Ecological Perspectives in Human Development: A Comparison of Gibson and Bronfenbrenner

Abstract

In this chapter we provide a brief overview of ecological perspectives as they relate to human development, as the background to more extensive discussion of the perspectives taken by two theorists, James Gibson and Urie Bronfenbrenner. Despite their very different foci (Gibson being concerned primarily with perception, Bronfenbrenner with social contexts) and their different levels of analysis, they share basic assumptions and, we shall argue, their perspectives should be viewed as complementary. The assumptions that they share derive from their acceptance of an ecological perspective.