Scientific concepts and “private events” as a verbal response
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5380/psi.v11i1.6491Keywords:
scientific concepts, private events, feelings.Abstract
Scientific concepts usually show higher precision in their use, in contrast to ordinary language concepts, which are often polysemantic. In the light of a behavior-analytic interpretation, a concept is a verbal response, emitted under stimulus control, and scientific concepts may be seen as verbal responses emitted under a more restrictive stimulus control. In this article, I discuss the concept of private events, a concept with which behavior analysts have approached important issues in Psychology, such as cognitions and emotions. I argue that the verbal response “private events” has been emitted under the control of different classes of events or phenomena, giving rise to unsolved controversies in behavior-analytic literature. I also propose some possible differentiations of those classes of events.
Keywords: scientific concepts; private events; feelings.
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