Behaviorism: Ivan PavlovIvan Pavlov (1849-1946)Ivan PavlovSlide 4Slide 5Pavlov’s LabConditioned ReflexesPsychic ReflexesSlide 9ReinforcementA Quick ThoughtPavlov’s Contribution to PsychologyA Sad AsideVladimir M. Bekhterev (1857-1927)Vladimir BekhterevSlide 16Associated ReflexesSlide 18The Influence of Functional Psychology on BehaviorismSlide 20Discussion QuestionsSlide 22Slide 23Slide 24Slide 25WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4TH, 2015BEHAVIORISM: IVAN PAVLOVIVAN PAVLOV (1849-1946)IVAN PAVLOV•Got even more objective than Thorndike by looking at more physiological responses (salivation, etc.)•Inspired Watson with ideas of controlling and modifying behaviorIVAN PAVLOV•Sustained a terrible head injury at age 7 and had to be tutored by his father for many years•Wanted to go into the priesthood but was inspired to study animal physiology after reading Darwin•He literally walked to St. Petersburg to begin his studies•Became part of a new class of people called “intelligentsia”•Very impoverished, but too intellectual for peasant status•Spent most money he received on dogs for his labIVAN PAVLOV•As the oldest of 11 children, he had to grow up fast•Yet – he had no idea how to be an adult•He was completely co-dependent on his wife, who took care of all of the everyday matters so he could focus on his work•She even had to remind him to pick up his paychecksPAVLOV’S LAB•Worked like a machine, conducted in “Tower of Silence”•Had an explosive temper•Admired the dogs for their role in the research discoveries•Had over 150 researchers work with him during his career, churning out over 500 publications•Let women and Jewish folks work with him•They adored him•He was lucky to be left alone by the Soviet government to conduct his research in peaceCONDITIONED REFLEXES•Pavlov had three major research areas:•1. the function of the nerves of the heart•2. the primary digestive glands (won a Nobel prize for his work here in 1904)•3. conditioned reflexes: reflexes that are conditional or dependent on the formation of an association or connection between stimulus and response•This is what he’s famous for in psychology!•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqumfpxuzIPSYCHIC REFLEXES•The Zeitgeist of the time was still acknowledging mental capacities in animals•So he originally called the dog’s reaction to stimuli “psychic reflexes,” reflecting their desires and will in subjective human terms•“At first in our psychical experiments…we conscientiously endeavored to explain our results by imagining the subjective state of the animal. But nothing came of this except sterile controversy and individual views that could not be reconciled. And so we could do nothing but conduct the research on a purely objective basis.” (Pavlov, quoted in Cuny, 1965, p. 65)CONDITIONED REFLEXES•Pavlov credited Descartes and his original work on the reflex arc•Unconditioned stimulus: food•Unconditioned response: salivation•Conditioned stimulus: bell (or any stimulus that got the animal’s attention without arousing fear or anger)•Conditioned response: salivation•Used rigorous methods to measure saliva and standardize his findingsREINFORCEMENT•In order for the conditioning to occur, the conditioned stimulus must be followed by food or some other kind of reward•Otherwise, the unconditioned stimulus (i.e. bell) continues to mean nothing to the dog•This is called reinforcement: something that increases the likelihood of a responseA QUICK THOUGHT•Do you think he would have had the same results in a different species? Think Romanes mental ladder•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whwiMrBNWCAPAVLOV’S CONTRIBUTION TO PSYCHOLOGY•Demonstrated that higher mental functioning of animals could be explained objectively and without consciousness•Psychology became more objective •Demonstrated the utility of applying structuralist ideas•These basic elements of behavior would go on to become the roots of Watson’s behaviorismA SAD ASIDE•In 1904, an American student of Lightner Witmer named Edwin Burket Twitmyer presented research at the APA convention about the knee-jerk reflex•He found his subjects responding to more stimuli than just the little hammer•Nobody cared•He abandoned that line of research and lived a life of obscurity, always disappointed knowing how much fame he could have had•Why do you think nobody cared at the time about something that would end up being so huge for psychology?VLADIMIR M. BEKHTEREV (1857-1927)VLADIMIR BEKHTEREV•Also a Russian physiologist, but also a neurologist and psychiatrist•Studied with Wundt•Pavlov negatively reviewed him, and they became enemies•Their mudslinging was considered “a conditioned response” (lolz) (Ljunggren, 1990, p. 60)VLADIMIR BEKHTEREV•Was called in to treat Joseph Stalin 10 years after the Bolshevik Revolution•Bekhterev told him he had severe paranoia•Bekhterev died that afternoon, no autopsy was allowed, and he was cremated almost immediately•Stalin would order his research to be suppressed and his son to be executedASSOCIATED REFLEXES•Pavlov was interested in salivary response, but Bekhterev was interested in motor conditioning responses (muscular)•Studied associated reflexes: reflexes that can be elicited not only by unconditioned stimuli but also by stimuli that have become associated with the unconditioned stimuliASSOCIATED REFLEXES•He didn’t think psychology should have anything to do with mental concepts•We can really see the objective shift that had been taken since Romanes and Morgan and the more sophisticated experimental methods•Animal psychology would become a model for behaviorism in this wayTHE INFLUENCE OF FUNCTIONAL PSYCHOLOGY ON BEHAVIORISM•Animal psychology was influential, as we have discussed•Many functionalist psychologists like Cattell discouraged introspection and preferred greater objectivity (like measurement) •Watson was influenced by Cattell’s views as well•The American Zeitgeist that had so nurtured functionalism was ready for behaviorism•Robert Woodworth: American psychologists were “slowly coming down with behaviorism…as more and more of them, from 1904 and on, expressed a preference for defining psychology as the science of behavior rather than as an attempt to describe consciousness” (Woodworth, 1943, p. 28)THE INFLUENCE OF FUNCTIONAL PSYCHOLOGY ON BEHAVIORISM•J.R. Angell too would say it was time for
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