Behaviorism (Linguistics)

1. 1. Stimulus-Response Theory (B. F. Skinner) 1

2. 2. Burrhus Frederic Skinner 1904 – 1990 American psychologist, inventor, social philosopher, poet
Bachelor: English Literature (Hamilton University) Master: Psychology (Harvard University) Doctorate:
Psychology (Harvard University) professor of Psychology inHarvard University 2
3. 3. Theories on L1 AcquisitionNativism Functionalism Behaviorism•N. Chomsky •J. R. Firth •B. F.
Skinner•language is innate (LAD) •language is developed •language is learned through simultaneous
through operant interaction & innate conditioning cognitive capacity 3
4. 4. Behaviorial Theory behaviors, such as acting, thinking, and feeling, can be scientifically observed and
measured Language, as a behavior, is a set of habits acquired by operant conditioning and reinforcement
developed by B. F. Skinner, among others 4
5. 5. Language a subset of other learned behaviors a set of associations between meaning and word, word
and phoneme, and statement and response is learned or conditioned through association between a
stimulus and the following response a verbal behavior modified by the environment 5
6. 6. Language the ―how‖ of language is more important than the ―what‖ of language form a child learns
language ―when relatively unpatterned vocalizations, selectively reinforced, gradually assume forms which
produce appropriate consequences‖ 6
7. 7. stimulus → response (+ or -) 7
8. 8. Operant Conditioning the strength of the stimulus-response bond determines the probability of
occurrence of a certain response all behavior is learned or operant 8
9. 9. Operant Conditioning complex linguistic behaviors represent chains or combinations of various stimulus-
response sequences behavior is modified or changed by the events that follow or are contingent upon that
behavior 9
10. 10. Operant Conditioning if a particular response is reinforced, it then becomes habitual thus, children
produce linguistic responses that are reinforced, and loses those that are left out 10
11. 11. Reinforcer any event that increases the probability of occurrence of a preceding behavior 11
12. 12. Positive Reinforcers benefits the person receiving it examples:  praising  repetition  frequent
exposure  material reward 12
13. 13. Negative Reinforcers has no value to the person receiving causes the recipient to try to ‗escape‘ from
it Examples:  physical punishment, discomfort  criticism and scolding negative reinforcers ≠
punishment punishment  occurs after a certain behavior has occurred 13
14. 14. Operant Conditioning complex behavior are learned by:1. chaining - a sequence of behavior is trained
in such a way that each step serves as a stimulus for the next2. shaping - a single behavior is gradually
modified by reinforcement of ever-closer (successive) approximations of the final behavior thus, language
results from the active role of the environment the learner is secondary to the process 14
15. 15. Operant Conditioning once acquired, a behavior requires only occasional reinforcement to be
strengthened and maintained speech sounds that are ignored are produced less frequently and eventually
disappear Extinction  process of decreasing a behavior without punishment 15
16. 16. an example of Operant Conditioning 16
17. 17. Skinner Box•aka operantconditioning chamber•used to containanimals such as rats orpigeons•study
behaviorconditioning (training)by teaching a subjectanimal to performcertain actions (likepressing a lever)
inresponse to specificstimuli, like a light orsound signal 17
18. 18. Skinner Box•when the subjectcorrectly performsthe behavior, thechambermechanismdelivers food
oranother reward•the mechanismdelivers apunishment forincorrect ormissing responses 18
19. 19. Rat Experiment1. the rat that was placed in the box did not know what the lever was for at first2. the rat
pressed the lever, food eventually came out3. the rat (when it gets hungry) continue to press the lever, and
gets satisfied with the food 19
20. 20. Rat Experiment this is operant behavior because this is an action that results with a consequence the
food acts as a reinforcer because it causes the operant behavior to increase 20
21. 21. Rat Experiment operant behavior may come to the points of its extinction1. the rat continues to press
the lever and yet food does not come out2. the rat will eventually cease on pressing the lever, thus stopping
an operant behavior 21
22. 22. Instead of punishing behavior, it is better to simply take off the reinforcers that cause that certain
behavior. By doing so, the doer of the behavior will not see the value of his actions, because the reinforcers
have been taken away from him. The behavior will gradually start to fade away. 22
23. 23. predictions and assumptions 23
24. 24. Language Acquisition word learning is more complex mother has become discriminative stimulus
(SD), a stimulus in the presence of which ―mama‖ will be reinforced a bond is built between the referent
―mother‖ and the word mama meaning is attached to the speech sound 24
25. 25. Language Acquisition more complex responses are learned through successive approximation
language learning is based on learning, imitation, practice, and selective reinforcement longer sentences
are also learned through imitation and chaining by hearing and imitating enough examples, the child learns
word associations rather than grammatical rules 25
26. 26. Language Acquisition a child acquires grammar by learning these frames or chains, in which each word
acts as a stimulus for the next, thus, grammatical units are controlled by surrounding words grammar is
developed through the learning of structured phrases and sentence frames syntactic and semantic ―slots‖
within each frame are filled by substituting words or phrases that fulfill the same requirements 26
27. 27. Language Acquisition word ordering is learned as adults reinforce chains of symbols that are
increasingly more adult-like early language behavior is not rule governed but rather shaped by the
contingencies of the environment 27
28. 28. Children would make errors complex linguistic behaviors represent chains or combinations of various
stimulus-response sequences behavior is modified or changed by the events that follow or are contingent
upon that behavior 28
29. 29. Errors would differ fromchild to child 29
30. 30. The level of linguisticattainment would differfrom child to child this depends on the frequency and
degree of reinforcements 30
31. 31. (mostly by Chomsky, of course.) 31
32. 32. Limitations and Loopholes children will utter words that even adults do not say children would not
know the duality property of language children would not know syntax 32
33. 33. Limitations and Loopholes retention of negative language (e.g., cuss expressions) no reinforcement
on abstract ideas highly dependent on adult control 33
34. 34. Summary(yey~) language is a behavior as a behavior, it requires reinforcers and stimuli from the
environment reinforcers may be positive or negative, primary or secondary languages can be unlearned
by putting away the stimuli/reinforcers 34
35. 35. Owens, Robert. Language Development: An Introduction. New York: Merill, 1992.Skinner, Buhhrus
Frederic. About Behaviorism. New York: Random House, 1974.—. Verbal Behavior. New York: Random
House, 1957. 35
36. 36. Prepared by:Mejia, ColtzMendoza, OliveMoulic, EzraMutya, DaryllMuyano, JoPresentation prepared for
BLL 102 (Theories of Language and LanguageAcquisition) under Prof. Rosario Florendo 36