The "response" in behavior theory

The term "response" is a basic one in behavior theory, particularly reflex theory, but its definition is not clear. The origin of the term in the common vocabulary has affected its later extensions in the analysis of behavior. Some contemporary theorists accept the existence of two "types" of response, coordinating one with the Pavlovian conditioning procedure, the other with the operant conditioning procedure of the so-called "contingent" variety. Reservations are expressed here about such distinctions between response classes and conditioning paradigms, emphasizing the difficulties that arise from certain conventions and inadequacies in current definitions and conceptions of "response". The critical nature of the problem for behavior theory is illustrated once again by the recent laboratory finding that a familiar and accepted conditional reflex, that of the "conditioned cardiac CR," can be fractionated into "parts" and is therefore perhaps no longer to be treated as a single unitary "response".