Pavlol Autobiography

Ivan Pavlov

 Psychology, Communism, and Canines

Clayton LeMasters

University of Central Florida

EXP 3404

Professor

November 15th, 2015

Abstract

Ivan Pavlov and his scientific and academic achievements were researched in an attempt to uncover his contributions in the field of Behavioral Psychology. Born in Russia in the late 19th century, Pavlov was greatly influenced by the historical cultural events that transpired.  In the realm of behavioral psychology, perhaps no single scientist contributed more to the emergence of behavioral psychology as a prominent discipline. Starting out in physiology, Pavlov used his knowledge and observations of animal secretion glands as the basis of his groundbreaking salivating dog study.  He created a legacy that is probably best remembered by the discovery and research of classical conditioning.

Ivan Pavlov: Psychology, Communism, and Dogs

Ivan Pavlov was born in Russia in September of 1849 into a religious family. His father Dmitrievich was a village priest and Pavlov received his first education at the local church school. At an early age he was influenced by the forward thinking Russian literary critic D.I. Pisarev, known as the father of Russian Physiology. One of Pavlov’s first academic achievements occurred with another student name Afanasyev in the field of physiology. This work was on the physiology of the pancreatic nerves and his efforts were critically acclaimed and won an award. Later in 1875 Pavlov continue his success by receiving the degree of “Candidate of Natural Sciences” (NP). He continued his academic career in physiology and in 1883 he developed a thesis on The Centrifugal Nerves of the Heart and made groundbreaking advances in showing that a basic pattern existed in the reflex activity of the circulatory organs.

Pavlov advanced further into the area of physiology and in the year 1890 organized the Department of Physiology at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, which he remained in control of until his death and became a famous center for physiology. His specialty was in the area of digestive physiology. In 1895 he published a prestigious publication on his lectures on the functions of the digestive glands. Pavlov’s research into digestive glands led the way for his most well known studies. Studying the glands, Pavlov started to create a hypothesis for conditioned reflexes. He observed the reflexive regulation of digestive glands in animal and formulated a psychological theory for these reflexes. Working with his college D. Glinskii, Pavlov recorded the presence of fistulas in the salivary ducts of animals. Pavlov’s experiments ran counter to the subjective theory of another psychologist, Schenov, which stated that the psychic salivary reflex was natural. Pavlov pointed to the role of a conditioned reflex was involved. He approached this phenomenon in an objective nature, delving into the complicated interactions between animals and their external environments.

In behaviorist terms, Pavlov used the ringing of a bell as a neutral stimulus. It is called neutral because it produces no response. What had happened was that the neutral stimulus (the bell) eventually becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus, which was the animal’s food. Thus the dog quickly learned to associate between the bell and the food. A new behavior had been learnt. Pavlov called this acquired reflex a conditioned response. The neutral stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus. Pavlov and his studies of classical conditioning have become famous since his early work starting in 1890. Pavlov called Classical Conditioning "classical" since it was the very first methodical study of basic laws of learning, reflexes, and conditioning. This study may possibly be the most influential and important single experiment in the field of Behavioral Psychology. During this study Pavlov proved that an organism could learn to associate stimulus with seemingly unrelated conditions. His breakthrough in Behavioral Psychology led to more research into the role of conditioning and learning in both animals and humans.