Psychological ProcessesReciprocal DeterminismCultural-Historical Theory

Social Issues and Conflicts Early Language Development

Noam Chomsky

Creator: Albert Bandura

Reciprocal Determinism: The world and a person’s behavior cause each other.

Both Environment and behavior cause each other.

Personality is viewed as an interaction among three elements:

Environment Behavior Person’s Psychological Process

Psychological processes consist of our ability to: Entertain images in our minds.

Images prohibit Bandura from being a strict behaviorist Language comprehension. 

Imagery and Language allow Bandura to theorize much more than B. F. Skinner about two key concepts: Observational Learning (Modeling) Self-Regulation

Bobo Doll Studies: Film-

Adult beating up a bobo doll. Inflatable, egg-shaped balloon creature with a weight in the bottom that

makes it bob back up when you knock it down. The adult:

Punched the clown, shouting “sockeroo!,” Kicked it. Sat on it. Hit it with a little hammer. Shouted various aggressive phrases. 

Presented to groups of kindergartners. Afterwards they were allowed to play.  Inside the playroom:

Bobo doll. Hammers.

Observed Behavior:  Kids beat the bobo doll.  They punched it and shouted:

“sockeroo” Kicked it. Sat on it. Hit it with the hammers. They imitated the young lady in the film. __________________________________________Social Learning Theory: Children changed their behavior without first being

rewarded for approximations to that behavior!

Modeling Process:

Attention:  Have to be paying attention.  Anything that disrupts attention will decrease learning. Pay more attention to models that are:

Attractive Prestigious Colorful Dramatic Appears competent

Retention: Must be able to retain what you have paid attention to.  Imagery and language: 

We store what we have seen the model doing in the form of mental images or verbal descriptions. 

Once stored-You can later “bring up” the image or description, so that you can reproduce it with your own behavior.

Reproduction: Must translate the images or descriptions into actual behavior.  Have to have the ability to reproduce the behavior.  Example:

“I can watch Olympic ice skaters all day long, yet not be able to reproduce

their jumps, because I can’t ice skate at all!”  If I could skate, my performance would in fact improve if I watch

skaters who are better than I am. Our abilities improve even when we just imagine ourselves

performing! 

Motivation: Must be motivated to produce the behavior. Potential motives:

Past Reinforcement (Traditional behaviorism) Promised Reinforcements (Incentives) Vicarious Reinforcement (Seeing and recalling the model being

reinforced)

14 million children are at risk: Locations of lead deposits-

Older homes Gasoline Ceramics Lead-soldered pipes Dust and water Areas near large cities Areas near automobile traffic Older Playgrounds

Low SES children are at the highest risk. Most hazardous health threat to children under the age of 6. Even very small amounts can permanently harm children.

Exposure to lead can lead to: Low Levels-

Lower intelligence Problems in verbal and auditory processing Hyperactivity and distractibility

High Levels- Antisocial behavior, aggression, delinquency

Very High Levels- Illness and death

Remember- Training should begin only when the child is ready. Even though they are toilet trained during the day does not mean they

are ready to hold it in during the night. Children often still have accidents at night.

Signs your child might be ready to toilet train: Staying dry for at least two hours at a time during the day. Waking up from naps dry. Predictable bowel movements. Telling you they are about to go. Facial expressions depicting their intent to go or that they are presently going. Major discomfort with soiled diapers. Desire to wear underwear.

Preference for handedness begins early: Handedness is inborn-

Nothing you can do to make them prefer one hand over the other.

Preschoolers- 90% right handed 10% left handed More boys are left handed than girls.

Emotions: Feelings occurring when in a state or interaction with

something that is important to the person; stronger if well-being is involved

Emotions vary in intensity from subtle to dramatic Darwin: human facial expressions are innate

Emotions linked to early development of: Limbic system Brain stem

Neurobiological systems can exert more control over limbic system as child’s self-control develops

Caregivers influence infant’s neurological development and regulation of emotions Emotions are first form of communication Infants react to others’ facial expressions, tone of

voice, emotions First form of attachment is emotion-linked Two broad types of emotions develop:

Primary: appear in first 6 months of life Self-conscious: appear from about

age 1.5 years to about 2.5 years

Primary Emotions

3 months

2 to 6 months

First 6 months

6 to 8 months

Joy, sadness, disgust

Anger

Surprise

Fear (peaks at 18 months)

Self-Conscious Emotions

1 ½ years

2 ½ years

Empathy, jealousy, embarrassment

Pride, shame, guilt

The First Appearance of Different Emotions

Most important ways of communicating in the youngest infants are crying and smiling

Stranger anxiety involving fear First appears about 6 months of age Intensifies about 9 months of age, escalating past

the 1st birthday

Intensity of anxiety depends on Proximity of mother Where stranger meeting occurs Stranger’s behavior

Defined: Perception of oneself as male or female. Concept of gender begins in preschool.

Gender Schema: Cognitive framework that organizes information

relevant to the gender to aide them in this process. Boys act this way and girls act that way.

Functional Play: Play that involves simple, repetitive

activities typical of 3-year-olds.

Constructive Play: Play in which children manipulate objects

to produce or build something.

Parallel Play: Action in which children play with similar toys, in a

similar manner, but do not interact with each other.

Onlooker Play: Action in which children simply watch others at

play, but do not actually participate themselves.

Associative Play: Two or more children actually interact with one

another by sharing or borrowing toys or materials, although they do not do the same thing.

Cooperative Play: Play in which children genuinely interact with one

another, taking turns, playing games, or devising contests.

Authoritarian Parents: Parents who are controlling, punitive, rigid, and cold, and whose word is law.

Value strict, unquestioning obedience from their children Do not tolerate expressions of disagreement.

Permissive Parents: Parents who provide lax and inconsistent feedback and require little of their

children.

Authoritative Parents: Parents who are firm, setting clear and consistent limits, but who try to

reason with their children, giving explanations for why they should behave in a particular way.

Uninvolved Parents: Parents who show almost no interest in their children and indifferent,

rejecting behavior.

Wild or feral children are raised in isolation and unable to recapture normal language development despite intensive intervention later For example:

Victor, Wild Boy of Aveyron

Genie: 13-year-old found in 1970 in Los Angeles

Both cases raise questions about biological and environmental determinants of language

Language is a system of words, symbols, and gestures that create shared communication that transcends time (future, present, and past)

Language develops in infants throughout the world along a similar path and sequence. Infant’s ability to recognize native

language, for English speakers this includes distinguishing “r” from “t”

On average, a child: Understands about 50 words at age 13 months Speaks first word at 10–15 months of age Can speak about 50 words at 18 months of age

Average 2-year-old can speak about 200 words

Vocabulary spurt begins at approximately 18 months of age

Two-word utterances occur at about

18–24 months

Overextension and underextension of

words are common

Defined: The systematic, meaningful arrangement of symbols, which

provides the basis for communication.

Noam Chomsky: Language-Acquisition Device (LAD)

Explains language use and development. LAD is a neural system of the brain that permits

understanding of language. Developed the concept of morphemes and

phonemes.

Phonology: Basic sounds of language (phonemes) that can be combined to

produce words and sentences. The English language uses 40 phonemes to create our language.

Morphemes: Smallest language unit that has meaning. Some are complete words while others are added to complete a

word.

Semantics: Rules that govern the meaning of words and sentences. If a sentence is correctly written or spoken it is said to be

semantically correct. Many scientists believe that the ability to form complex speech is a

uniquely human characteristic and is what separates us from the other animals.

It is because of our speech that we are able to ask such higher-order thinking questions like:

“What is mortality, Is there a God, Is there a life after death, Are there other beings in the universe?”

Babbling: Making speech-like but meaningless sounds. Through repetition and brain growth human language begins to

form and become meaningful.

Holophrases: One-word utterances that stand for a whole phrase. Their meaning depends on the particular context in which they

are used. “Ball” means = “I want to play with the ball”

Telegraphich Speech: Speech in which words not critical to the message are left out. “Play ball” means = “I want to play with the ball”

Underextension: Overly restrictive use of words, common among children just

mastering spoken language. “Ball” means = Just that one ball Not all the different types of balls and all the balls in the world.

Overextension: Overly broad use of words, over-generalizing their meaning. When a child thinks of a bird, she is thinking of all flying things from

planes, to helicopters, to vultures, to kites.

Styles of Language:

Referential Style: Style of language used to label objects.

Expressive style: Style of language used to express feelings.

Birth Crying

1 to 2 months Cooing begins

6 months Babbling begins

8 to 12 months Use of gestures (showing and pointing); comprehension of words appears

10–15 months First word spoken

18 months Vocabulary spurts starts

18 to 24 months

Use of two-word utterances; rapid expansion of understanding of words

Language MilestonesAge

Some Language Milestones in Infancy

There is evidence that : Language has a biological basis Everyone “knows” its rules and has ability to

create infinite numbers of words and sentences

Specific regions of the brain are predisposed to be used for language. Broca’s Area Wernicke’s Area

Broca’s Area and Wernicke’s Area

Broca’s Area

Wernicke’s Area

14 16 18 20 22 24 2612

Infant’s age (months)

0

400

600

800

200

Infa

nt’

s vo

cab

ula

ry s

ize

(wo

rds)

Level of Maternal Speech and Infant Vocabulary

Mother’s level of speech

High

Medium

Low

Learning Theory Approach: Language acquisition follows the basic laws of

reinforcement and conditioning. Modeling. Positive and negative reinforcement. Punishment and Rewards.

Nativist Approach: There is an innate part of our physiology that allows

us to form speech. We will learn language with or without other people

present.