Exam 12: Language Structure

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•Watson was considered "the father of behaviorism," and his view was that there was no such thing as internal mental activity at all.He argued that all humans do is emit responses that have been conditioned to various stimuli.Watson proposed that thinking was just subvocal speech.
•Evidence supporting his claim: When a participant is engaged in thought,it is possible to get recordings of subvocal speech activity.Watson also claimed that we can think with our whole bodies (for instance,with our arms).He cited the evidence that deaf mutes actually make signs while asleep.
•Evidence detracting from his claim: S.M.Smith,Brown,Toman,and Goodman (1947)used a curare derivative that paralyzes the entire voluntary musculature,and they temporarily paralyzed Smith's musculature to conduct the experiment.It was impossible for him to engage in subvocal speech or any other body movement.Even under curare,however,Smith was able to make observations,comprehend speech,remember events,and think about them.This demonstrated that thinking was possible in the absence of any muscle activity.Other evidence detracting from Watson's claim comes from people who have no apparent speech whatsoever but can demonstrate thinking.

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It is sometimes referred to as telegraphic because younger children speak somewhat as people used to write in telegrams,omitting less important function words such as the and is.