The behaviorist psychologist B.F. Skinner was the first theorist to propose a fully fledged theory of language acquisition in his book, Verbal Behavior(Skinner 1957). His theory of learning was closely related to his theory of linguistic behavior itself. He argued that human linguistic behavior (that is, our own utterances and our responses to the utterances of others) is determined by two factors: (i) the current features of the environment impinging on the speaker, and (ii) the speaker's history of reinforcement (i.e., the giving or withholding of rewards and/or punishments in response to previous linguistic behaviors). Eschewing talk of the mental as unscientific, Skinner argued that ‘knowing’ a language is really just a matter of having a certain set of behavioral dispositions: dispositions to say (and do) appropriate things in response to the world and the utterances of others. Thus, knowing English is, in small part, a matter of being disposed to utter “Please close the door!” when one is cold as a result of a draught from an open door, and of being disposed (other things being equal) to utter “OK” and go shut a door in response to someone else's utterance of that formula.
行為主義心理學家史金納,他首先提出了成人習得語言的理論,在他1957年的書Verbal Behavior。
他的理論認為,學習語言就相當於語言學的行為本身。他認為人類的語言學行為(也就是我們產生的指稱以及回應指稱的那些東西)有兩個因素:(1)當下促使說話者的環境因素,(2)說話者自我的歷史背景(就是那些已經賦給說話者回應語言行為的環境,或者說,那些約束他的獎勵經驗,懲罰經驗)。史金納幾乎是扯到不關心智的非科學說法去了,他認為,「知道」語言就是擁有特定生理傾向的物質：傾向就是可以說(而且可以做)出某方面稱指來回應這個世界的事物的東西。若是如此,知道英文就是某個人有傾向去使用"Please close the door!"這句話,當他想要使空氣流通時,他就會打開門,而且有另一人當下就有傾向(其他條件都和前一個說話的人一樣)去說"OK",然後去關上門,執行這個動作來回應前面那個人做的稱指。
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