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Journal ArticleDOI

Toward an experimental ecology of human development.

01 Jan 1977-American Psychologist (American Psychological Association)-Vol. 32, Iss: 7, pp 513-531
TL;DR: In this paper, a broader approach to research in human development is proposed that focuses on the pro- gressive accommodation, throughout the life span, between the growing human organism and the changing environments in which it actually lives and grows.
Abstract: A broader approach to research in hu- j man development is proposed that focuses on the pro- \ gressive accommodation, throughout the life span, between the growing human organism and the changing environments in which it actually lives and grows. \ The latter include not only the immediate settings containing the developing person but also the larger social contexts, both formal and informal, in which these settings are embedded. In terms of method, the approach emphasizes the use of rigorousj^d^igned exp_erjments, both naturalistic and contrived, beginning in the early stages of the research process. The chang- ing relation between person and environment is con- ceived in systems terms. These systems properties are set forth in a series of propositions, each illus- trated by concrete research examples.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A critical appraisal of resilience, a construct connoting the maintenance of positive adaptation by individuals despite experiences of significant adversity, concludes that work on resilience possesses substantial potential for augmenting the understanding of processes affecting at-risk individuals.
Abstract: This paper presents a critical appraisal of resilience, a construct connoting the maintenance of positive adaptation by individuals despite experiences of significant adversity. As empirical research on resilience has burgeoned in recent years, criticisms have been levied at work in this area. These critiques have generally focused on ambiguities in definitions and central terminology; heterogeneity in risks experienced and competence achieved by individuals viewed as resilient; instability of the phenomenon of resilience; and concerns regarding the usefulness of resilience as a theoretical construct. We address each identified criticism in turn, proposing solutions for those we view as legitimate and clarifying misunderstandings surrounding those we believe to be less valid. We conclude that work on resilience possesses substantial potential for augmenting the understanding of processes affecting at-risk individuals. Realization of the potential embodied by this construct, however, will remain constrained without continued scientific attention to some of the serious conceptual and methodological pitfalls that have been noted by skeptics and proponents alike.

7,392 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 1988
TL;DR: An ecological model for health promotion is proposed which focuses on both individual and social environmental factors as targets for health promotions and addresses the importance of interventions directed at changing interpersonal, organizational, community, and public policy factors which support and maintain unhealthy behaviors.
Abstract: During the past 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in societal interest in preventing disability and death in the United States by changing individual behaviors linked to the risk of contracting chronic diseases. This renewed interest in health promotion and disease prevention has not been without its critics. Some critics have accused proponents of life-style interventions of promoting a victim-blaming ideology by neglecting the importance of social influences on health and disease. This article proposes an ecological model for health promotion which focuses attention on both individual and social environmental factors as targets for health promotion interventions. It addresses the importance of interventions directed at changing interpersonal, organizational, community, and public policy, factors which support and maintain unhealthy behaviors. The model assumes that appropriate changes in the social environment will produce changes in individuals, and that the support of individuals in the population is essential for implementing environmental changes.

6,234 citations

MonographDOI
01 Dec 2014
TL;DR: This chapter discusses the emergence of learning activity as a historical form of human learning and the zone of proximal development as the basic category of expansive research.
Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. The emergence of learning activity as a historical form of human learning 3. The zone of proximal development as the basic category of expansive research 4. The instruments of expansion 5. Toward an expansive methodology 6. Epilogue.

5,768 citations

Reference EntryDOI
01 Jun 2007
TL;DR: This chapter presents the ecological model of human development that has been introduced in a prior edition of this Handbook, and defines the defining properties of the model, which involves four principal components, and the dynamic, interactive relationships among them.
Abstract: In this chapter, we undertake to present the ecological model of human development that has been introduced in a prior edition of this Handbook. The bioecological model is an evolving theoretical system for the scientific study of human development over time. The model presented in this chapter represents major theoretical innovations from the 1983 chapter in both form and content. The new model is not a paradigm shift, but rather represents a transition from a focus on the environment to a focus on proximal processes as engines of development. We begin with the defining properties of the model, which involves four principal components (process, person, context, and time), and the dynamic, interactive relationships among them. We then turn to the research designs required for testing the model. In doing so, we not only present the next stage in the evolution of an ecological theory of human development, but we also document the requirements for conducting developmental research in the discovery mode. We conclude with a look to the future—and what the bioecological model means for the future development of our species. Keywords: bioecological; context; macrosystem; microsystem; person; proximal processes; time

3,978 citations


Cites background from "Toward an experimental ecology of h..."

  • ...I also emphasized the scientific and practical benefits of a closer linkage, in both directions, between developmental research and public policy (Bronfenbrenner, 1974, 1975, 1977a, 1977b, 1979a, 1979b, 1981)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examine recent developments in theory and research on experiential learning and explore how this work can enhance experientual learning and how to apply it to real-life experiences, using the foundational theories of John Dewey and Kurt Lewin.
Abstract: Drawing on the foundational theories of John Dewey and Kurt Lewin, we examine recent developments in theory and research on experiential learning and explore how this work can enhance experiential ...

3,917 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The present interpretation of construct validity is not "official" and deals with some areas where the Committee would probably not be unanimous, but the present writers are solely responsible for this attempt to explain the concept and elaborate its implications.
Abstract: Validation of psychological tests has not yet been adequately conceptualized, as the APA Committee on Psychological Tests learned when it undertook (1950-54) to specify what qualities should be investigated before a test is published. In order to make coherent recommendations the Committee found it necessary to distinguish four types of validity, established by different types of research and requiring different interpretation. The chief innovation in the Committee's report was the term construct validity.[2] This idea was first formulated by a subcommittee (Meehl and R. C. Challman) studying how proposed recommendations would apply to projective techniques, and later modified and clarified by the entire Committee (Bordin, Challman, Conrad, Humphreys, Super, and the present writers). The statements agreed upon by the Committee (and by committees of two other associations) were published in the Technical Recommendations (59). The present interpretation of construct validity is not "official" and deals with some areas where the Committee would probably not be unanimous. The present writers are solely responsible for this attempt to explain the concept and elaborate its implications.

9,935 citations

Book
01 Jan 1951

6,616 citations


"Toward an experimental ecology of h..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Especially in its formal properties, the foregoing conception of the environment, as well as the dynamic relation between person and situation implied in the definition of the ecology of human development, draws heavily on the theories of Kurt Lewin (1935, 1936, 1948, 1951)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Oct 1935

4,210 citations

Book
01 Jan 1935

3,017 citations

Journal ArticleDOI

2,601 citations


"Toward an experimental ecology of h..." refers background in this paper

  • ...…Much of this research treats the behavior of the father, and any reaction it may evoke in the child, in exclusively class-theoretical terms (Lewin, 1935) as attributable entirely to the father, without regard to the possibility that both the father's action and the child's responses may be…...

    [...]

  • ...Much of this research treats the behavior of the father, and any reaction it may evoke in the child, in exclusively class-theoretical terms (Lewin, 1935) as attributable entirely to the father, without regard to the possibility that both the father's action and the child's responses may be influenced by the mother—her presence or absence and the possible effect of her behavior on the interaction of the father with the child....

    [...]

  • ...Especially in its formal properties, the foregoing conception of the environment, as well as the dynamic relation between person and situation implied in the definition of the ecology of human development, draws heavily on the theories of Kurt Lewin (1935, 1936, 1948, 1951)....

    [...]