Pavlov: Vivisectionist of the Mind

Abstract

One of the classical studies that I regularly discuss with the students of my introductory learning course is one conducted by Tolman and Honkiz (1930). The study mixed groups from different experiments and surely would not be easily published nowadays. Nevertheless, the

A Science of Adaptation: the transnational origins of the American functional behaviorism of the 20th Century

“…The holistic approach was associated foremost with Claude Bernard (1813-1878) in Paris, who instructed Tsion, who took Bernard's theory and methods to St. Petersburg where he mentored the young Pavlov. Pavlov adapted this holistic orientation and the new experimental methods to discover the conditioned reflex, which was mediated in the brain (Clark, 2022a). To understand the history of the American assimilation of experimental psychology, it is important to understand the 19th century meaning of function.…”

“…Pavlov's method had a distinguished pedigree and a heritage of impressive research on a number of astoundingly complex neural-organ relationships. Pavlov AmericAn FunctionAl BehAviorism ISSN: 2445-0928 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5093/rhp2023a10 © 2023 Sociedad Española de Historia de la Psicología (SEHP) synthesized influences from the leading physiologists of his day, and he improved them while supervising hundreds of experiments (Clark, 2022a). Pavlov's method was easy to teach and easy for the student to remember.…”