Theories of language acquisition

Prior to the advent of generative grammar, theoretical approaches to language development relied heavily upon the concepts ofdifferential reinforcement andimitation. Current studies of linguistic acquisition are largely dominated by the hypothesis that the child constructs his language on the basis of a primitive grammar which gradually evolves into a more complex grammar. This approach presupposes that the investigator does not impose his own grammatical rules on the utterances of the child; that the sound system of the child and the rules he employs to form sentences are to be described in their own terms, independently of the model provided by the adult linguistic community; and that there is a series of steps or stages through which the child passes on his way toward mastery of the adult grammar in his linguistic environment. This paper attempts to trace the development of human vocalization through prelinguistic stages to the development of what can be clearly recognized as language behavior, and then progresses to transitional phases in which the language of the child begins to approximate that of the adult model. In the view of the authors, the most challenging problems which confront theories of linguistic acquisition arise in seeking to account for structure of sound sequences, in the rules that enable the speaker to go from meaning to sound and which enable the listener to go from sound to meaning. The principal area of concern for the investigator, according to the authors, is the discovery of those rules at various stages of the learning process. The paper concludes with a return to the question of what constitutes an adequate theory of language ontogenesis. It is suggested that such a theory will have to be keyed to theories of cognitive development and will have to include and go beyond a theory which accounts for adult language competence and performance, since these represent only the terminal stage of linguistic ontogenesis.     

Ocular motility and cognitive process

This study investigates the amount of ocular motility occuring in response to questions varying the kind of cognitive process required for answer. Fewer eye movements occur in response to questions designed to elicit visuo-spatial as compared to verbal-conceptual processes, a finding consistent with our earlier observation of more ‘stares’ occuring with the former than with the latter questions. The results are inconsistent with the traditional hypothesis that visual imagery involves an increase in scanning eye movements. The findings are interpreted in terms of a model postulating an interaction of the form of visual information processing and the type of cognitive activity subjects engage in.     

Evaluation of the Performance of Experimenters as a Function of Their Sex and Competence1

A study was conducted to investigate evaluations of experimenters as a function of their sex and competency. It was hypothesized that (a) competent male and female experimenters would be evaluated as equal in competence, but that females acting incompetently would be judged as less competent than would males who were also acting incompetently and (b) competent females would be judged as less feminine relative to incompetent females; whereas incompetent females would be judged as extremely feminine. Undergraduate males and females viewed videotapes of male or female experimenters acting either competently or incompetently and then rated these experimenters on a 20-item semantic differential scale. It was found that when the female experimenters unambiguously displayed competence, they were judged as of equal competence to male experimenters acting in a similar manner; in the incompetent condition, however, female experimenters were judged as less competent than male experimenters. Competent females were perceived as less feminine than incompetent females; incompetent females were perceived as more feminine than females in any other experimenter condition. It was postulated that these findings were due to (a) subjects’expecting incompetency of women and (b) subjects’equating competence with the masculine role and incompetence with the feminine role.     

On the development of more and less

More and less were analyzed into two meaning dimensions, “occurrence” (derived from children's early language) and “quantity,” which were hypothesized to be developmentally related to acts of addition and subtraction. Two experiments tested 2- and 3-yr-old's comprehension of these concepts when initially equal or unequal rows were added to, subtracted from or left static. Addition and subtraction had little effect on Ss′ comprehension of either term. Two-year-old Ss understood more when differences in the number of objects in the array were relatively large, suggesting “many” as an intermediate stage of meaning for more. Three-year-olds understood less first as “smaller in amount,” not as more as others have found. Less was acquired later than more, a difference possibly due to its relatively restricted meaning and use or to its converse perceptual and logical relation to more.     

Visual recognition as a function of stimulus offset asynchrony and duration

The stimuli consisted of two complementary dot patterns that formed a bigram when they were flashed simultaneously; impairment of letter recognition developed when one of the patterns was briefly extended beyond the termination of the other (stimulus offset asynchrony). However, if the ratio of stimulus offset asynchrony to bigram duration remained constant, the probability of a correct recognition response also remained constant as duration varied over a 50- to 100-msec interval. When percent stimulus asynchrony increased, the impairment increased. An interaction between bigram letter position and each of bigram duration and percent stimulus asynchrony was observed with recognition accuracy greater in general for the letter in the left half of the field.     

Necessary versus sufficient causal schemata for success and failure

197 subjects judged the perceived presence or absence of ability or effort, given information about task outcome (success or failure), the difficulty of the task (easy, intermediate, or difficult), and the state of the complementary cause (effort or ability). The data revealed that a multiple sufficient causal schema is used to explain common events. That is, the presence of ability or effort is perceived as enough to produce success at an easy task, while the absence of ability or effort is perceived as sufficient to result in failure at a difficult task. On the other hand, a multiple necessary schema tends to be employed to explain uncommon events. Success at a difficult task is believed to require both ability and effort, while failure at an easy task tends to be perceived as caused by low ability and low effort. In addition, there were disparities in the causal judgments for success and failure: failure outcomes are more likely to elicit a multiple sufficient schema. Further, in achievement-related contexts ability and effort are perceived as negatively covarying causal determinants of typical successes and failures. In addition to supporting hypotheses from attribution theory, the data shed further light upon the perceived determinants of success and failure, and demonstrate the influence of cognitive structures on achievement-related causal judgments.     

The Challenge of Authentic Behavior

The goal of authentic behavior is postulated as an important factor in greater understanding of man as well as in more effective utilization of his potential, particularly in interpersonal relationships. The purposes and criteria for authentic behavior are described. The philosophical and psychological origins of authentic behavior are examined with particular reference to existentialism and humanistic psychology. Suggestions are offered for individual attainment of more authentic behavior. The core concern is the need for seeking greater implicit awareness of experiencing by deriving more felt meaning from experiences that involve both feeling and events or concepts. Such an expanded awareness can lead to the discarding of perceptual distortions and a greater accord between man's nature and the being of the world itself. Emphasis is placed on the serious responsibility for decisions resulting from authentic conduct. Implications of authentic behavior for personal living, for professional functions and for social action are outlined.