Experience of children shows that it is possible to operate upon feeling, and not only upon outward behavior, by giving children an environment in which desirable emotions shall become common and undesirable emotions rare.Throughout childhood, though to a continually diminishing extent, there is need of the feeling of safety. For this purpose, kindness and a pleasant routine are the essentials. The relation with adults should be one of play and physical ease, but not of emotional actresses. There should be close intimacy with other children. Above all, there should be opportunity for initiative in construction, in exploration, and in intellectual and artistic direction. The child has two opposite needs, safety and freedom, of which the latter gradually grows at the expense of the former. The affection given by adults should be such as to cause a feeling of safety, but onto such as to limit freedom or to arouse a deep emotional response in the child. Play, which is a vital need of childhood, should be contributed not only by other children, but also by parents, and is essential to the best relation between parents and children.
I am not an advocate of absolute freedom, but I am an advocate of certain forms of freedom which most adults find unendurable. There should be no enforced respect for grow-ups, who should allow themselves to be called fools whenever children wish to call them so. We cannot prevent our children from thinking us fools by merely forbidding them to utter their thoughts; in fact, they are more likely to think ill of us if they dare not say so. Children should not be forbidden to swear—not because it is desirable that they should swear, but because it is desirable that they should think that it does not matter whether they do or not, since this is a true proposition. They should be free entirely from the sex taboo, and not checked when their conversation seems to inhibited adults to be indecent. If they express opinions on religion or politics or morals, they may be met with argument, provided it is genuine argument, but not if it is really dogma: the adult may, and should, suggest considerations to them, but should not impose conclusion.
Given such conditions, children may grow up fearless and fundamentally happy, without the resentment that comes of thwarting or the excessive demands that are produced by an atmosphere of hothouse affection. Their intelligence will be untrammeled, and their views on human affairs will have the kindliness that comes of contentment.
参考译文
如果想在儿童或动物身上产生某种行为，可以有两种不同的方法。一方面，我们可以用奖罚的方法来使儿童或动物执行或回避某种明确的行为;另外一方面，我们也可以努力在儿童或动物身上产生能够在整体上导向被期望行为的感情。
通过对奖励和惩罚的适当分配，大量外在的行为是可以被控制的。通过这种方法，生来胆小的男孩能够养成生理上的勇气，对疼痛敏感的孩子可以变得能仍受疼痛。好的举止如果在孩童时期没有灌输进去，青春期仍可以学到，而且只需轻蔑的一抬眉毛这样并不严重的惩罚手段。所谓‘好样的’行为，几乎每个耳濡目染的人都可以养成，因为他害怕违反它招来非议。 那些从小就被教导要把圈内的不悦视为最大不幸的人们，即使面对的是他们一点都不理解的战争，也宁愿战死沙场，而不愿受愚人的白眼。
因此，作为一种社会力量，行为主义的‘条件作用’的方法是非常有力，非常成功的。它能够而且确实使人们的行为方式大不同于那些未经此法教育的人们的行为方式，它所能带来的外在行为的一致性也确实令人惊叹。不过，它也有它的局限。
通过弗洛伊德，人们破天荒地可以用科学的态度来认识这些局限了，虽然它们在很久以前就被心理学家的直觉所洞察到了。就我们的目的而论，心理分析的发现的要点是：被行为主义的方法阻止而无法获得公开表现的冲动，并不一定会死去，而是转入了下意识，并会找到未在奖罚中受到禁止的新的发泄渠道。通常新的渠道比被堵住的渠道更加有害，而且总会带来情绪上的紊乱和精力上的浪费。因此，有必要对与外在行为相对的情感因素予以更多的关注，那些主张条件作用对培养性格就足够的人们在这方面是做的不够的。
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