Do you think the nativist theory of language acquisition is valid? Why or why not.
What will be an ideal response?
Answers will vary depending on what students think. Their answers should include information from the following: Nativist theorist Noam Chomsky argued that language use comprises behavior that is too complex to be learned so early and quickly via conditioning alone. Chomsky noted that all young children grasp the essentials of grammar, the rules of language, at an early age, and that the languages of the world have many similarities. The human brain thus has an innate capacity to learn language. Specifically, Chomsky believed that infants are born with a language acquisition device (LAD), an innate facilitator of language that permits infants to quickly and efficiently analyze everyday speech and determine its rules, regardless of whether their native language is English, German, Chinese, or Urdu. The LAD has an innate storehouse of rules, universal grammar, that apply to all human languages. When infants hear language spoken, they naturally notice its linguistic properties, and they acquire the language. Language, therefore, is a biologically driven cognitive mechanism of brain development that is triggered by exposure to language.
The nativist perspective can account for children's unique utterances and the unusual grammatical mistakes they make in speaking because children are biologically primed to learn language and do not rely on learning. However, like learning theory, the nativist perspective offers an incomplete account of language development. Specifically, Chomsky's nativist perspective does not explain the process of language development and how it occurs. Researchers have not identified the language acquisition device or universal grammar that Chomsky thought underlies all languages. In addition, there are more individual differences in language learning and in languages than Chomsky proposed. Moreover, language does not emerge in a finished form. Instead, children learn to string words together over time based on their experiences as well on as trial and error. Finally, it appears that language learning does not occur as quickly or effortlessly as Chomsky described.
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One major difference between research in social psychology and research in other fields such as chemistry is that
a. social psychologists are less likely to rely on empirical observation to draw conclusions. b. many people have intuitive opinions about the questions that social psychologists study empirically. c. in social psychology, researchers are less concerned with theories and more concerned with data. d. social psychology is less of a science than many other fields.
Telephone surveys have the concern of _____ but have the advantage of _____
a. socially desirable responses; possible question clarification b. lack of question clarification; possible question clarification c. lack of question clarification; increased response rate over mail surveys d. interviewer bias; socially desirable responses
When people are asked to describe a person they know very well, they usually identify six to seven core traits that characterize this person's personality. According to Allport, these core traits would be the person's __________ traits
a. source b. surface c. cardinal d. central
A therapist who believes that a disorder is caused by biological, psychological, and social factors is said to be taking a(n) _____________ approach to understanding psychological disorders:
Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).