Psychology 1000 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Inductive Reasoning, Deductive Reasoning, Belief Bias
3 Jun 2018
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Acquiring a Language
• Biological Foundations
o Several facts suggest biological basis for language acquisition
▪ Human children, despite limited thinking skills, begin to master language
at early life without formal instruction
o Between 1-3 months: infants oalize etire rage of phoees foud i orld’s
languages (cooing)
o By 2 months, infacts show phoneme discrimination
o About six months: infants begin to make sounds of their native tongue and to
discard those of other languages
o Linguists believe there exists a critical period between infancy and puberty when
language is most easily learned
o Can children form language without hearing others speak?
▪ Wild children – no
▪ Isolated children – maybe
▪ Lack adult models for language (e.g. deaf kids with parents who don’t use
sign language) – maybe
• Can develop signs with rudimentary syntax
▪ Other animals - no
o Sex differences:
▪ Men who suffer left hemisphere strokes are more likely than women to
show severe aphasic symptoms (disruption in speech comprehension
and/or production)
• Suggests that women may share more language function with
right hemisphere
• Social Learning Processes
o Motherese – high pitched intonation used by parents to converse with infants
o B.F. Skinner developed operant conditioning explanation for language
acquisition
▪ Childre’s laguage deelopet is strogl goered adults’
reinforcing appropriate language and non-reinforcing of inappropriate
verbalization
▪ Problems:
• Children learn much too fast
• Parets tpiall do ot orret graar as uh as truth alue
o Telegraphic speech – two word sentences uttered during second year of life that
osist of a ou ad er e.g. Wat ookie
• Bilingualism: Learning a Second Language
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