Skinner - Behaviourism

Skinner - Behaviourism

1. B.F. Skinner was an AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST - he represented the behaviourist theory

2. He published a book 'Verbal Behaviour' in 1957 - it was highly influential

3. Skinner believed that all behaviour is a result of conditioning, due to our experiences rather than any freedom of choice

4. Skinner proposed that children learn through IMITATION and introduced the concept of OPERANT CONDITIONING

   • OPERANT CONDITIONING: The idea that either a positive or negative response given by a caregiver can influence the way in which a child talks on future occasions
   • Spontaneous behviour that will have consequences that will affect future behaviour
   • Skinner linked the idea of positive and negative reinforcement to operant conditioning

5. POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT: Positive feedback given to a child which encourages them to repeat their behaviour

6. NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT: Lack of feedback, correlation or negative feedback that will prevent a child from making the same error again

7. Evidence suggests that children do not respond to correction and that it can hamper language development

8. An argument against the imitation theory is that children do not suddenly produce grammatically Standard English sentences - they build up their language gradually whilst refining their speech as they develop