Issues and debates in learning theories topic
Theories
Ethical Issues (animal and human)
 Can Do, Can’t Do With
Participants (human)
 The 3 R’s (animal)
Practical issues in the design and
implementation of research
 Validity
 Reliability
 Generalisability
Reductionism
 Focuses on smaller components
in detail
Comparisons of ways of
explaining behavior
 How different approaches can
explain behavior
Studies
- In classical conditioning the research mainly used lab
experiments. These are controlled environments and is
not natural to observe behavior. This contrived and
artificial nature decreases the ecological validity of the
findings and the extent to which the theory can be
applied to real-life settings.
- Operant conditioning can be considered reductionist as
it only takes nurture into account it fails to take into
the cognitive processes that are involved in
conditioning.
- Social learning theory is also reductionist as it reduces
learning down to only observation and imitation as in
reality there are many more complex cognitive
processes going on.
- Classical conditioning explains learning through
Association. Whereas Operant conditioning explains
learning through Consequences. Social learning theory
explains Learning through Observations and imitations.
Methods
- Pavlov went against the Three R`s in his Study on
classical conditioning. For example, Pavlov used at least
35 different dogs in his experiment, this goes against
the Reduction rule, which states to limit the number of
animals used in the experiment. Additionally, Pavlov
failed to refine his study to reduce stress and anxiety
for the dogs.
- Watson and Rayner breached many Human ethical
issues in their `Little Albert`` study. For example, they
failed to protect their participant from any harm
especially mental harm as they repeatedly made Albert
cry and gave him a fear of furry objects for the rest of
his life.
- Pavlov's study used a sample of 35 dogs and no
humans, which means it lacks generalisability as the
results gathered from the dogs cannot be fully applied
to humans as we have different brain structures and
therefore may respond to conditioning differently.
- Watson and Rayner only used a sample of 1 human
boy which is not at all representative of the whole
population. This means we cannot generalize the
findings of this study to other people.
- Pavlov's experiments primarily focused on observable
behaviors and reflex responses. This is reductionist as it
neglects the cognitive aspects of learning, such as
thoughts and feelings, which play a crucial role in
understanding human behavior.
- Bandura's theory and experiments neglect the role of
cognitive factors, such as thoughts and mental
processes, in influencing behavior.
- There are Ethical issues involved with Covert
Observations as they involve observing participants
without their informed consent and without them even
being aware. This is a breach of their privacy.
- Overt observations are more ethical than Covert
operations as the participants are aware of the
observation taking place and can therefore give
informed consent. However, this type of observation
can lead to Demand characteristics.
- Conducting a participant observation makes it harder
to make notes as being part of the group means that
you can not fully observe everyone else which will
cause the accuracy of the data to decrease.
- Conducting a Naturalistic observation also has practical
issues as the researcher cannot control any of the
variables in the setting, so there could be extraneous
variables that interfere with the observation and
distort the data collected.
- Observations only focus on the observable behaviors of
participants. This narrow focus can lead to an
oversimplification of complex processes that underlie
behavior, such as thoughts and emotions.
-
Psychology as a science
 Replicability, reliability, validity,
reductionism, falsification,
empiricism, hypothesis testing,
use of controls, credibility
Cultural and gender issues in
research
The role of both nature and
nurture
An understanding of how
psychological understanding has
developed over time
 Both how and what has changed
– lead to both positive and
negative outcomes…
The use of psychology in social
control
 How psychological
understanding has helped
people or how it has been used
in a bad way…
The use of psychological
knowledge in society
 Application!
Issues related to socially sensitive
research
 “Studies in which there are
potential consequences or
implications, either directly for
- Operant conditioning can be considered scientific as
empirical data is collected via the BF Skinner
experiment. (Skinners box).
- Social learning theory is very scientific as it Is
supported by Bandura's 3 experiments in which
empirical data was collected. Additionally, Bandura
made control groups which allowed him to create a
baseline and therefore further test his hypothesis.
- Social learning theory can be applied to males and
females as Bandura had both male and female
participants during all 3 of his experiments, this makes
it more representative.
- Operant conditioning only takes nurture into account it
fails to take into the complex cognitive processes that
are involved in conditioning.
- Both operant and classical conditioning have potential
to be used in a negative way in society, for example to
control other people and condition them to do what
you want.
- The knowledge gained from classical and operant
conditioning can be used in both positive and negative
ways. For example, a positive way would be to help dog
owners train there dogs. A negative example would be
someone trying to manipulate someone else via
conditioning.
- The research obtained from operant and classical
conditioning can be used as a form of social control to
manipulate other people.
- Bandura had many controls in his studies which
increases the validity of the experiments. For example,
he lab experiments so he could control the setting of
the experiments so it was the same for all participants.
- Also, Bandura used standardized procedures allowing
the study to be replicated more easily, this makes the
study more reliable.
- Watson and Rayner only used 1 boy for their study.
This means the experiment cannot be generalized to
females as the data collected is not representative of
that proportion of the population.
- Pavlov`s study only explained nurture as he shows that
the environment and certain stimuli shape our
behaviour
The research obtained from Pavlov, Watson and Rayner,
and Bandura can be used as a form of social control to
manipulate other people.
- Thematic analysis and content analysis can both be
very subjective, this causes both research methods to
be susceptible to researcher bias and therefore lack
both validity (as the data may be inaccurate) and
reliability (as the study will be hard to replicate).
- Structured observations are highly reliable as all
extraneous variables are controlled for to make the
observations easily replicated.
- Both flooding and systematic desensitization can be in
a positive way in society, for example, to help cure
phobias.
- Both flooding and systematic desensitization can be
used to help people with phobias overcome the phobic
stimuli and no longer be scared.
- Flooding has the potential to not cure a phobia but to
make it worse and deepen someones phobia.
the participants in the research
or for the class of individuals
represented by the research”