Discuss at least FOUR criticisms of the learning theory of language development
What will be an ideal response?
Students should be able to articulate four of the following points about language development:
Parents inconsistently shape children's language by focusing more on the accuracy of the content of children's
language rather than on grammatical correctness.
Parents do not explicitly teach children the complicated rule systems governing language. In fact, parents may not
be able to describe these rule systems themselves.
Much of the language children hear in everyday life is NOT a good model from which to learn language.
The novelty expressed in children's communication cannot be easily explained through learning theory.
It is impossible for all of children's utterances and the speed at which they learn language to have been produced
through reinforcement, shaping, and modeling.
Research indicates that humans are biologically predisposed to detect language; therefore, it is likely that language
development is not simply a learned behavior.
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Random assignment is important to an experiment to ensure that
a. any differences found between the groups are caused by the independent variable. b. any differences found between the groups are caused by the dependent variable. c. the subjects in a study are a good representation of the larger population. d. experimenter bias does not contaminate the results.
Norman Cousins is credited with suggesting that immune functioning is increased by ____
a. exercise c. self-efficacy b. humor d. perception of control
Among the most effective treatments for schizophrenia are medications that:
a. decrease the level of dopamine in the brain b. increase the level of dopamine in the brain c. reduce the level of acetylcholine in the brain d. decrease the level acetylcholine in the brain
Global self-esteem tends to begin to rise after age ______.
A. 13 B. 14 C. 15 D. 16