Which came first, the trope or the tropism

Why do people stop at red lights? Is this some strange human response to the color red? Why would I stop if some on came up to me and said, “Hold on a minute” in English, but if they said, “Prenda em um minuto” in Portuguese I would just keep walking? The answer to both of these questions is because we have developed responses, or tropisms, to these stimuli, or tropes. This paper will dabble into the age old question which came first, the trope or the tropism.
Thayer would like to propose that logically the tropism comes before the trope. That can’t be possible; a response can�...