Which environment is described as the immediate environment surrounding an individual?

The microsystem is the correct term for the immediate environment surrounding an individual. In developmental psychology, the microsystem includes the settings where an individual has direct interactions, such as family, school, peers, and neighborhood. This environment is characterized by the relationships and interactions that a person experiences on a daily basis, which can have a profound impact on their development.

For instance, the influence of parents, teachers, and friends within the microsystem shapes an individual’s behaviors, beliefs, and development. The features of the microsystem are immediate and often change quickly as relationships and contexts evolve, directly affecting the individual’s growth and development.

In contrast, other levels of the ecological systems theory, such as the macrosystem, exosystem, and mesosystem, involve broader influences that are not directly experienced by the individual in the same immediate way. The macrosystem encompasses larger cultural and societal influences, the exosystem includes contexts that indirectly affect the individual through their microsystem (like a parent's workplace), and the mesosystem refers to the connections between different microsystems (like the relationship between a child's family and school). Each of these has an important role, but they do not represent the individual's immediate environment in the same way that the microsystem does.