Conceptual and methodological issues in examining behavioral development through environment-organism interactions

Journal/Book: New Idea Psychol. 1999; 17: the Boulevard Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford Ox5 1GB, England. Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd. 149-164.

Abstract: The importance of understanding behavior in terms of interactions between organismic and environmental variables has become more salient and calls for research focused on such interactions have been made. However, several conceptual paths may encourage investigating and understanding behavior in terms of organism-environment interactions. One such path is the development and testing of constructs which cut across the traditional organism-environment dichotomy and conceptualize behavioral development as fundamentally an organism-environment interaction. In this paper, a metatheoretical framework for thinking about behavioral development as fundamentally an organism-environment interaction is presented. Issues involved in conceptualizing and examining behavior and behavioral development as fundamentally an organism-environment interaction are also examined by reviewing the concept of affordances and some of the illustrative research that has been conducted. From the review, it is suggested that research which attempts to understand behavior as inseparably a function of organism-environment interactions will benefit if additional methodological avenues are developed. Marken's (1997, Psychological Methods, 2, 436-446) test for controlled variables is presented as an example of one such method. Finally, suggestions for developing the ideas reviewed in this paper for other research domains (i.e., anxiety in children) are also presented.

Note: Article Weems CF, Florida Int Univ, Dept Psychol, Univ Pk, Miami,FL 33199 USA

Keyword(s): COMPLEMENTARITY; AFFORDANCES; JAMES,WILLIAM; POSTMODERN; PSYCHOLOGY; PRINCIPLE; PERILS; RISK

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