PSY 302 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Language Acquisition Device, B. F. Skinner, Language Processing In The Brain
Document Summary
Note: all three systems have to be in place -> if only one works, will not be successful. Learning theory: b. f skinner (1957: behaviourists: development is function of learning through reinforcement and punishment, all behaviour is learned through operant conditioning (consequences, punishments, etc. ) Language is a behaviour -> thus, learned through operant conditioning. Limits & criticisms: too many sounds, words, rules -> unrealistic to reinforce all of them, does not account for creativity of language. Inconsistency of reinforcement (parents do not always reinforce language: wouldn"t be able to go beyond what we"ve been conditioned to, does not account for overregularizations. If language is taught by reinforcement/punishment: how do we know what grammatical sentences are vs. arent, how can children produce words they"ve never heard before. Language acquisition device (lad): innate, mental structure that is preprogrammed with universal grammar rules. Language rules are too complex to be taught: environment initiates/activates language a particular language in your device.
