Question

As you are working on your term paper, keep in mind that its primary function is to show your ability to read and understand in a scholarly manner. Papers should be a minimum of 3 pages and should not exceed five (5) pages in length and all references should be documented. The format should include a cover page, the written summary, and reference page. Discuss and answer the following questions in the paper extensively about a Noted Psychologist.

Psychologist: Ivan Pavlov

1. Autographical information about psychologist.

2. Clearly and concisely define the psychologist theoretical approach?

3. What significant impact has this theory contributed to psychology?

4. Indicate your opinions, experiences, and examples of this theory.

5. Briefly state your vision of this theory in the future.

Answer 1

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born on September 14, 1849 at Ryazan, where his father, Peter Dmitrievich Pavlov, was a village priest. He was educated first at the church school in Ryazan and then at the theological seminary there.

Inspired by the progressive ideas which D. I. Pisarev, the most eminent of the Russian literary critics of the 1860's and I. M. Sechenov, the father of Russian physiology, were spreading, Pavlov abandoned his religious career and decided to devote his life to science. In 1870 he enrolled in the physics and mathematics faculty to take the course in natural science.

Pavlov became passionately absorbed with physiology, which in fact was to remain of such fundamental importance to him throughout his life. It was during this first course that he produced, in collaboration with another student, Afanasyev, his first learned treatise, a work on the physiology of the pancreatic nerves. This work was widely acclaimed and he was awarded a gold medal for it.

It was at the Institute of Experimental Medicine in the years 1891-1900 that Pavlov did the bulk of his research on the physiology of digestion. It was here that he developed the surgical method of the chronic experiment with extensive use of fistulas, which enabled the functions of various organs to be observed continuously under relatively normal conditions. This discovery opened a new era in the development of physiology, for until then the principal method used had been that of «acute» vivisection, and the function of an organism had only been arrived at by a process of analysis. This meant that research into the functioning of any organ necessitated disruption of the normal interrelation between the organ and its environment. Such a method was inadequate as a means of determining how the functions of an organ were regulated or of discovering the laws governing the organism as a whole under normal conditions - problems which had hampered the development of all medical science. With his method of research, Pavlov opened the way for new advances in theoretical and practical medicine. With extreme clarity he showed that the nervous system played the dominant part in regulating the digestive process, and this discovery is in fact the basis of modern physiology of digestion. Pavlov made known the results of his research in this field, which is of great importance in practical medicine, in lectures which he delivered in 1895 and published under the title Lektsii o rabote glavnykh pishchevaritelnyteh zhelez (Lectures on the function of the principal digestive glands) (1897).

Pavlov's research into the physiology of digestion led him logically to create a science of conditioned reflexes. In his study of the reflex regulation of the activity of the digestive glands, Pavlov paid special attention to the phenomenon of psychic secretion, which is caused by food stimuli at a distance from the animal. By employing the method - developed by his colleague D. D. Glinskii in 1895 - of establishing fistulas in the ducts of the salivary glands, Pavlov was able to carry out experiments on the nature of these glands. A series of these experiments caused Pavlov to reject the subjective interpretation of «psychic» salivary secretion and, on the basis of Sechenov's hypothesis that psychic activity was of a reflex nature, to conclude that even here a reflex - though not a permanent but a temporary or conditioned one - was involved.

Pavlov (1902) started from the idea that there are some things that a dog does not need to learn. For example, dogs don’t learn to salivate whenever they see food. This reflex is ‘hard-wired’ into the dog. In behaviorist terms, it is an unconditioned response (i.e., a stimulus-response connection that required no learning).  

In his experiment, Pavlov used a bell as his neutral stimulus. Whenever he gave food to his dogs, he also rang a bell. After a number of repeats of this procedure, he tried the bell on its own. As you might expect, the bell on its own now caused an increase in salivation.

So the dog had learned an association between the bell and the food and a new behavior had been learned. Because this response was learned (or conditioned), it is called a conditioned response. The neutral stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus.

This theory is still most applicable in daily life of every indiviudal. In my personal life i used it to stop my nail biting habit by conditioning it to red chilli. examples- Classical Conditioning plays an important role in generating negative and positive emotional responses- Negative Responses; Emotions such as fear, phobias etc are strengthened by associating these emotions with animals, weather, or some other place or things. People often fear reptiles, dark places and insect phobias. Some people often associate fear with stormy weather. For Positive Responses; Classical conditioning is also responsible for generating feelings of happiness, feelings of relaxation e.g. thinking of going on a trip makes one feels happy, for relaxation one might choose his friend’s house ,reaching home after a long time makes one happy and relax as well.

Advertising; Advertising is a field where classical conditioning is used the most. Companies’ use various models for this purpose e.g. cartoon characters are used in commercials of those products which are associated with kids. In the same way, female models are used in those ads in which products are associated with females or housework. Similarly sports personalities for products associated with men.

Addiction; People addicted with caffeine and nicotine found in tea, coffee or in the form of smoking material feels relaxation even before its intake.