BEHAVIOURISM (Skinner)

BEHAVIOURISM (Skinner)

1. Argues that children acquire language by imitating the speech of others

2. When a child produces a word successfully they receive a reward and are encouraged

   • Getting something you asked for
   • Parental Approval
   • Parental attention

3. When a child gets a word wrong they are discourages which motivates them to avoid errors

   • Not getting what you want
   • Parental criticism or failure to understand

4. If something has a pleasant consequence it is likely that we will do it again

5. If something has a negative consequence we are unlikley to do it again

6. Punishment

   • Punishment is defined as the opposite of reinforcement as it is designed to weaken or eliminate a response rather than increase it
   • Punishment can work by applying a negative simulus eg. sitting a child on the naughty step or it could be taking away a positive stimulus eg. taking away pocket money

7. Skinner's research and child language

   • A behaviourist approach assumes that children's minds are a blank slate when they are born
   • Children imitate their caregivers
   • If they get it right, they are rewarded: through praise, or positive reaction, or by being understood
   • If they get it wrong, they are punished: by being corrected, or by not being understood

8. ARGUMENTS FOR SKINNER

   • Children develop regional accents so they can imitate the sounds around them
   • Children copy words that their parents say although it is unclear whether they understand the meanings of these words

9. ARGUMENTS AGAINST SKINNER

   • All children go through the same developmental stages regardless of the amount of parental reinforcement they recieve
   • Children CANNOT acquire grammar by imitation
   • Children are often impervious to correction
   • Children can produce original words and sentences that they haven't heard from adults
   • Children may copy words but they work out meanings and meaning relationships for themselves
   • Parents rarely punish (in a way) a child's linguistic errors. Children who are frequently corrected acquire language much slower