theory “the whole was presumed to be more than the sum of its parts.” (Bronfenbrenner, 2005, p.109) In this comment, the transcendent aspects of the self are established, and it is the purpose of psychology to inquire into the process through which this appears as human experience subjectively to the individual. Piaget wrote (1972), “JM Baldwin long ago demonstrated that the young child does not exhibit and consciousness of self nor a fixed boundary between data given internally...” (Piaget, 1972, p.20) This suggests that the self is a construction that is learned from behavior in multiple environments and in relation to knowledge systems in internal contemplation of values. In referencing constructivist epistemology as a phenomenological tactic, the same process is found in subjective knowledge and self-identity as in objective knowledge and social identities. IV. The Social Construction of Knowledge Constructivist epistemologies as posited in Piaget and Bronfenbrenner establish the ‘psychogenesis’ of knowledge in individual subjectivity on the same basis as the ‘sociogenesis’ of knowledge in communities, environments, societies, cultures, etc. As Diane Poulin-Dubois (2011) writes, “To avoid ambiguities (genetic meaning ‘genesis,’ not ‘genes’), Smith (in 'The Cambridge Companion to Piaget') prefers the term ‘developmental epistemology’ (DE), a scientific epistemology dealing with the formation of knowledge that attempts to account for both the sociogenesis and psychogenesis of knowledge development.” (Poulin-Dubois, 2011) Developmental epistemologies relate to the theoretical model of developmental psychology, and can be seen in Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Ecological Systems Theory’. The importance of “shared subjectivity” as a basis for society in phenomenology relates this distinctly to the field of social psychology. The neurochemical and operative aspects of self-synthesis are evident in the relationship of developmental epistemologies to cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and behaviorism. All of these processes operate on a shared basis of constructivist epistemology. In his review of Piaget's “Structuralism” and “Genetic Epistemology” (1973), Terence Turner wrote: “Piaget's thought is in fact nothing less than a general theory of the structure of natural and artificial (logico-mathematical) systems, conceived as dynamic, 'constructive' (genetic or homeostatic) processes.” (Turner, 1973) From this interpretation, genetic, constructivist, and developmental epistemologies all operate as synonyms for the processes of knowledge synthesis and subjective identity creation that are co-evolving with consciousness as “self”. Constructivist epistemology acts in a unified manner across all of the environments, knowledge systems, and patterns of individual subjectivity in Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Ecological Systems Theory,’ and this unifying aspect of interpretation also leads to its wider acceptance as a model for scientific knowledge. One aspect of this is the historical conditioning of understanding in eras, epochs, milieus, and paradigms as Thomas Kuhn explained them in scientific systems of knowledge all reflect bias in language, understanding, technology, culture, etc. which condition awareness, self-identity, and scientific knowedge simultaneously through the same process. As Turner wrote: “Genetic epistemology is essentially an attempt to explain human knowledge (particularly formalized knowledge such as science, mathematics, and logic) by studying the correspondences between the structure and historical development of particular scientific concepts and the structure and genesis of their psychological counterparts in individuals.” (Turner, 1973) V. The Role of Education in Knowledge Construction & Personal Development If constructivist epistemologies join the psychological and social aspects of identity in knowledge systems through a single process of understanding, this highlights the importance of educational psychology in applying and understanding the learning process itself. Similarly, this can be undertaken in psychological methodology from an objective or subjective perspective, using qualitative or quantitative research approaches, and within the interpretation of a particular school of psychology for verification. Yet these dualities represent a positivist approach that the constructivist epistemology seeks to eliminate through phenomenology, or reflecting the psychological processes of cognition by describing them as they appear and are experienced by subjects both individually and in groups. One of the major applications of Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Ecological Systems Theory’ is in educational psychology, and similarly constructivist epistemology is most suited to represent the process of learning and knowledge acquisition through shared experience, communication, and feedback loops within reinforcing frameworks of social values. As Ernst Von Glasersfeld wrote in “Cognition, Construction of Knowledge, and Teaching” (1989), “Sooner or later, this must have an effect on the teaching of science”. Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Ecological Systems Theory’ has found perhaps its widest application in educational psychology, as the interrelation of environments can be used to explain how different children from the same town and school experience social influences differently in family, culture, social groups, friend circles, media influences, etc. For example, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, et al. applied this methodology to the influence of neighborhood in “Do Neighborhoods Influence Child and Adolescent Development?” (1993) and Mary S. Poplin (1988) applied this to students with disabilities in “Holistic/constructivist Principles of the Teaching/Learning Process.” (Poplin, 1988) Bronfenbrenner (1986) himself applied this to: “Investigations of the interaction of genetics and environment in family processes; transitions and linkages between the family and other major settings influencing development, such as hospitals, daycare, peer groups, school, social networks, the world of work (both for parents and children), and neighborhoods and communities; and public policies affecting families and children are included.” (Bronfenbrenner in ‘Developmental Psychology’, Vol 22[6], Nov. 1986) The Head Start program can be seen as a practical application of Bronfenbrenner’s theory that seeks to intervene at a critical time in the child’s learning development process and provide necessary social skills, language, and knowledge to progress in further environmental acclimation and adjustment in the process of self-individualization. In viewing the self as a “personal epistemology,” the learning process is not only accentuated but also transforms the self’s own definition of self as life progresses, an important part of any phenomenological approach to human development psychologically. This epistemological self is also the product of learning and tested in the various environments of ‘Ecological Systems Theory’. VI. Ecology, Psychology, and Systems Theory Bronfenbrenner relates the importance of the behaviorist consideration of the environment as an element of a theory of human development, yet he makes a critical distinction in emphasizing ecologies over environments in vocabulary. The reason for this can be seen in the emphasis on complex, organic chemistries and the interrelationship of life. “Combining a phenomenological approach with Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory provides a critical integration (Spencer, 1995). The integration affords a method for capturing the individual’s ability to understand societal expectations, stereotypes and chronically high risk contexts. For some, the biases—even those that they themselves endorse or fulfill (Gordon & Gergen, 1968). The synthesis also helps to acknowledge the critical and undergirding role of developmental changes in social cognition, multi-level social context character and content, and stage-relevant social experiences that differentially influence meaning making processes across the life course.” (Spencer, 1982, 1985) Nevertheless, Piaget’s work also anticipated what would be called a “Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory” (PVEST) which can be seen diagrammatically below. Source: Developmental Psychopathology: Theory and Method. (Cicchetti & Cohen, 2006, p.641) In some ways this can be seen as only the beginning or the conceptual groundwork for the representation of a larger “ecology of mind and being” as psychology through a constructivist epistemology. Environmental psychologies and ecological psychologies have a difference in emphasis and interpretation, but both schools relate the problem of behaviorism in understanding human development in the experiential world. Two further extensions of the ecological psychology movement that are consistent with the phenomenological variant of the ‘Ecological Systems Theory’ are Jeremy Bateson’s “Steps to an Ecology of Mind” (1999) and “Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity” (1979). As D. W. Harding wrote, Bateson sees the “nature of the mind... as a network of interactions relating the individual with his society and his species and with the universe at large." (Harding, 1999) Another example is Felix Guattari’s “Ecosophy” which visualizes “three spheres” of ecology, all in a similar manner to Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Ecological Systems Theory’. Guattari writes, “...only an ethico-political articulation – which I call ecosophy – between the three ecological registers (the environment, social relations and human subjectivity) would be likely to clarify [the ecological dangers that confront us].” (Guattari, 2000, p. 27). One important aspect of this and other ecological psychologies is the important relationship given to activism in order to preserve the natural environment. In this manner the moral awareness itself is related to the Self in the same manner of a constructivist epistemology. VII. Conclusion Constructivist epistemologies can be seen as a unifying force in both the psychogenesis and socio-genesis of knowledge, illustrated in operations in individual cognition and in groups via shared subjectivity. The phenomenological variant of Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Ecological Systems Theory’ has an application in cognitive psychology, educational psychology, social psychology, and ecological psychology. All of these schools can be further related to languages and knowledge systems as they operate within the subjective processes of cognition that create self-awareness and self-identity. In this manner, the self can be viewed as a “personal epistemology” which is constructed and evolves as the human being grows through stages of childhood or changes in the course of life experience. These descriptive features match the inquiry into the nature of knowledge and the array of knowledge systems that the subject musts synthesize in the process of self creation or self definition. If the self is a theoretical structure that operates on an existential basis and is tested in experience, then it can be also related through shared subjectivities to the wider construction of social knowledge through social psychology. Constructivist epistemologies proceed simultaneous with the psychological methodology of Bronfenbrenner’s ‘Ecological Systems Theory’ and provide a vibrant framework from which to analyze human development. VIII. References Balbi, Juan (2008). Epistemological and theoretical foundations of constructivist cognitive therapies: Post-rationalist developments. PHIL MENT NEURO SCI 2008; 1 (1): 15-27. Retrieved from http://www.crossingdialogues.com/Ms-A08-01-6.pdf Bateson, Gregory (1979). Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity. Bantam Books, 1979. Retrieved from http://dannyreviews.com/h/Mind_and_Nature.html Bateson, Gregory (1999). Steps to an Ecology of Mind. University of Chicago Press, 1999. 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