What is behaviourism?
Behaviourism is a learning theory that describes learning
through the relationship between stimulus, response and
reinforcers. Learning is defined as a relatively permanent
change in observable behaviour as a result of
experience. The process involves strengthening the
relationship between specific stimuli and a desired
response. Put simply, behaviourism argues that children
develop language from what they hear around them
and that they learn from imitation, reinforcement and
correction.
According to behaviourism, how
does a child acquire language?
According to the behaviourist theory of
language acquisition suggests that
children learn language as they do any
other behaviour: they mimic the language
patterns of those around them, responding
to the rewards and punishments that
follow from the correct and incorrect
practices.
The history of
behaviourism
Ivan pavlov (1897)
Ivan Pavlov developed the classical
conditioning theory after originally
studying digestion in dogs. In classical
conditioning, a response that is
automatically produced by one
stimulus becomes associated, or linked,
with another stimulus that would not
normally produce this response.
behaviourism
When was behaviourism first introduced?
Behaviourism was first introduced in 1897 when Ivan
Pavlov published the results of his experiment on
conditioning (Pavlov’s Dogs) after he originally was
studying digestion in dogs.
The three basic assumptions of behaviourism:
1. Learning is manifested by a change in
behaviour.
2. The environment shapes behaviour.
3. The principles of contiguity (how close in time
two events must be for a bond to be formed) and
reinforcement (any means of increasing the
likelihood that an event will be repeated)
For behaviourists, learning is the acquisition of
new behaviour through conditioning.
How does behaviourism work?
According to B.F. Skinner and the behaviourists,
language learning is a process known as
operant conditioning. Operant means that it is a
voluntary behaviour, it is a result of learner’s free
will and it is not forced by any outside person or
thing. Conditioned behaviour is behaviour which
is the result pf repeated training. The learner
demonstrate the new behaviour first as a
response to a reward or punishment system and
finally as an automatic response.
4-6
months
6-9
months
10-12
months
18-24
months
babbling
focused
babbling
first words
2-word
phrases
2-3
years
4-5
years
5-7
years
9+
years
3-word
phrases in
order
nearly
complete
syntax
understand
complex
language
understand
all forms of
language
Edward thorndike (1905)
B.F. SKINNER (1940ʼS+)
albert bandura (1977)
Edward Thorndike emphasised the role
of experience in the strengthening and
weakening of stimulus response
connections and formalised the Law of
Effect, which states that "responses
that produce a satisfying effect in a
particular situation become more likely
to occur again in that situation, and
responses that produce a
discomforting effect become less likely
to occur again in that situation.
From the 1940’s, B.F. Skinner revised the
ideas of Pavlov and Watson into what he
called ‘operant conditioning’. He viewed
babies and children as “empty vessels”
which language had to be ‘put in. to’.
Skinner paid particular attention to
reinforcement, both positive and negative
and its effects. He also noticed that the
predictability and removal of a reinforcer
was important. He stated that “A response
followed by a reinforcing stimulus is
strengthened and therefore more likely to
occur again.” and “A response that is not
followed by a reinforcing stimulus is
weakened and therefore less likely to occur
again.” Skinner proved his operant
conditioning theory through “The Skinner
Box” experiment.
Albert Bandura agrees with the
behaviourist learning theories of
classical and operant conditioning,
however, he adds two important ideas
of his own:
1. Mediating processes occur between
stimuli & responses.
2. Behaviour is learned from the
environment through the process of
observational learning.
These ideas created a modified
behaviourist model called the
cognitive model which can
scientifically study internal behaviour.
John watson (1920)
John Watson introduced the term
behaviourism and stressed the
importance of repetition: "The more
frequent a stimulus and response occur
in association with each other, the
stronger the habit will become”. He
also performed a conditioning
experiment on an 11 month old boy
called “Little Albert” to test the notion
that fears can be acquired through
classical conditioning.
DOES THE BEHAVIOURISM THEORY SUPPORT NATURE VS NURTURE LEARNING?
Yes. Behaviourists fall squarely on the nurture side of the nature vs nurture debate. According to “radical
behaviourists” like John Watson, what determines the intelligence, temperament and other personality
characteristics of a child, is the environment in which the child is raised. Genetic predisposition is unimportant.
One of Watson’s most famous quotes is “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified
world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of
specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and, yes, beggar-man and thief, regardless of his
talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.”
child language acquisition theories
Innatism (Chomsky)
Noam Chomsky theorised that the
mechanism of language acquisition
is derived from the innate process.
Innate is something which is already
there in mind since birth. The theory
proposed by Chomsky is proven by
the children living in the same
linguistic community.
Behaviourism (b.f. skinner)
B.F Skinner’s theory was based on
his beliefs of how behaviour and
actions could be controlled by
their consequences. He believed
that positive reinforcement was
successful within children’s
education as it encouraged them
to try their best and complete
work to their best potential.
Interactionism (vygotsky)
Lev Vygotsky’s theory of language
development focused on social
learning and the zone of proximal
development (ZPD). The ZPD is a level
of development obtained when
children engage in social interactions
with others; it is the distance between
a child’s potential to learn and the
actual learning that takes place.
reference list
https://prezi.com/tqcwnimurhih/behaviourism/
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https://www.verywellmind.com/behavioral-psychology-4157183
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https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/processing-the-environment/language/v/theories-oflanguage-development
http://web.mst.edu/~rhall/ed_psych/behaviorism.html
https://medium.com/@llanirfreelance/first-language-acquisition-development-theories-nature-vsnurture-27170818a6a6
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https://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html
https://www.simplypsychology.org/behaviorism.html
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