Palmer, D. C. (2002).
Psychological essentialism: A review of E. Margolis and S. Laurence (eds.),Concepts: Core Readings.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
78, 597-607.
Concepts: Core Readings (1999) is an edited volume of
articles representing five major theories of concepts within
cognitive psychology. Of the five, only the prototype theory can
be interpreted in terms arising from a behavioral analysis. Two
conceptual problems pervade nearly all of the papers in the
volume. The first is an implicit commitment to essentialism;
concepts are reified and are commonly discussed as though they
have essential properties. Second, the theories suffer from a
defective theory of verbal behavior. No distinction is made
between verbal operants and words drawn from a hat.
Key words: concepts, essentialism, prototype theory, stimulus classes,
units of analysis, verbal behavior