In this episode of the River Tiger Podcast, I’m delighted to welcome David Farrokh, who is currently finishing his PhD at Sheffield Hallam University. Our conversation takes a deep dive into various learning theories, including behaviourism, cognitivism, and ecological psychology, with a focus on how they shape our understanding of human (and animal) learning and behaviour.

In part 1 David shares insights from his research on the concept of flow in sports and highlights interesting points of tension he encountered during his literature review. We discuss the historical evolution of psychological thought, particularly the significant shift from behaviourism to cognitivism sparked by critiques like Noam Chomsky's evaluation of B.F. Skinner’s work.

A key point of discussion is the limitations of behaviourism, especially its simplistic stimulus-response framework. David argues that behaviourism fails to account for the complexities of language acquisition and the arbitrary nature of symbols. We also explore the 'symbol grounding problem' in cognitivism, which struggles to connect abstract symbols to real-world experiences.

David advocates for ecological psychology as a more nuanced approach, emphasising the dynamic interaction between organisms and their environments. This theory offers valuable insights into how we perceive affordances, opportunities for action based on our capabilities. We highlight how ecological psychology integrates agency and context, providing a comprehensive view of learning and behaviour over multiple scales.

As we conclude, I’m excited about the potential for ecological psychology to inform practical applications in areas like education and animal training. I hope this episode inspires you to reflect on the diverse theories of learning and their implications for understanding ourselves and others. Enjoy listening!

This is just the first of 2 parts of the conversation!

This blog post provides an overview to support the main themes of the conversation https://dynamics-coaching.com/learning-and-pedagogy/learning-theories-behaviourism-and-ecological-psychology/


My guest on this episode: David Farrokh is a PhD candidate in the College of Health, Wellbeing and Life Sciences at Sheffield Hallam University. His research adopts an ecological dynamics perspective to investigate multiscaled properties of flow experiences, context-sensitivity, and co-adaptation in sport.

X @bigpicsoccer

Further reading

Fultot et al What are nervous systems for

Polanyi Life's irreducible structure

Johnston & Turvey A sketch of an ecological metatheory for theories of learning