12.2: Behaviorism

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Todd LaMarr

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Behaviorism and Language Acquisition

You might recall the theory of behaviorism from an introductory child development or psychology course you have taken. Behaviorism is a perspective on learning that focuses on changes in individuals’ observable behaviors— changes in what people say or do. In terms of language acquisition, behaviorism might make note of the developmental changes in early non-language communication (i.e., eye gaze, gesture, and vocalization) or the changes in language development as children accumulate increasing vocabularies and then begin combining words. These are all aspects of language development that can be observed.

To explain how these developments in language acquisition actually take place, behaviorists applied many of the same ideas that they used to understand how children learn in general. For example, behaviorists proposed that one way children learn is through operant conditioning. B.F. Skinner believed that behavior is motivated by the consequences we receive for the behavior: the reinforcements and punishments. Operant conditioning focuses on how the consequences of a behavior affect the behavior over time. It begins with the idea that certain consequences tend to make certain behaviors happen more frequently. For example, when an infant vocalizes through cooing or babbling, the result will likely be an adult who turns toward the infant with attention, makes eye contact and responds with engaged infant-directed language. Thus, as a reward for vocalizing, the infant receives adult attention and infant-directed language--a highly desired type of communication for infants! With a great gift like this, the infant is very likely to vocalize again in the hope to receive the same gift next time. Indeed, research has found that the more responsive caregivers are when interacting with infants and toddlers, the earlier they will achieve language milestones (Masek et al., 2021; Tamis‐LeMonda, Bornstein & Baumwell, 2001). Through operant conditioning children also receive rewards for using language in a functional manner. For example, a behaviorist might suggest that children learn to say the word “drink” when they are thirsty because after doing so they receive something to drink, which reinforces their use of the word for getting a drink. ^{^[1]} ^{^[2]}

Father cradling smiling infant in arms as he looks on smiling — Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Caregiver and infant engaged in an interaction. ( ^{^[3]})

^{^[1]} https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-hostos-childdevelopment/chapter/human-language-development/

^{^[2]} Behaviorism. Authored by: Nicole Arduini-Van Hoose. CC by NC SA https://courses.lumenlearning.com/edpsy/chapter/behaviorism/

^{^[3]} Image by Larry Crayton on Unsplash.