It is the nature of an hypothesis, when once a man has conceived it, that it assimilates every thing to itself as proper nourishment; and, from the first moment of your begetting it, it generally grows the stronger by every thing you see, hear, read, or understand.” Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
Use Ivan Pavlov’s hypothesis of Pavlovian Conditioning in psychology, past or present, and assess the degree to which those who advance it have treated it in the way this quotation describes. What have been the consequences of this for the hypothesis and for psychology?