Conditioned Reflexes

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, a Russian physiologist and psychologist, demonstrated, by his 62 years of active research, one model of the research career: making a major discovery by studying more and more about less and less. He first studied the neural mechanisms of blood circulation and digestion; then the mechanisms of digestion; and finally show more salivation. His studies of salivation led to his discovery of the conditioned reflex: a dog trained to associate feeding with the sounding of a bell would salivate when the bell was sounded, even though no food was made available. He received the Nobel Prize in 1904 for his work on the processes of digestion, but it was his further experiments in the operation of the conditioned reflex that made him an important figure in psychology. His work has had its greatest impact on behavioral psychologists, who concern themselves primarily with observable relationships between measurable stimuli and behavioral responses in human beings as well as in animals. They quickly saw that Pavlov's objective techniques could be used to establish laws of behavior, especially in the area of learning. Thus, Pavlov's concept of the conditioned reflex has become an important feature of learning theory. (Bowker Author Biography) show less