Urie Bronfenbrenner was a Russian psychologist who developed the ecological systems theory of human development. He argued that a child's development is influenced by different environmental systems, ranging from immediate family and friends to broader systems like education and politics. Bronfenbrenner defined microsystems as immediate environments like home and school, mesosystems as connections between microsystems, exosystems as environments like community that indirectly influence development, and macrosystems as overarching cultural values of a society. His ecological systems theory viewed child development as being shaped by environmental influences at multiple levels, from immediate relationships to broader social and cultural factors.

1. V. M. WESTERBERG'S SUPER BRIEF DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES SERIES.
URIE BRONFENBRENNER
Born in Russia, moved to the USA at the age of 6.
In the US, he studied Psychology and Music, and after serving in the army because of WWII,
he became professor of Human Development.
Before Urie Bronfenbrenner, child psychologists studied the child, sociologists the family,
anthropologists the society, economists the economic framework, and political scientists the
structure.
As a result of Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems theory, all the above environments, from
the family to economic and political structures, are viewed as part of the life course, that is,
the person’s development, from childhood and adulthood.
He co-funded the Head Start programme, which provides education, health, nutrition, and
parent involvement services to low-income children and their families.
After a successful life, he died in 2005 of complications of diabetes at the age of 88.
[Source: The American Psychologist, 2006]

2. BRONFENBRENNER’S ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS THEORY
The definition of each system is simplified here for ease of understanding.
Microsystem:
Places where the person of interest could be found if someone were looking for him/her.
Describe the roles of the important people who share her microsystem
with her (age, sex, ethnicity, nationality)
Home (spouse, children, relatives)
School (other children,teachers)
Workplace (co-workers)
Church (parish members, priest)
Sports club
Etc...
Mesosystem:
Links between 2 microsystems.
Home and school are linked by exam marking (for a teacher)
Home and school are linked by homework (for children)
Home and Hospital are linked by medication, ventilator, diet, breathing exercises.
Exosystem:
Places where people meet and make decisions that influence the person of
interest. The person does NOT belong to these places of influence.
Community health centre, Samoan community centre, lenders, TB & Chest Association,
Mercury Energy, Emergency services centre, extended family, neighbours, Telecom,
government (MoH, MoL), victim support centres, Sovereign Industries, police, Telecom,
coroner, counselling for the Mercury contractor, the media. (some scholars consider the media a
macrosystem that affects everybody in the society)
Macrosystem:
Factors that affect people in the entire society:
Laws (like a privacy act that did not allow disclosure of patient data to non-
medical people)
Culture, subculture (native Americans in the US), beliefs, traditions
Political structure of the country (capitalism vs socialism, democracy vs
dictatorship)
Social structure of the country (socio-economic status of immigrants)
[Chronosystem: Influence of the historical time you have been born in, in
your development. This is included in Baltes’ historical influences on
development.]