Bioecological, Social-Cognitive, and Information Processing Theories

Bioecological Theory

The bioecological model differs from other developmental frameworks in that it charts and describes the development of the human being and the group across the spectrum of the life course, through successive generations both past and present.

The model consists of four principal components and the prime dynamic, interactive element that guides them. The four components are:

Process — the forms of interaction between organism and environment, commonly called "proximal processes," which affect human development through ongoing organism-environment interaction.

Person — the individual who is affected by the proximal processes.

Environment — the social, geographical, and historical context in which the proximal processes occur and exert their impact.

Time — the period in which the proximal processes occur.

Characteristics of the person can shape the proximal process, and three key typologies are predominant:

1. Dispositions — these set the processes in motion in a particular direction and sustain their trajectory.

2. Resources — consisting of ability, experience, knowledge, and skills that help facilitate and operate the proximal processes at a specific stage of development.

3. Demand — these characteristics stimulate or impede reactions from the social environment that can encourage growth or disrupt the operation of proximal processes.

These qualities of the person indirectly shape all of his or her macro and micro influences — for instance, in the microsystem, they shape the characteristics of friends, colleagues, and others with whom the person interacts, as well as influencing interactions with teachers, parents, and so forth throughout the course of his or her developmental history.

There are also proximal processes that involve interactions with objects, not just with people. Additionally, elements of chaos, instability, and unpredictability factor into the developmental ecological history of the human being.

This is where the dimension of Time enters, with its three sub-units:

1. Microtime — refers to continuity (as opposed to discontinuity) within the system of proximal processes.

2. Mesotime — the proximal processes occurring over broader intervals, such as days and weeks.

3. Macrotime — changing social events in the society surrounding the individual over larger periods of time, which impact human development over the life course.

Social-Cognitive Theory

All of these factors necessarily affect the individual — and in turn his or her development — both during the present and extending into the future. It is in this way that the bioecological model can address the future of the human being even when that future is presently unknown.

Finally, Bronfenbrenner (2006) proposes three maxims that define and guide the theory as a whole:

1. Development refers to stability and change in the human being not only over the life course but also across generations. This distinguishes the model from other developmental theories that chart only the developmental trajectory of the individual alone.

2. The forces producing stability and change in individuals across successive generations are no less important than those producing stability and change in the development of a single individual over his or her lifetime.

3. The bioecological model is practical in that it can be applied to predictability and to helping individuals achieve optimal performance through an understanding of its constructs (Bronfenbrenner, 2006).

An individual's development, knowledge, and experience — psychological, cognitive, and emotional — comes through observing how others in his or her environment act and modeling their behavior.

Social-cognitive theory emerged from the social learning theory first proposed by Miller and Dollard in 1941, who argued that, given sufficient motivation to acquire a certain behavior, that behavior could be acquired through observation and modeling. Acquisition of the behavior would then be reinforced by repeated performance (i.e., habit) and rewarded by positive reinforcement. Theorists Albert Bandura and Walter Mischel later expanded on the theory.

Social-cognitive theory developed during an era shaped by and devoted to behaviorism — a model that held that the individual was shaped entirely by the environment and was, in essence, no different from a laboratory animal: only observable, external behavior influenced conduct. Mentalism (i.e., thoughts and cognition) was excluded from the picture.

Social-cognitive theory (SCT) was revolutionary in that it included cognition as a central component and posited that, while the environment was important in that people learned by modeling others, the modeling occurred through cognition: individuals reflected on the behavior of others, then selected and evaluated that conduct. In this way, both factors — environment and cognition — played a part in forming the development of the human being. Human development actually consisted of three factors, none more important than the others and all integral in shaping the individual. These were environment, behavior, and cognition, each of which is reciprocal: witnessed behavior may change a person's thinking about something, while the environment (i.e., that in which one is raised or experiences circumstances) influences later behaviors, just as cognition in turn affects not only one's own subsequent behavior but also that of one's contacts — notably, one's children.

Other constructs intrinsic to SCT include emotional coping responses — the strategies or tools a person uses to deal with emotional stimuli — as well as reciprocal determinism, which is the dynamic interaction between person, behavior, and environment, each of which has a rebounding and operative effect upon the others (McAlister, Perry, & Parcel, 2008).

Information Processing Theory

Based on a computer model, information processing theory suggests that humans process the information they receive — reflecting, selecting, and retrieving — rather than simply responding, like a Skinnerian rat, to environmental stimuli.

The mental machinery includes mechanisms such as working memory, which actively works on information; short-term memory, which holds information for only a brief period; and long-term memory, which retains what it considers important for extended durations.

The brain is plastic and malleable at first, maturing over time in ways that lead to enhanced capability in acquiring and retaining information. At the same time, however, the brain can be impaired by illness and physiological conditions. It is also limited in that it is embedded — that is, constructed by the environment in which it develops — and therefore interprets phenomena in certain constrained ways. It is also embodied, meaning it is limited by certain heuristics (ways of thinking, such as confirmation bias, or the inability to accept information that contradicts one's existing beliefs) and other cognitive biases.

Neuroplasticity — one of the most recent neural insights — posits, contrary to Piaget's perspective, that the brain retains options for continuously maturing, learning, and relearning new material. New habits may be formed and abandoned throughout the course of human development.

The cognitive apparatus includes recognition, perception, memory, reasoning, imagination, judgment, decision-making, language acquisition, visual and auditory perception, storage, conceptualization, planning, and so forth. These are schematized in the brain through processes such as mental maps, mental models, symbols, language, and thought.

The four pillars of the information-processing model are:

1. Thinking — where external stimuli are integrated with internal reflection.

2. Analysis of stimuli — where the stimuli integrated in the brain are then analyzed, strategized, generalized, and automatized into consequent results (i.e., actions, verbal articulation, further reflection, or erosion).

3. Situational modification — where the individual uses stored experience to shape subsequent experiences.

4. Obstacle evaluation — where the individual attempts to evaluate a particular problem as effectively as possible; confusion may sometimes interfere with reasoning.

The information-processing model also works according to three structural constructs:

1. Sensory register — the short-term storehouse that holds external and internal stimuli. Rapid, unconscious reflection determines whether to retain or discard the data.

2. Short-term / working memory — analogous to the central processing unit of a computer, this system can only hold a certain amount of data for a certain period of time. The capacity for storing data expands as the child matures until, at approximately 15 years of age, it reaches its maximum level. This enables increased processing speed and allows individuals to process and manage information more efficiently across tasks.

3. Long-term memory — the storage of data that a person remembers for extended periods, sometimes over an entire lifetime (such as one's name); these memories are available to be retrieved when needed. There is both an explicit and an implicit memory system: explicit memory refers to that which we are consciously aware of, while implicit memory is covert and shapes behavior (such as enculturation) (Miller, 2003).

The brain, even when conceived as a computer, is not separate from the environment. One's social culture greatly impacts the way one encodes, decodes, and interprets incoming data (Miller, 2011). Nature (in the shape of the brain-as-computer) and nurture work together.