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Behaviourism Lecture Paper

The document discusses the behaviourist theory of language acquisition. [1] Behaviourism emerged in the early 20th century as a reaction against introspective psychology and dominated the study of learning through the first half of the century. [2] Behaviourism views all behaviour as learned through environmental conditioning and rejects innate or internal factors, focusing only on observable stimuli and responses. [3] Proponents like John Watson, Ivan Pavlov, and B.F. Skinner argued behaviour could be studied scientifically through objective observation without reference to internal mental states.

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Célia ZENNOUCHE
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35 views

Behaviourism Lecture Paper

The document discusses the behaviourist theory of language acquisition. [1] Behaviourism emerged in the early 20th century as a reaction against introspective psychology and dominated the study of learning through the first half of the century. [2] Behaviourism views all behaviour as learned through environmental conditioning and rejects innate or internal factors, focusing only on observable stimuli and responses. [3] Proponents like John Watson, Ivan Pavlov, and B.F. Skinner argued behaviour could be studied scientifically through objective observation without reference to internal mental states.

Uploaded by

Célia ZENNOUCHE
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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University of Algiers 2 Module: Linguistics

Faculty of foreign languages and Literature 2nd Year


Department of English Dr L. Merzougui

Behaviourism

Introduction
The Behaviourist Theory (also known as Empiricism, Behaviourism, Behavioural Theory,
Stimulus-response Theory) stands among the major theoretical perspectives in the field of
first language acquisition. It began as a reaction against the introspective psychology of the
late 19th and early 20th century and dominated the study of learning throughout the first
half of the twentieth century.
Behaviourism is an attitude – a way of conceiving of empirical constraints on psychological
state attribution. Strictly speaking, behaviourism is a doctrine – a way of doing psychological
or behavioural science itself.
The behaviourist school of thought ran concurrent with the psychoanalysis movement in
psychology in the 20th century. The Behaviourist Theory was first introduced in 1913 by the
American psychologist John B. Watson. Watson is credited by some with coining the term
"behaviourism". Watson’s view was largely influenced by the research of the Russian
physiologist Ivan P. Pavlov during the early 1900s. B.F Skinner, like Watson, also recognized
the role of internal mental events, and while he agreed such private events could not be
used to explain behaviour, he proposed they should be explained in the analysis of
behaviour.

Behaviourism is a psychological approach that is distinguishable through its emphasis on


scientific and objective methods of investigation. Behaviourists are concerned only with
behaviours that can be observed through stimulus-response. There are a few key principles
of behaviourism that you should keep in mind while studying this psychological approach.

Basic Assumptions:

All behaviour is learned from the environment: Behaviourism emphasizes the role of
environmental factors in influencing behaviour, to the near exclusion of innate or inherited
factors. This amounts essentially to a focus on learning.

We learn new behaviour through classical or operant conditioning (collectively known as


'learning theory').
Therefore, when born our mind is 'tabula rasa' (a blank slate).

1
Psychology should be seen as a science:
Theories need to be supported by empirical data obtained through careful and controlled
observation and measurement of behaviour. Behaviourists propose the use of operational
definitions (defining variables in terms of observable, measurable events).
Behaviourism is primarily concerned with observable behaviour, as opposed to internal
events like thinking and emotion:
While behaviourists often accept the existence of cognitions and emotions, they prefer not
to study them as only observable (i.e., external) behaviour can be objectively and
scientifically measured. Therefore, internal events, such as thinking should be explained
through behavioural terms (or eliminated altogether).
There is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other
animals:
There's no fundamental (qualitative) distinction between human and animal behaviour.
Therefore, research can be carried out on animals as well as humans (i.e., comparative
psychology).Consequently, rats and pigeons became the primary source of data for
behaviourists, as their environments could be easily controlled.
Behaviour is the result of stimulus-response:
All behaviours, no matter how complex, can be reduced to a simple stimulus-response
association).
Leonard Bloomfield: The relation between behaviourism and linguistics

•Bloomfield’s behaviourism: Objective events are behaviours > only behaviour is publicly
observable > Only behaviour has scientific existence.

•Bloomfield was convinced that human behaviour in general, including linguistic behaviour,
was the result of repeated experiences of stimulus co-occurrences.

•Bloomfield’s theory about the speech situation: Famous example of Jack and Jill walking
down a lane:

Jake and Jill are walking down a lane when Jill realizes that she is hungry. Having seen an
apple in a tree she produces special sounds using her larynx, tongue and lips. Then Jack
climbs the tree to get the apple and gives it to Jill who finally eats it.

•The incident consists of three parts, in order of time:

• A. Practical events preceding the act of speech. (Speaker’s stimulus)

• B. Speech.

• C. Practical events following the act of speech. (Hearer’s response)

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