development theories

Question 1

Who is the main theorist in behaviourism?

Answer 1

Skinner

Question 2

How do behaviourists believe children acquire language?

Answer 2

Through imitation and feedback. Positive and negative reinforcement

Question 3

What is an issue with the behaviourist theory?

Answer 3

It cannot account for virtuous errors. Adults do not make grammatical mistakes such as ‘i buyed it’, and so it cannot explain why children make these mistakes

Question 4

How do nativists believe children acquire language?

Answer 4

language is innate; we are pre-programmed to learn it

Question 5

what is ‘universal grammar’ in nativism

Answer 5

the theory that all languages share a grammatical similarity

Question 6

what is a LAD and who came up with it?

Answer 6

Language acquisition device by Chomsky (nativism).

must be activated before 12y/o (critical age hypothesis)

Question 7

which family are used as a case study for nativism and why

Answer 7

KE family

found to have a specific gene which affected their language/grammar not IQ