&gt;<i>If `we&#x27; is imperatively trained programmers, then Yes.</i><p>No, we refers to both &quot;imperatively trained programmers&quot;, and, more especially, laymen.<p>&gt;<i>For anyone else---normal people without programming experience, or programmers trained in different paradigms---loops are not special</i><p>I very much doubt any layman who does anything repetitive (e.g. runs 10 laps) thinks of it as recursion as opposed to keeping a mental index and thinking it similarly to a loop (without knowing the terminology of programming of course).<p>&gt;<i>In any case, lots of languages have gotten map and filter, and people seem to adapt to them just fine.</i><p>Those are just abstracted loops though, not recursion.