Urie Bronfenbrenner
Russian-born American developmental psychologist at Cornell
Moscow-born developmental psychologist at Cornell. He proposed an ecological theory of human development, published in 1979, and sat on the Head Start planning committee in 1965.
Why this person matters
His ecological approach asked how family, neighbourhood, policy and time act together on a child's development, instead of studying the child alone in a laboratory. Cornell credits his ideas with helping to spur Head Start in 1965. Later versions of the theory were developed with collaborators, including Stephen Ceci and Pamela Morris.
Main contributions
The ecology of human development
In The Ecology of Human Development (1979) he described development as the result of interaction between a person and surrounding settings, from family and neighbourhood to social policy, the legal system and economic trends.
Head Start and child policy
In 1964 he testified to Congress that high-quality early childhood education should be part of the War on Poverty, and in 1965 he joined the Head Start Planning Committee. Head Start was a federal child development programme for low-income children and families; Cornell says his ideas helped spur its creation.
Bioecological revisions
Later he renamed the theory the bioecological model to recognise biological processes, and added the chronosystem to account for time. A 1994 Psychological Review article with Stephen Ceci presents it, and a handbook chapter with Pamela Morris sets out the process, person, context and time framework.
Context and limits
The theory is a broad framework with many interacting parts. Xia, Li and Tudge (2020) note that Bronfenbrenner gave little guidance on applying his later process, person, context and time model in research, and a 2017 review found few studies claiming a bioecological basis that used it as their design. The chronosystem was added later, so sources count the systems differently by version.
In your introductory course
Lifespan development.Ecological systems theory appears in the lifespan development chapters, usually as nested systems from microsystem to macrosystem. It is taught as a way to see a child's family, school and culture together.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 9.3. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1948
Became assistant professor at Cornell in human development and family studies and psychology, and stayed for the rest of his career.
- 1965
Joined the Head Start Planning Committee after testifying to Congress on early childhood education in 1964.
- 1979
Published The Ecology of Human Development.
- 1994
Published an article with Stephen Ceci in Psychological Review presenting a bioecological model.
Sources
- Cornell Chronicle, Urie Bronfenbrenner, father of Head Start program and pre-eminent 'human ecologist,' dies at age 88University. Institutional biography inspected.
- Cornell College of Human Ecology, Urie Bronfenbrenner '38 (trailblazers)University. Institutional biography inspected.
- Human Development (Karger), Xia, Li and Tudge, Operationalizing Urie Bronfenbrenner's Process-Person-Context-Time ModelPublisher. Abstract inspected.
- TEME, Marojevic, From Ecological to Bioecological Theory of Human DevelopmentPublisher. Abstract inspected.
- Wikipedia, Urie BronfenbrennerReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Wikipedia, Bioecological modelReference work. Reference article inspected.