The psychological experiment of the Pávlov dog

The study of the mechanisms that govern learning has been influenced without a doubt by research on animal learning carried out by the Russian physiologist Iván Pávlov, an almost famous name like Charles Darwin: many, in effect, remember their experiments with dogs, And that these were intense salivation to the sound of a bell that preceded food administration. With this psychology-online article we will see in detail the famous psychological experiment of the Pávlov dog, speaking of his life, his theories and reference, as of his important scientific discovery.

1. Biography of Iván Pávlov
2. Pávlov behaviorism theory
3. Classic conditioning
4. What is Pávlov's dog experiment

Biography of Iván Pávlov

In the biography of the great Russian physiologist they merge humble origins and brilliant studies, Children after the sponsor, abbot in a monastery, and years of late maturity at the top of Soviet science, an almost mystical love and international scientific training (Oliviero, 1966).

Iván Petrovič Pávlov (1849-1936) He was born and grew up in the Russian people of Rjazan and, despite the expectations of the family that would have preferred for him an ecclesiastical career, he became interested since he where he graduated in Natural Sciences (1875) and in Medicine (1879), To complete your scientific training in Germany.

Upon returning to his homeland, the young Pávlov obtained two important academic roles: he first assumed the position of professor of Pharmacology at the Medical Academy of St. Petersburg (1890), and only one year later, that of the Director of the Department of Physiology (1891). Precisely in these years, in the first period of its scientific production, Pávlov dedicated 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 Iván Pávlov.

Pávlov behaviorism theory

Based on the analysis of the processes that regulate digestion, Pávlov observed that there was a direct relationship between the beginning of salivation and digestion activation: The great idea of ​​the physiologist was precisely to create external stimuli capable of necessarily activating (condition) the actions of the organism (Merzagora, 2006), and is thanks to these particular research on the digestive system granted by the Nobel Prize 1904 of physiology and medicine. Pávlov considered that understanding of behavior passed exclusively through physiological type categories, through the objective observation of animal reactions: it denied any possibility of describing, much less interpreting, thoughts, desires or emotions.

Through his experiments, Iván Pávlov intended 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 your discoveries, Conditional reflexes will acquire increasing importance in the fields of physiology, of psychology and psychiatry, so much that the Soviet government will donate to Pávlov 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 The age of 86 (Mecacci, 2020).

In this article you will find Skinner's theory, another relevant author of behaviorism. On the other hand, here you can know what operating conditioning is examples.

Classic conditioning

The first systematic learning studies date back to the first half of the last century, and were carried out in the reflexological and behavioral field, observing the behavior of animals in the laboratory, because the idea was that the learning processes were equal in humans and animals. Pávlov studies referred mainly to the way in which learning was developed that led to certain environmental stimuli certain responses: the acquisition of these associations was defined as a classical conditioning (Macchi Cassi, Valenza and Simion, 2012).

Pavlovian or classic conditioning explains, in effect, how Automatic responses are associated with stimuli that initially do not cause any response, or cause different responses (Macchi Cassi, Valenza and Simion, 2012). In this article you will find other examples classical conditioning.

Classic conditioning is also the Base of many phobias treatments and other emotional disorders: techniques such as systematic desensitization and imagination exposure, through the association process, induce a gradual substitution of anxiety and fear before trying with a pleasant and relaxed state.

What is Pávlov's dog experiment

Pávlov 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, Pávlov presented immediately before the appearance of the food (unconditional stimulus) a conditioned stimulus, constituted by the sound of a doorbell (Macchi Cassi, Valenza and Simion, 2012). After having presented repeatedly, following a temporary contingency pattern, bell and food, the dog began to produce the salivation response every time I heard the bell, That is, it began to express a behavior that was normally issued in response to the appearance of food, although in that particular test the food was not administered (Macchi Cassi, Valenza and Simion, 2012).

¿What are the conclusions of the Pávlov dog experiment? The results of the Pávlov experiment indicate that, during the experiment, a Association between the sound of bell and food, In such a way that the bell is a sign of the appearance of the unconditional stimulus and give a response totally similar to the latter, except for the fact of not being an innate, but learned response (Macchi Cassi, Valenza and Simion, 2012). In other words, the unconditional response originally associated with food has become a conditioned response to bell (Macchi Cassi, Valenza and Simion, 2012).

Iván Pávlov's studies show that a stimulus initially unable to evoke a certain response, if it is repeatedly presented together with an unconditional stimulus, respecting the rules of temporal contiguity, it is associated with this and becomes able to evoke the same behavioral response ( Macchi Cassi, Valenza and Simion, 2012).

The conditioned reflection still represents today the chronicle of a fundamental phase of the history of physiological psychology oriented to the search for objective parameters and "laws" of learning. In these articles you will find more information about learning: Piaget's learning theory and Bruner's learning theory.

This article is merely informative, in psychology-online we have no power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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