How do methodological considerations affect the interpretation of behaviour in the learning perspective?
How do methodological considerations affect the interpretation of behaviour in the learning perspective?
The learning perspective has many different methods for the collection of behavioural data. It uses both observationally and experimentally based methods.
Lab experiments are one of the key aspects in the Learning perspective. They are undertaken in order to make a discovery or confirm causal relationships. The experimenter manipulates an independent variable to see its effect on the dependant variable. Lab experiments are highly replicable because of the tight controls which are necessary to assure the measurement of a specific variable. For this same reason they lack ecological validity as real life situations are never the same as those in labs.
Animals are often used in place of humans in lab experiments. They facilitate the collection of data as human participants. Psychologists study animals because the experiments they wish to conduct are permissible only with animals. The same processes by which we see and exhibit emotions are present in other animals therefore through the study of animals we are able to understand aspects of our own behaviour. Study of simple organisms like sea slugs enables us to bypass the complexity of our own systems and reveal the neural mechanisms of learning.
