Dr. Mangels summed up the issue as being a chicken or egg, consciousness or language, debate. Organisms need to be conscious of reactions to stimuli in order to survive. Dr. Wynne stated that categorization before language was not conscious categorization. Abstract Developing some insights from B. F. Skinner, we argue that consciousness arises through the experience of naming one s private stimuli. Skinner rejected the mind as an explanatory principle in psychology, but did not deny the existence and importance of the experience of consciousness.
People become conscious as they are taught by the social environment to label their private stimuli.
We review evidence that the social environment forms an individual s conscious experience. We conclude that this approach offers an empirical approach to the mysteries of consciousness.