Reading reflection

UNST 228A Keela Johnson

FAMILY SYSTEMS THEORY & BRONFENBRENNER

AGENDA

• Questions about Structural-Functionalism? • Family Systems Theory • Bronfenbrenner’s Bio-ecological model

FAMILY SYSTEMS THEORY

• History: • 1926 Ernest Burgess- the family as ”a unity of interacting personalities” • Highly integrated vs unintegrated- rituals, discipline, and

interdependence

• Waller 1938- family experiences are repetitive and based on patterns of interaction

• Systems theory hidden as part of structural-functionalism until after WWII

• 1960’s rose to prominence in clinical applications

FAMILY SYSTEMS THEORY

• Key Terms: • System- a set of objects with their attributes that relate to each other in

a way that creates a new “super entity” • Family Roles- recurring patterns of behavior developed through

interaction that family members use to fulfill family functions • Hierarchy- arrangement of subsystems according to power • Boundaries- lines of demarcation that distinguish a system from its

environment and affect the flow of energy and information between the two • Open, random, and closed

FAMILY SYSTEMS THEORY

• Key terms cont: • Entropy and Energy- Entropy is the natural tendency to move from order to

disorder; Energy is new information or input

• Family Rules- repetitive behavioral patterns based on the redundancy principle that define a family and regulate family functioning by offering guidelines for future family interactions

• Explicit and implicit

• Feedback- the response a family member makes to the behavior of another person, particularly when they deviate from existing patterns of interaction

• Equilibrium- natural tendency for a system to seek balance

FAMILY SYSTEMS THEORY

• Main ideas: • The whole is greater than the sum of the parts- as a social system, the whole

possesses its own characteristics, rules, roles, communication patterns, and power structure

• Individual and family behavior must be understood in context • A family is a goal-seeking system • A family is a self-reflexive and self-regulating system, continually

influenced by feedback

• Family systems are defined by their communication • The locus of pathology is not within the person, but is a system

dysfunction

BRONFENBRENNER’S BIO-ECOLOGIC AL MODEL

BRONFENBRENNER’S BIO-ECOLOGIC AL MODEL CONT…