According to Skinner's theory of language acquisition,an infant learns to say "ma-ma" in the presence of her mother because:
A)this association is genetically built into the language acquisition device.
B)the mother is an unconditioned stimulus that elicits this unconditioned response.
C)speaking the word is intrinsically reinforcing.
D)mothers provide reinforcement for utterances that sound more and more like "ma-ma."

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Skinner's theory of language acquisition is based on the principles of operant conditioning in which new behaviors are acquired or strengthened based on their consequences. In this case, the infant's utterance of "ma-ma" is reinforced by the mother's positive response, which encourages the infant to repeat the behavior. Over time, the infant's vocalizations become more and more similar to the target word "ma-ma" due to the positive reinforcement provided by the mother. Therefore, choice D, mothers provide reinforcement for utterances that sound more and more like "ma-ma," best explains why the infant learns to say "ma-ma" in the presence of her mother.

According to Skinner's Theory of Language Acquisition,an Infant Learns to Say