Operant Conditioning and Language Acquisition: Psychology Report

This report explores the principles of operant conditioning, focusing on its application to language acquisition. The author, drawing on Skinner's theories, argues that operant conditioning, involving positive reinforcement, plays a significant role in how infants learn language. The report contrasts this perspective with Chomsky's critique, which posits that language acquisition stems from innate abilities and parental conditioning. Through examples, the report illustrates how infants learn language by associating words and phrases with actions and outcomes, reflecting the impact of caregiver's actions. The report concludes by reiterating the importance of operant conditioning in early language development, emphasizing the role of positive reinforcement in shaping a child's linguistic skills and understanding.

Running Head: OPERANT CONDITIONING
Operant Conditioning
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author's Note:

1OPERANT CONDITIONING
Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................................1
Discussion..............................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................................3
Reference................................................................................................................................................3

2OPERANT CONDITIONING
Introduction
Operant Conditioning (OC) is the method of understanding behavioral change and
development in an individual based on the action and its consequences which decides
whether the action will be repeated in the future or not. B.F. Skinner introduced the concept
of operant conditioning, and he coined the term and expressed his opinion as a behaviorist
that to understand the cause of our behavior, we should look at the external agents which
causes it rather than studying the internal ones. I agree with Skinner's theory of learning in
children to language acquisition though most of the critics agree with the Chomsky's rebuttal
of the theory. Chomsky refuted the theory that the language acquisition in infants cannot be
the result of the operant conditioning by parents as he deemed it as not a possibility that they
can understand and acquire the skill to imitate grammar and sentence formation on OC.
Discussion
I strongly agree with Skinner's approach to language acquisition in infants through
intentional and unintentional operant conditioning because the theory is visible to the naked
eye and can be observed daily even with the formal setup of an experiment. I will try to
establish my point by keeping Chomsky's claim in perspective. According to him it is not
possible that operant conditioning can be responsible in the growing acquisition of language
in infant as young as 12months for as a linguist he believes in the fact that language skill
especially sentence construction and grammar development can be deemed as a product of
the parental conditioning (Sturdy & Nicoladis, 2017). He categorizes it as classical
conditioning where the importance of textbook learning supersedes the positive
reinforcement. But in my view, I have seen infants as young as eight months growing an
understanding of the language of wanting to go out when they gesture every time outside, and
the parents repeat the sentence: 'you want to go out', they start to learn the meaning of the

3OPERANT CONDITIONING
sentence and repeats it due to the positive reinforcement agent of actually being able to go out
or taken out by the parent.
The claim cannot be held as studies concerning caregiverese shows that infants' starts
picking up language communicated to them through a high pitched tone and in the form of
songs. They tend to sing along and start reacting to the same song in different ways. For
example, parents employ a certain soundtrack during bathing or putting them to sleep, and
they register the particular song and associate it with action (Sturdy & Nicoladis, 2017). The
language acquisition in accordance to Skinner can also be explained with the help of
socialization where the infants learn the language through the gesture and the tone employed
to associate them with individual and their relationship with them.
Conclusion
The language acquisition approach by Skinner stands true even today as the first set of
information on the language they register is through the operant conditioning by the parents
and caretakers where they communicate to the child through the use of positive
reinforcement. The children also learn the meaning of the words and later sentences when
they are strung together by adults when they are addressed to them, and they get what they
wanted. The cycle is repeated them the meaning and the fact that the use of the use sound put
together to let them make others understand their demand.

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Reference
Sturdy, C. B., & Nicoladis, E. (2017). How Much of Language Acquisition Does Operant
Conditioning Explain? Frontiers in psychology, 8, 1918.