The study of the mechanisms that govern learning has undoubtedly been influenced by research on learning animal carried out by the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, an almost famous name like that of Charles Darwin: many, indeed, remember his experiments with dogs, and that these were found with intense salivation at the sound of a bell that preceded the administration of food. With this Psychology-Online article we will see in detail the Pavlov's famous dog psychological experiment, speaking of his life, his theories and those of reference, as well as his important scientific discovery.
Index
- Biography of Ivan Pavlov
- Pavlov's theory of behaviorism
- Classical conditioning
- What is Pavlov's dog experiment?
Biography of Iván Pávlov.
In the biography of the great Russian physiologist they merge humble origins and brilliant studies, childhood years spent with his godfather, abbot in a monastery, and late maturing years atop Soviet science, an almost mystical patriotic love and an international scientific training (Oliviero, 1966).
Ivan Petrovič Pávlov (1849-1936) He was born and raised in the Russian village of Rjazan and, despite the expectations of the family who would have preferred an ecclesiastical career for him, he He was interested in science from a young age: after finishing his seminary studies, he enrolled at the University of Saint Petersburg, where he graduated in Natural Sciences (1875) and in Medicine (1879), to complete his scientific training in Germany.
Returning to his homeland, the young Pavlov obtained two important academic roles: he first assumed the position of professor of Pharmacology at the Saint Petersburg Medical Academy (1890), and just a year later, that of director of the department of Physiology (1891). Precisely in these years, in the first period of his scientific production, Pavlov devoted himself to the study of the functions of the circulatory system and the digestive system, using a rigorous methodology and original techniques (Mecacci, 2020).
In this article we explain in detail the biography of Ivan Pavlov.
Pavlov's theory of behaviorism.
Starting from the analysis of the processes that regulate digestion, Pavlov observed that there was a direct relationship between the initiation of salivation and the activation of digestion: the great idea of the physiologist was precisely to create external stimuli capable of forcibly activating (condition) the actions of the organism (Merzagora, 2006), and it is thanks to these particular investigations on the digestive system that it was granted the Nobel Prize 1904 of Physiology and Medicine. Pavlov considered that the understanding of behavior passed exclusively through categories of a physiological type, through the objective observation of the animal's reactions: it denied any possibility of describing, much less interpreting, thoughts, desires or emotions.
Through his experiments, Ivan Pavlov proposed to shed light "on the apparent chaos of relationships" through which the behavior of an animal adapts to its environment and on the general laws that are at the base of these changes.
In the years following his discoveries, conditioned reflexes will become increasingly important in the fields of physiology, psychology and psychiatry, so much so that the Soviet government will donate to Pavlov a magnificent and modern laboratory in Koltushing, where he will continue his research extending his theory to the study of human psychic processes and psychiatric disorders, until his death in 1936 at the age of 86 (Mecacci, 2020).
In this article you will find the skinner theory, another relevant author of behaviorism. On the other hand, here you can know what the operant conditioning with examples.
Classical conditioning.
The first systematic studies of learning date back to the first half of the last century, and were carried out in the reflexological and behaviorist, observing the behavior of animals in the laboratory, because the idea was that the learning processes were the same in humans And animals. Pavlov's studies were mainly concerned with the way in which learning developed that led to the association of certain stimuli certain environmental responses: the acquisition of these associations was defined as classical conditioning (Macchi Cassi, Valenza and Simion, 2012).
Pavlovian or classical conditioning explains, in effect, how Automatic responses are associated with stimuli that initially elicit no response, or elicit different responses (Macchi Cassi, Valenza and Simion, 2012). In this article you will find other classical conditioning examples.
Classical conditioning is also the basis of many treatments for phobias and other emotional disorders: techniques such as systematic desensitization and the exposure in imaginationThrough the process of association, they induce a gradual substitution of anxiety and fear before trying a pleasant and relaxed state.
What does Pavlov's dog experiment consist of?
Pavlov was a Russian physiologist, and his experiments were influenced by this specialization: they measured physiological and gastric indices, and precisely the "salivary responses" of laboratory dogs.
In his most famous experiment, Pavlov presented immediately before the appearance of the food (unconditional encouragement) a conditioned stimulus, consisting of the sound of a doorbell (Macchi Cassi, Valenza and Simion, 2012). After having repeatedly presented, following a pattern of temporal contingency, the bell and the food, the dog began to produce the salivation response every time he heard the doorbell, that is, it began to manifest a behavior that was normally emitted in response to the appearance of the food, although in that particular test the food was not administered (Macchi Cassi, Valenza and Simion, 2012).
What are the conclusions of Pavlov's dog experiment? The results of Pavlov's experiment indicate that, during the experiment, a association between the sound of the doorbell and food, in such a way that the ringing is a signal of the appearance of the unconditional stimulus and gives a totally similar to the latter, except for the fact that it is not an innate response, but a learned one (Macchi Cassi, Valenza and Simion, 2012). In other words, the unconditional response originally associated with food has morphed into a conditioned response to ringing (Macchi Cassi, Valenza and Simion, 2012).
Ivan Pavlov's studies show that a stimulus initially incapable of evoking a certain response, if it is presented repeatedly together with a stimulus unconditional, respecting the rules of temporal contiguity, is associated with this and becomes capable of evoking the same behavioral response (Macchi Cassi, Valenza and Simion, 2012).
The conditioned reflex represents even today the chronicle of a fundamental phase in the history of physiological psychology oriented towards the search for objective parameters and "laws" of learning. In these articles you will find more information about learning: Piaget's learning theory and the Bruner's learning theory.
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Bibliography
- Macchi Cassia, V., Valenza, E., Simion, F. (2012). I sviluppo della mind umana. Dalle teorie classiche ai nuovi orientamenti. Bologna: Il Mulino.
- Mecacci, L. (2020). Pavlov, Ivan Petrovič. Recovered from: https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ivan-petrovic-pavlov/
- Merzagora, M. (2006). Scienza da vedere. The scientific immaginary sul grande e sul piccolo schermo. Milan: Sironi Editore.
- Oliviero, A., (ed.), Pavlov, I. (1966). I riflessi condizionati. Turin: Bollati Boringhieri.
