Pavlov’s discovery of ‘conditioning’ – the process in which the brain forms associations between events that occur together – has given fascinating insights into our ability to learn new behavior patterns.
The Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov never considered himself a psychologist. However, he had a huge influence on the science of psychology, which was still in its infancy when he began his landmark experiments in the late 19th century. As far as Pavlov was concerned, he was always a physiologist. His main research interests were the function of the nerves of the heart, the activity of the digestive glands, and the workings of the higher nervous centers in the brain. It was Pavlov’s research into digestion that originally brought him worldwide recognition, but he is now best known as the discoverer of Pavlovian or ‘classical’ conditioning. This is the process by which we come to associate events that have occurred together automatically. In fact, this work came out of his research into digestion.
Conditioning in Action Working at the University of St Petersburg in Russia, Pavlov began to observe certain digestive irregularities in the dogs on which he was experimenting, which he attributed to ‘psychic’ (that is, psychological) causes. He noticed that some of the dogs would begin to secrete digestive juices simply at the sight of the man who usually fed them before any food was actually given. Pavlov decided to try to determine the cause of these ‘psychic secretions ‘ by studying what kind of stimulus (that is, a noticeable event or object) caused a dog to salivate a secretion that was much easier to detect than digestive juices. This led to his most famous set of experiments. A bell would be repeatedly sounded just before food was placed in the mouth of a dog, which was held immobile in a frame in order to ensure that the bell was the only stimulus. The food would naturally make the dog drool, but Pavlov found that, with enough pairings of bell and food, the sound of the bell on its own would cause the dog to salivate without any food being presented. This he called a ‘conditional response,’ as it was conditional on the bell having been paired with the food beforehand. (The effect is now known as a ‘conditioned response’ due to an error in the original translation into English of Pavlov’s research paper.)
We now know that Pavlovian conditioning is one of the simplest and most effective ways in which the brain adapts to its environment. It is the most basic form of learning: even in very primitive animals if a stimulus such as food is repeatedly paired with a neutral stimulus (like the bell in Pavlov’s experiment), a response to the neutral stimulus will eventually result. Pavlov went on to explore in detail the characteristics of classical conditioning, experimenting with varying time intervals and different types of stimuli.
Pavlov’s Legacy
Pavlov’s ideas have stood the test of time, and his approach to the study of behavior has been hugely influential, setting the new science of psychology on the road to an increasingly ‘objective’ approach rather than relying on speculation about hidden mental processes or people’s subjective reports of their own experiences. His ideas have played an important role in helping us to understand many aspects of human behavior. While most forms of thinking involve complex brain processes, such as language and reasoning, our brains and bodies are also working together at an unconscious level all the time. Sometimes, this process can allow habits, anxieties, and even physical problems whose origins seem hidden to develop, and Pavlov’s work has provided insights into why this happens. Psychological techniques developed from classical conditioning have been used to treat disorders such as depression, anxiety, and phobias. Exposure therapy, where the patient learns to live through the unpleasant feelings associated with the confrontation with a phobic object or situation, has been shown to be highly successful.
Pavlov in Fiction
Pavlovian conditioning features prominently in the disturbing novel A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, made into a famously controversial film by Stanley Kubrick in 1971.
Treated for violence
Set in the near future, the story centers on a young thug, Alex, who goes on regular rampages of rape and violence. He is eventually arrested and compelled to undergo a radical form of treatment based on Pavlovian conditioning. Under the technique, Alex is made to feel physically sick while being forced to watch scenes of sex and brutality. When he is finally released, Alex is unable to perform any violent acts because he becomes paralyzed by sickness whenever he tries – he has been conditioned against violence. While the story is fictional, a similar aversion technique based on Pavlovian conditioning is sometimes used in real life in an attempt to alter some types of inappropriate behavior.
