How Did Pavlov Contribute To Behaviorism

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936) is one of the most famous men in the field of psychology known. Pavlov was a behaviorist, which means that his theories focused on observable behavior, because he believed behavior can be measured and thought cannot be measured. He believed that the human mind should be interpreted as a black box that cannot be opened. Only what goes in the box and what comes out can be known. Scientific evidence is crucial in his theory. He has contributed so much to the field of psychology, particularly on the development on behaviorism and study of conditioning. He is famously known for his experiment dubbed “Pavlov’s Dogs” in which he experimented on dogs to condition them. Pavlov actually studied medicine and received a doctorate
This experiment demonstrated classical conditioning. In this experiment, Pavlov tried ways to get dogs to salivate. At first, he just expected to present the dogs with food and get them to salivate, but he began to realize there were deeper parts to this experiments that helped to lead the way to a new theory of behavior. In this experiment in the beginning, Pavlov noticed that not only did the dogs salivate to the actual food, but they began to eventually salivate at the presence of the lab coats the feeders wore. Once he noticed this, he tried it out with a bell. He would ring the bell every time the dogs were fed, and eventually, the dogs began to salivate at the sound of the bell alone. Pavlov explained that the bell is a neutral stimulus (which cannot produce an effect alone, for example, salivating). The food is considered an unconditioned stimulus, which produces the unconditioned response of salivating. The dog eventually begins to associate the two. This is called classical conditioning. This experiment is one of many ways he contributed to the field of