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Subject PSYCHOLOGY

Paper No and Title Paper no.16: Community Psychology

Module No and Title Module no. 3: Ecological levels of analysis

Module Tag PSY_P16_M3

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Learning Outcomes
2. Introduction
3. The principles of the Social ecological model
3.1 Interdependence
3.2 Distribution of resources
3.3 Adaptation
3.4 Succesion
4. Bronfenbrenner’s Theory of Ecological systems
4.1 Microsystem
4.2 Mesosystem
4.3 Macrosystem
5. Criticisms of Ecological approach to Community Psychology
6. Summary

PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No.16 : Community Psychology

MODULE No. 3 : Ecological levels of analysis
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1. Learning Outcomes
After studying this module, you shall be able to

 Know about the Ecological approach to community.

 Learn about its application to community based interventions.
 Identify with the principles of Ecological model.
 Understand and Analyze Bronfenbrenner’s theory of Ecological systems to Community
approach.

2. Introduction
Community psychologists take what Kelly (1972) has called an ecological view of human
functioning, meaning that problems are seen as faulty adaptation in the natural environment rather
than solely as deficiencies of individuals. The ecological view means that, first, community
psychologists need to know the communities in which they are working. A community could be
any social environment in which people function – school, neighborhood, hospital, workplace, or
church.

According to Trickett (1996), human activity does not develop in a social vacuum, but rather it is
vigorously situated within a socio-historical and cultural context of meanings and relationships’.
An ecological context is a setting that influences an individual, such as the physical and social,
economic and political environment (Dalton, Elias & Wandersman, 2001). It means that
behaviour can be better understood if the context in which it takes place is understood. For
example, if you watch a person standing next to the road talking loudly and making wild gestures,
it may not make sense. However, if two cars that had collided and one person accusing the other
of reckless driving were to be added to the scenario, the incident would make more sense.

It also implies that changes in human behaviour may be possible when patterns of social and
organizational relationships change, or the physical environment changes. For example, if the
management style in an organization changes, the stress levels of the workers may also change.
This means that psychological interventions should not focus on individual behaviour alone, but
should also be introduced at broader levels of the social organization. This way of thinking opens
new ways of conceptualizing behaviour, because problems are not seen simply a result of intra
individual processes, but also as incompatibilities between individuals and their environment, or
as dysfunctional adaptations to a particular set of environmental circumstances. For example,
child abuse is not only associated with individual characteristics, but can also be related to
various other factors such as parental style, lack of support networks, economic factors such as
unemployment, and socio-cultural forces such as climate of violence. Moreover, thinking in
ecological terms also opens up multiple ways of encouraging individual and community change
through changing aspects of the individual-social context interface.

PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No.16 : Community Psychology

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3. The principles of the Social Ecological Model

Kelly (1972) suggested using four principles from biological ecology to guide community
psychologists’ assessment of natural social environments. These are the following:

4 Principles

Interdependence Resources Adaptation Succession

Figure 1: Principles of Social Ecological Model

3.1 Principle of Interdependence

The social ecological model holds that the multiple components of a social context are
interrelated and influence the other parts. Changes in one part may produce change in other parts
of the context. For example, changes that make teachers feel more appreciated and more
important will affect their behaviour toward children in their classes. This in turn will affect how
children behave in school, which in turn may further reinforce teachers’ positive feelings about
their jobs. On the other hand, the interdependence of component of the school may result in
negative effects where they are not expected. For example, introducing a new counseling service
for aggressive children may lead teachers to believe that these children are the responsibility of
that program. Thus teachers may refer difficult children to the special program and not make a
serious effort to handle them in the regular classroom. Children referred to the service may
believe they are labeled as “bad” and increase negative behaviour in order to live up to the label.
Before planning to institute changes, community psychologists must be aware of the
independencies between components.

3.2 Principle of Distribution of Resources

According to the social ecological model, all communities have different sets of resources. These
include money, time, human resources, and political support. One can understand community
functioning by analyzing the definition, distribution, utilization and development of these
resources. Interventions can affect the way resources are created and defined as well as the way
they are distributed. How a community spends the funds at its disposal may also indicate which
issues are considered important in that community. If a community spends most of its available
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funds on efforts to combat Aids, this could be seen as an

indication that Aids is a priority for this community.
Prioritizing Aids in this way will mean that fewer resources may be available for addressing other
community needs, such as helping people with disabilities.

This is also about cycling of resources. The community has within itself resources that can be
used to solve many of its problems. For example, many people in a school may be skilled in
helping students who are experiencing personal problems. Teachers, coaches, other students,
parents, as well as guidance counselors, may have relevant interpersonal skills.

3.3 Principle of Adaptation

Adaptation refers to the process by which people cope with available or changing resources in
their environments. Different skills or competencies are necessary to successfully adapt to the
demands of each community. Problem behaviour is seen as a failure or as mental illness, rather
than simply as a deficiency of an individual or as mental illness. What appears to be problem
behaviour may be quite appropriate in a different environment. For example, immigrant children
may be adept at verbal expression in their native language, but may mistakenly be seen as lacking
in intelligence because they cannot handle the new language at the proficiency level demanded by
the schools. A community psychologist interested in helping these children meet school demands
would want to build on already existing competencies rather than to dismiss them.

For example, psychiatric patients who have been hospitalized for many years may not have
families, jobs, or friendships to which they can return. Their only role has been of dependent
patient with few skills for independent living. In this situation a community psychologist might
try to create a new social environment in which psychiatric patients may use the skills they do
have to lead independent and protective lies.

3.4 Principle of Succession

Environments are not static, but change continuously. Succession refers to the orderly process of
community change as a way of adapting to new situations. In the natural course of things, all
communities change. They must adapt to change in the external environment. The role of a
community psychologist is not simply to help the community mobilize its resources to solve
current problems, but to help it prepare for future changes. For example, a school may be affected
by changes in the job market and in local economic conditions, technological advances, and new
social pressures. A community psychologist takes a long term perspective and asks how current
work in the community will affect its ability to meet future challenges. Long term success of
community interventions requires planning for the succession to leadership.

4. Bronfenbrenner’s Theory of Ecological Systems

Bronfenbrenner (1979) described the environment in which development takes place in terms of a
series of nested systems fitting into each other.

An individual exists within layers of social relationships: the family, friendship network (micro-
systems), organizations, neighbourhoods (exosystems) and culture and society (macro-systems).
Each layer has an impact on the other layers in an independent way. An individual thus lives in a

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constantly changing context influenced by the changing

relationships between individual-level contexts macro-context
within which these micro-contexts develop. Bronfenbrenner (1979) identified basically four
environmental systems that are important in understanding individual behaviour, namely micro-
systems, mesosystems, exosystems and macrosystems.

4.1.Micro-systems

A microsystem is defined as the immediate system of which the individual is a part of. This
includes all the people with whom the individual has direct interactions. For a child this would be,
for example, her or his family, classroom, school, friendship network and sports team.

Figure 2: Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological model

4.2. Meso-systems

The mesosystem is defined as the set of linkages between the micro-systems or settings in which
the individual is located. Bronfenbrenner (1979) proposed that development during childhood
would be enhanced if the different settings in which the child interacts were strongly linked. For
example, when the values taught at school and at home correspond, the child will probably adjust
well to these values; when the values do not correspond, the child may become confused.

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4.3 Macro-systems

The macro-systems involve large scale societal factors that have an impact on people’s lives, such
as governmental policies and decisions, as well as ideologies and belief systems. It includes the
attitudes and values of people in a particular socio-economic position, ethnic group or culture, as
well as economic trends and gender roles. Bronfenbrenner (1979) therefore recognized the
influence of socio-cultural and economic factors such as poverty and oppression, as well as large-
scale social change or behavioural patterns.

Through defining the various environmental interaction systems, Bronfenbrenner (1979)

recognized the influence of the wider environment and higher-order systems on human
behaviour. These levels constantly interact with and influence each other. Blocher (1987)
accordingly describes communities as ‘complex human systems that depend on collective and co-
operative efforts to achieve their objectives. They are formal organizations of organizations. The
patterns of organization of the communities people form to meet their needs have almost an
infinite variety.

Using this theory, the interventions to address the underlying causes of psychosocial problems are
also almost infinite in variety. For example, interventions at the following levels may influence
drug-related behaviour amongst young people:

 4.3.1 The micro-level: Micro-level interventions may include education about the
dangers of drug use for teenagers, improved family communication, discussion groups
consisting of young people and peer education to change the peer group norms.
 4.3.2 The exo-level: A school can actively address the problem of drug abuse amongst
learners by developing a drug policy, and learners’ parents’ places of employment could
provide medical insurance facilities that will allow parents to access anti-drug counseling
programmes for their children.
 4.3.3 The macro-level: Legislation to restrict the availability of drugs, and media
campaigns to change the community’s perception of drug use and the culture of ‘taking a
pill to feel better’ whatever the problem, can also address the problem.

The ecological theory therefore highlights the larger, complex picture of interaction within a
community and does not focus on the individual in isolation. The value of Bronfenbrenner’s
theory is its definition and understanding of the various levels of interaction that influence each
other in a continuous process of change as an attempt to understand the complexity of individual
and community functioning.

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Following figure presents another example of applying

Ecological model to Gender-based violence:

Figure 3: Risk factors for Violence based on Ecological Model

5. Criticisms of Ecological approach to Community Psychology

 It focuses on change at the micro-level, the meso-level and sometimes the exo-level, but
is criticized for not being sufficiently transformative at the macro-level (Nelson &
Prilleltensky, 2005).
 It also does not sufficiently consider the complexities of the experiences and shared
realities within communities.
 Appelbaum’s (1995) evaluation of the ecological theory is : “Whilst it is able to lead
community psychology along the bridge towards new epistemological territory (towards
a new way of understanding and knowing) … [the social ecological theory] has not
provided community psychology with a sufficiently clear map of the new territory to
enable it to, at some stage, cross the bridge towards the relisation that knowing is indeed
being and that the territory becomes … synonymous with the map. (1995, p.72)

PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No.16 : Community Psychology

MODULE No. 3 : Ecological levels of analysis
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6. Summary
 Four principles namely; principle of interdependence, distribution of resources,
adaptation and succession, guide the ecological system approach of Community
psychology.
 The social ecological theory is applicable to interventions at various levels.
 Although the social ecological theory contributes to asking new questions, making
different observations, and applying different research methods in community
psychology, it is still limited as an epistemological framework.

PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No.16 : Community Psychology

MODULE No. 3 : Ecological levels of analysis