FIGURE 1.3: Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model: This set of imbedded circles spells out the multiple forces that Bronfenbrenner believed shape development. First and foremost, there are the places that form the core of the child’s daily life: family, church, peers, classroom (orange). What is the child’s family, school, and religious life like? Who are his friends? How does the child interact with his siblings, his parents, his teacher, and his peers? Although its influence is more indirect, development also depends on the broader milieu—the media, the school system, the community where the boy or girl lives (see blue circle). At the most macro—or broadest—level, we also need to consider that child’s culture, the prevailing economic and social conditions of his society (green circle), and, his cohort or the time in history in which he lives. Bottom line: Human behavior depends on multiple complex forces!

Red Chopsticks/Getty Images