ABSTRACT

Gauging the initial reaction of people to different psychological theories can be very instructive. For example, psychoanalysis is often peremptorily dismissed as an affront to common-sense knowledge, a reaction which is typically diluted with further exploration. By way of contrast, the vocabulary of behaviourism (conditioning, reward, punishment, stimulus, response) is usually received sympathetically because it is consistent with the casual observations we make about human behaviour. It is only when the origin of this vocabulary is made explicit that we balk and reassess our position. This chapter is the product of just such a reassessment.