Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

Professional Life
Ivan Pavlov was born in 1849 in Russia. He was originally enrolled in seminary, but because of his strong scientific interests, he changed direction and began to pursue science. He attended the University of Saint Petersburg and studied natural sciences. He earned his degree in psychology from there and received recognition for academic excellence with the degree of Candidate of Natural Sciences. Pavlov was interested in physiology and continued his education at the Academy of Medical Surgery. He received his doctorate in an expedited fashion and entered the fellowship at the Academy, all while acting as the Director of the Physiological Laboratory at a clinic with S.P. Botkin. In his thesis, he explored theories of “nervism” and reflex patterns. Pavlov was favored by the Soviet government at the time, and was acknowledged for his work by Lenin. He also received a Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine during his career.

Contribution to Psychology
Pavlov began examining the reflex system while studying the gastric systems of dogs. He studied the digestive system in earnest, and looked to determine the effects of nerves on digestive organs. He later studied the reflex system in relation to pain and stress. He realized that subjects often responded in the same way to different stimuli, regardless of their temperament. Carl Jung and William Sargant continued Pavlov’s theories and researched human temperaments in a type of study known as highly sensitive persons.

Pavlov is best known for his Classical Condition or Conditioned Reflex. He developed this theory with Ivan Filippovitch Tolochinov, his assistant, in 1901. Conditioned Reflex, or conditioning, became widely studied in the West, and directly influenced several psychological disciplines, including behaviorism and comparative psychology. The experiments that Pavlov conducted on the salivating dogs have become recognized throughout common culture with the term “Pavlov’s Dogs.” But his work also impacted science tremendously and has been the basis for several books, both non-fiction and fiction. Although most people believe that Pavlov only stimulated the dogs’ salivation with a bell, in reality, he introduced several different types of stimuli. Also only realized by few is the fact that Pavlov conducted conditional reflex experiments on children, even subjecting some of them to surgery, in order to collect saliva.