Pavlov Essay, Research Paper

Melissa Ann Sharp

Professor Alsman, MS

Psychology 101

February 3, 2001

Pavlov

Pavlov was born in Ryazan, Russia on September 14, 1849. His full, birth name is

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. Pavlov was educated at the University of Saint Petersburg

and at the Military Medical Academy, also in St. Petersburg.

From 1884 to 1886, Pavlov studied in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) and

Leipzig, Germany. Pavlov began to serve as director of the department of

physiology at the Institute of Experimental Medicine and as a professor of

medicine at the Military Medical Academy before the start of the Russian

Revolution. Although he opposed Communism, Pavlov was allowed to

continue his research in physiology in a lab built by the Soviet Government in

1935. It was in this laboratory that Pavlov begun his famous experiments on dogs.

Pavlov used his amazing surgical abilities to create an artificial exterior pouch in a

Dog’s stomach. With this, he experimented on nervous stimulation of gastric

secretions. This experiment led to Pavlov’s discovery of the conditioned reflex.

Pavlov put this new discovery to a test by ringing a bell each time a dog

was fed. He showed that the dog would salivate at the sound of the bell, even when

there was no food present. This experiment proved that when a dog thought that he

was going to be fed, he would experience a natural flow of saliva.

Pavlov’s work on dogs had an influence on the development of physiology

oriented theories of psychology during the early 20th century. Pavlov had invented

new techniques of surgery and his work had also led to new methods of treating

mental illness. In 1904, Pavlov won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for

all of the work that he had done on digestive glands.

Pavlov was a great historic figure in both psychology and physiology. He died on

February 27, 1936.