Bronfenbrenners Ecological Theory: Personal Childhood Experience

Introduction

Understanding the stages of an individuals cognitive development is critical for numerous reasons, including the opportunity to locate problems in development. Bronfenbrenners Ecological Theory provides an interesting addition to the rest of the developmental theories, shedding light on how personal experiences and a combination of external and internal factors shapes cognitive and behavioral changes in an individual. Taking my childhood as an example, one will see those alterations in ones development should be studied as the effect of the combined influences of the chronosystem, macrosystem, exosystem, mesosystem, microsystem, and individual factors.

Assessment

Chronosystem

Implying the sociohistorical development of a community and the general trends within it that develop over a specific period, the chronosystem affects a child gradually and shapes the childs identity as the individual grows. As seen in my case, learning to accept alterations in social perceptions occurring over a certain time helped shape my acceptance toward different opinions and views (McCormick & Scherer, 2018). Particularly, changes in how womens roles were perceived in my community, with the gradual introduction of a more balanced perception of gender, affected my views on gender relationships.

Macrosystem

In Bronfenbrenners Ecological Theory Model, the community and its traditions typically form the macrosystem is the combination of social and cultural factors affecting the development of a child. Considering my case as an example, I was significantly affected by the cultural fads that were quickly introduced into the mainstream environment (McCormick & Scherer, 2018). Due to the exposure to a vast range of media, including its digital forms, I learned to understand and accept people of different cultures and subcultures since I have had a profound experience of communicating with people belonging to a range of cultural and social backgrounds.

Exosystem

Implying the connection to ones social settings, the exosystem in Bronfenbrenners typology provides an insight into the social life of an individual. As a child, I rarely noticed the high levels of diversity in my neighborhood, yet the specified characteristic of my social environment affected how I saw cross-cultural relationships (McCormick & Scherer, 2018). As a result, I learned to appreciate diversity and build relationships with people from different cultures easily.

Mesosystem

Representing the connections between an individual and the microcosm of their interactions, such as home and school, as well as an individual and family members or neighbors, the mesosystem allows one to develop social skills and the ability to communicate. In my case, high diversity rates of the neighborhood helped me to form friendships with a range of children from different cultural backgrounds, which enhanced my understanding of how cross-cultural conflicts could be solved, and how interpersonal interactions occur

Microsystem

In turn, the microsystem, which represents the smallest circle of an individuals communication, is typically represented by very close family members. In my case, it was my mother, who always found time to talk to me and teach me important ideas, values, and skills through games and communication (McCormick & Scherer, 2018). The microsystem has the greatest impact on an individuals early development since it allows one to build crucial cognitive skills and emotional intelligence.

Individual

Finally, on an individual level, the focus on personal growth needs to be mentioned as one of the main objectives. An individual needs nurturing and opportunities for cognitive and emotional development (McCormick & Scherer, 2018). I have always been curious to learn new skills and gain new knowledge, which is why I believe that the specified domain of my personal development has also been filled successfully.

Conclusion

To embrace the full extent of influences that an individual experiences when undergoing the process of cognitive and behavioral development, one should consider the subject matter through the lens of Bronfenbrenners theory, as my personal experience indicates. A combination of global influences, cultural factors, the specifics of the community, the microcosm of my family, and my specifics have defined my development to a great extent. Although the factors listed above are often interrelated due to the intersections caused by common cultural influences and other relevant issues, each of them produces a unique effect causing one to evolve into a unique human being.