In: Psychology
1. Skinner was a well known psychologist . Skinner was known for his theory of Operant conditioning.
In this theory , the learning takes place t, where the behviour is modified and strengthened through reward or punishment. Operant conditioning involves behaviour which is voluntary.
Eg : A child might avoid touching a stove which is hot. In this case , 'stove' is the discriminative stimuli.
The behaviour of a person varies from time to time . It is never permanent in nature . Behavioural variabiltiy can be altered/changed by manipulating certain variables.
Reinforcement and punishment are the two core tools by which the operant behaviour can be modified. There are two kinds of Reinforcement . They are ; Positive and Negative . The positive reinforcement is the behaviour which is followed by a stimulus which is rewarding , thereby increasing that particular behaviour.
Eg: if a rat in a skinner box , gets food by pressing the lever . the rate of pressing the lever will automatically go up.
Negative reinforcement : It happens when a response is followed by the removal of an unpleasant stimulus, thereby increases the frequency of that particular behaviour.
There are 2 kinds of punishment. i.e. Positive and Negative . Positive are the ones which is followed by a pain from a thrashing, beating ,thereby resulting in decrease of that behaviour. Hence it can be simply said as punishment as well.
Negative Punishment :Such behaviour occurs when the response is followed by the removal of a stimulus such as snatching away a toy of a child .
2. Chomsky is an American linguist , philosopher , historian as well as a cognitive scientist . Chomsky is well known for his theory of Language Acquisition.
Chomsky's language specially puts forward that the children are born with language acquisition device that allows them to create syntactic structures with the new words which they have newly learnt. His theory puts stress on language specially. The language theory consists of deep structures and surface structures. Surface structures are the one , which is represented by spoken words , while the deep structures are the ones which come up with the relations between words and meaning of the word conceptually.
His theory is hierarchical . It contains a hierarchy of formal grammars. It provides an understanding of the relationship between grammars .
Strength of Skinner's Theory:
1. It is purely experimental and hence is reliable .
Weakness
It is a one dimensional approach . i.e. having one main quality or concern .
Strength of Chomsky's learning theory
1. A set of general principles which are known as "Universal Grammar" , which can be applied to all the languages in the world .
Weakness
1. It is not easy to prove it for the theory by insolating someone , in order to conduct a research .