Ivan Pavlov and His Discovery of Classical Conditioning

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsOverviewEarly LifeCareerClassical ConditioningContributionsSelect Publications

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Overview

Early Life

Career

Classical Conditioning

Contributions

Select Publications

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist best known in psychology for his discovery of classical conditioning. During his studies on the digestive systems of dogs, Pavlov noted that the animals salivated naturally upon the presentation of food.

Learn more about Ivan Pavlov and his contributions to the field of psychology.

Pavlov discovered classical conditioning in the 1890s and published his results in 1897. The discovery had a reverberating influence on psychology. Pavlov’s discovery had a major influence on other thinkers including John B. Watson and contributed significantly to the development of the school of thought known as behaviorism.

Take a closer look at Ivan Pavlov’s life and career in this brief biography.

Ivan Pavlov is best known for:Classical conditioningResearch on physiology and digestion1904 Nobel Prize in Physiology

Ivan Pavlov is best known for:

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born on September 14, 1849, in the village of Ryazan, Russia, where his father was the village priest. His earliest studies were focused on theology, but reading Charles Darwin’sOn the Origin of the Specieshad a powerful influence on his future interests.

He soon abandoned his religious studies and devoted himself to the study of science. In 1870, he began studying the natural sciences at St. Petersburg University.

Pavlov’s primary interests were the study of physiology and natural sciences. He was a founder of the Russian Physiological Society and also served as its first president, a position he held for 19 years.

“Science demands from a man all his life. If you had two lives that would not be enough for you. Be passionate in your work and in your searching,“Pavlov once suggested.

So, how did his work in physiology lead to his discovery of classical conditioning?

Ivan Pavlov’s Discovery of Classical Conditioning

While researching the digestive function of dogs, he noted his subjects would salivate when they saw the person who was delivering food.In a series ofwell-known experiments, he presented a variety of stimuli before the presentation of food, eventually finding that, after repeated association, a dog would salivate to the presence of a stimulus other than food.

Pavlov termed this response aconditional reflex. Pavlov also discovered that these reflexes originate in the cerebral cortex of the brain.

Pavlov received considerable acclaim for his work, including a 1901 appointment to the Russian Academy of Sciences and the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physiology.The Soviet government also offered substantial support for Pavlov’s work, and the Soviet Union soon became a leading center of physiology research.

He died on February 27, 1936.

Ivan Pavlov’s Contributions to Psychology

Many outside of psychology may be surprised to learn that Pavlov was not a psychologist at all. Not only was he not a psychologist; he reportedly was skeptical of the emergingfield of psychologyaltogether.

However, his work had a major influence on the field, particularly on the development ofbehaviorism. His discovery and research on reflexes influenced the growing behaviorist movement, and his work was often cited inJohn B. Watson’swritings.

Other researchers utilized Pavlov’s work in the study of conditioning as a form of learning. His research also demonstrated techniques of studying reactions to the environment in an objective scientific method.

Scientific Method Steps in Psychology Research

One of Pavlov’s earliest publications was his 1897 textThe Work of the Digestive Glands, which centered on his physiology research.

Later works that focused on his discovery of classical conditioning include his 1927 bookConditioned Reflexes: An Investigation of the Physiological Activity of the Cerebral CortexandLectures on Conditioned Reflexes: Twenty-five Years of Objective Study of the High Nervous Activity (Behavior) of Animalswhich was published one year later.

A Word From Verywell

Ivan Pavlov may not have set out to change the face of psychology, but his work had a profound and lasting influence on the science of the mind and behavior. His discovery of classical conditioning helped establish the school of thought known as behaviorism.

Thanks to the work of behavioral thinkers such as Watson and Skinner, behaviorism rose to be a dominant force within psychology during the first half of the twentieth century.

6 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Brown RE, Molnár Z, Filaretova L, Ostrovsky M, Piccolino M, Lorusso L.The 100th anniversary of the Russian Pavlov Physiological Society.Physiology (Bethesda). 2017;32(6):402-407. doi:10.1152/physiol.00023.2017Eelen P.Classical conditioning: Classical yet modern.Psychol Belg. 2018;58(1):196-211. doi:10.5334/pb.451McCabe B.Hopkins researcher discovers everything we know about Pavlov is wrong.Johns Hopkins Magazine. 2014.Nobel.The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1904:Ivan Pavlov - BiographicalSantana LH.Comparing Watson’s behaviorism and Meyer’s objectivism: Reassessing traditional assumptions in psychology. 2023.Pavlov I.The work of the digestive glands. In:Scientific and Medical Knowledge Production, 1796-1918.Routledge. 2023:157-173Additional ReadingSchultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. E (Eds.). (2012).A History of Modern Psychology. Australia Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.Todes, DP. Ivan Pavlov:A Russian Life in Science. New York: Oxford; 2014.

6 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Brown RE, Molnár Z, Filaretova L, Ostrovsky M, Piccolino M, Lorusso L.The 100th anniversary of the Russian Pavlov Physiological Society.Physiology (Bethesda). 2017;32(6):402-407. doi:10.1152/physiol.00023.2017Eelen P.Classical conditioning: Classical yet modern.Psychol Belg. 2018;58(1):196-211. doi:10.5334/pb.451McCabe B.Hopkins researcher discovers everything we know about Pavlov is wrong.Johns Hopkins Magazine. 2014.Nobel.The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1904:Ivan Pavlov - BiographicalSantana LH.Comparing Watson’s behaviorism and Meyer’s objectivism: Reassessing traditional assumptions in psychology. 2023.Pavlov I.The work of the digestive glands. In:Scientific and Medical Knowledge Production, 1796-1918.Routledge. 2023:157-173Additional ReadingSchultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. E (Eds.). (2012).A History of Modern Psychology. Australia Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.Todes, DP. Ivan Pavlov:A Russian Life in Science. New York: Oxford; 2014.

Brown RE, Molnár Z, Filaretova L, Ostrovsky M, Piccolino M, Lorusso L.The 100th anniversary of the Russian Pavlov Physiological Society.Physiology (Bethesda). 2017;32(6):402-407. doi:10.1152/physiol.00023.2017Eelen P.Classical conditioning: Classical yet modern.Psychol Belg. 2018;58(1):196-211. doi:10.5334/pb.451McCabe B.Hopkins researcher discovers everything we know about Pavlov is wrong.Johns Hopkins Magazine. 2014.Nobel.The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1904:Ivan Pavlov - BiographicalSantana LH.Comparing Watson’s behaviorism and Meyer’s objectivism: Reassessing traditional assumptions in psychology. 2023.Pavlov I.The work of the digestive glands. In:Scientific and Medical Knowledge Production, 1796-1918.Routledge. 2023:157-173

Eelen P.Classical conditioning: Classical yet modern.Psychol Belg. 2018;58(1):196-211. doi:10.5334/pb.451

McCabe B.Hopkins researcher discovers everything we know about Pavlov is wrong.Johns Hopkins Magazine. 2014.

Nobel.The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1904:Ivan Pavlov - Biographical

Santana LH.Comparing Watson’s behaviorism and Meyer’s objectivism: Reassessing traditional assumptions in psychology. 2023.

Pavlov I.The work of the digestive glands. In:Scientific and Medical Knowledge Production, 1796-1918.Routledge. 2023:157-173

Schultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. E (Eds.). (2012).A History of Modern Psychology. Australia Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.Todes, DP. Ivan Pavlov:A Russian Life in Science. New York: Oxford; 2014.

Schultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. E (Eds.). (2012).A History of Modern Psychology. Australia Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.

Todes, DP. Ivan Pavlov:A Russian Life in Science. New York: Oxford; 2014.

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Ivan Pavlov’s Discovery of Classical Conditioning#

Ivan Pavlov’s Contributions to Psychology#

A Word From Verywell#

Ivan Pavlov’s Discovery of Classical Conditioning

Ivan Pavlov’s Contributions to Psychology

A Word From Verywell