Pavlov's homeless children. What did the scientist do with children for the sake of science?

The essence of the experiments

I.P. Pavlov, in his laboratory located near St. Petersburg, in Koltushi, conducted experiments studying the mechanisms of formation of a conditioned reflex. The scientist conducted his research on dogs. All work was carried out in a kind of “Tower of Silence” - a special isolated soundproof chamber in which there were no external stimuli that could affect the purity of the experiment. The scientist observed the animal through a system of special glasses, through which he himself remained invisible to the dog. The dog was also restrained on a special machine that limited his movements.

Pavlov's experiments focused on how the dog's salivary glands react to various external stimuli. To do this, the animal underwent surgery, bringing the duct of the salivary gland out in order to timely record the presence of salivation, its onset, the abundance and quality of saliva. Then Pavlov tried to evoke a conditioned reaction in the animal to a previously neutral stimulus - sound, light. In addition, the ends of the esophagus were also brought out to monitor the production of gastric juice in the dog.

Pavlov's classic experiment on dogs is when the animal was immediately given food after the metronome beats. After several such attempts, the dog began to salivate at the sounds of the metronome. Pavlov's experiment with a light bulb operated on the same principle, but instead of a metronome, an ordinary lamp was used, after turning on which the dog received food. Thus, a source previously foreign to the animal became the external stimulus that began to evoke a conditioned reflex in it. Unfortunately, not all irritants were so harmless. In his experiments, Pavlov used electric current and various punishments.

What did Pavlov do?

Every creature on the planet is born with a set of reflexes laid down by Mother Nature, the rest were acquired in the process of evolution, for better adaptation to the environment, thus increasing the chance of survival.

In 1903, the world first learned about conditioned and unconditioned reflexes, which were discovered by the scientist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. Thanks to his scientific works, written based on the results of experiments on dogs, a year later he received the Nobel Prize.

While studying the digestion process in experimental dogs, the scientist noticed intense salivation in the animals after his assistant in a white coat appeared in the room and fed the animals. It turned out that the dogs reacted to the white coat

, it was associated with food in dogs.

The scientist was interested in this reaction in animals, because their behavior was the same in a situation when an assistant brought food and when he simply entered the laboratory in a white coat with inedible objects.

Pavlov was the first scientist to hypothesize that intense secretion from the salivary glands is not a physiological, but a reflex process caused by repeated repetition of the same actions related to eating food.

In this educational video, biologist Anton Gorovanin will briefly explain what this experiment involving animals involved:

Practical use

One of the most interesting examples of the application of Pavlov’s experiments is the development of conditioned reflexes in coyotes to the taste of lamb. To create this reflex, poisoned sheep meat was given to coyotes. Surprisingly, after the first time they stopped hunting sheep, associating the meat with the ailment they felt after eating it. Many farmers immediately took this into account.

I. Pavlov and D. Watson, creators of classical conditioning

Classical conditioning I.P. Pavlova and psychologist Watson I.P. Pavlov (1849-1936), a Nobel Prize laureate at the beginning of the 20th century, performed important physiological studies on the conditioning of the salivary reflex in dogs (sound - food - conditioned reflex = learned reflex, theory of stimulation - stimulus), and this played an important role in the formation of behaviorism and learning psychology made great progress.
Many forms of learning do not require much understanding of information and come from past experience. They are associated with unconscious associations, that is, this is a type of associative learning. I.P. Pavlov was the first to describe this type of conditioning: a neutral stimulus begins to cause the same reaction (conditioned reaction) that was caused by the first (unconditioned stimulus). Such learning is typically unconscious, that is, schoolchildren react to a conditioned stimulus for the wrong reason. that they became aware of the connection between them and the unconditioned stimulus. For example, before conditioning, mathematics does not cause any reaction if the teacher is unfriendly, with a harsh voice - this causes hostility and fear in students, that is, an unconditioned stimulus does not cause any strong emotions, with the exception of negative ones, and learning does not occur. Classical conditioning is when a neutral stimulus (mathematics) is combined with an unconditioned stimulus (an unfriendly teacher with a harsh voice), fear and aversion (towards mathematics) is generated, that is, an unconditioned stimulus. In all schools, and almost constantly, regardless of any other learning, classical conditioning (contiguity theory), especially classical conditioning of emotional reactions, appears. It is the core, the yard of those unconscious processes due to which schools, classrooms, teachers and teachers, academic disciplines, additional education subjects are all unconditional stimuli that students either like or disgust them. Therefore, it is quite possible to teach children mathematics, language, literature and at the same time teach them not to like mathematics, language, literature and other academic disciplines. Behavioral approaches in education lead to student-centered, teacher-centered, directive approaches to teaching. Directive teaching methods at school include: 1. Teachers need to increase the frequency, visibility, and power of positive emotional reactions of students in the classroom (positive unconditional incentives). 2. Teachers need to minimize the negative emotional aspects of studentship by reducing their number and power in the classroom (negative unconditional stimuli). 3. Teachers need to know the combinations and combinations of all emotional aspects of learning when working with the class. Vladimir Dahl has a saying: “Don’t get tired of playing, if only the matter wouldn’t go away” and also “It was said in jest, but it was meant seriously.” A teacher who makes his students smile can succeed in teaching his students. What if the teacher makes her students suffer while teaching? The historical significance of I.P. Pavlov lies in the introduction of a new category - the category of behavior - “conditioned reflex learning”. Watson, John Broadus Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia John Broadus Watson (ed. John Broadus Watson, English John Broadus Watson; January 9, 1878 - September 25, 1958) - American psychologist, founder of behaviorism (from the English behavior - behavior) - one of the most widespread theories in Western psychology of the 20th century. Biography John Brodes Watson was born on January 9, 1878. Emma and Pikens Watson, John's parents, lived in Southern California, in the small town of Travelers Rest. The mother was very religious, so the boy’s life was full of restrictions and prohibitions. Pikens himself preferred a rather wild life; scandals on this basis led to his father leaving the family in 1891, when the boy was 13 years old. John was attached to his father, so he took the separation hard and could not forgive him for this until the end of his life. John Watson grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and received his master's degree from Furman University. On the advice of one of his teachers, he then entered the University of Chicago with the goal of studying philosophy under the guidance of John Dewey. However, in his own words, he did not understand what Dewey was talking about and soon chose to change his supervisor, turning to psychologist James Angell and physiologist Henry Donaldson. He was going to work with Jacques Loeb on research into the brains of dogs. The combined influence of these scientists then led him to develop a rigorous, objective approach to the study of behavior. His doctoral dissertation, defended at the University of Chicago in 1903, was the first modern book on rat behavior. On February 24, 1913, John Watson gave his famous lecture (manifesto) in New York - “Psychology from the Point of View of a Behaviorist.” Since the time of behaviorism, psychology has begun to develop rapidly as an experimental science. Watson generally denied consciousness as a subject of scientific research, reducing mental phenomena to various forms of behavior, understood as a set of reactions of the body to stimuli from the external environment. The purpose of psychological study is to predict what a reaction will be and to determine the nature of the stimulus at play. The possibilities for reaction are very wide. Watson identifies 4 large classes of reactions: 1. visible (express) - unlocking the door, playing the violin. 2. hidden (habitual reactions (implicit)) - thinking that we consider internal conversation. 3. visible hereditary reactions - instinctive and emotional reactions (sneezing, etc.) 4. hidden hereditary reactions - internal secretion system (physiology). From the point of view of behaviorism, psychology is a purely objective branch of natural science. Its goal is to predict behavior and control it. The influence of behaviorism grew so rapidly that Watson was elected president of the American Psychological Association in 1915. In 1920, Watson was forced to leave his position at Johns Hopkins University due to the scandal surrounding his divorce and affair with graduate student Rosalie Rayner (co-author of a work on conditioning emotions in an 11-month-old boy, which went down in the history of psychology as the “little Albert” case). . He later married Rainer. Not a single university agrees to hire him. He moved to New York, where he took a job in the advertising industry with J. Walter Thompson while lecturing at the New School for Social Research.

Classical Conditioning (CDC) Introduction to Psychology Book. Authors: R.L. Atkinson, R.S. Atkinson, E.E. Smith, D.J. Boehm, S. Nolen-Hoeksema. Under the general editorship of V.P. Zinchenko. 15th international edition, St. Petersburg, Prime Eurosign, 2007. Article from chapter 7. Learning and conditioning Classical conditioning is a learning process in which a previously neutral stimulus begins to be associated with another stimulus due to the fact that the second stimulus accompanies the first. The study of classical conditioning began in the early years of the 20th century, when the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, who had already received the Nobel Prize for his research on digestion, turned to learning. While still studying digestion, Pavlov noticed that at the mere sight of a plate of food, a dog began to salivate. Any dog will salivate when food is put in its mouth, but this dog has learned to associate the sight of the plate with the taste of the food. Having stumbled upon a case of associative learning, Pavlov decided to see if it was possible to teach a dog to associate food with other things, such as light or sound. Pavlov's Experiments In Pavlov's basic experiment, a fistula is first inserted into a dog's salivary gland to measure the amount of saliva produced. Then a bowl is placed in front of the dog, into which meat powder can be automatically fed. The experimenter turns on the light in the window in front of the dog. After a few seconds, some meat powder is poured into the bowl and the light turns off. The dog is hungry and the recording device detects excessive salivation. Salivation is an unconditioned reflex (URR), since there is no learning here; for the same reason, meat powder is an unconditioned stimulus (UCS). This procedure is repeated several times: light, then food, light, then food, etc. After this, to test whether the dog has learned to associate light with food, the experimenter turns on the light, but does not provide any meat powder. If the dog salivates, it means he has learned this association. Such salivation is a conditioned response (CR), and light in this case is a conditioned stimulus (CS). This dog has been taught, or conditioned, to associate light with food. Classical conditioning circuit. The association between the unconditioned stimulus and the unconditioned response exists at the beginning of the experiment and does not need to be learned. The association between conditioned and unconditioned stimuli is learned. It occurs through paired presentation of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli (an association between a conditioned stimulus and a conditioned response can also be learned). Elements of classical conditioning Unconditioned stimulus - A stimulus that automatically causes a reaction, usually a reflex, without prior conditioning; stimulus (BUS) - reflex, without prior conditioning; Unconditioned stimulus (UNS) - A stimulus that automatically causes a reaction, usually a reflex, without prior conditioning; Unconditioned response (URR) - The initial reaction to an unconditioned stimulus, used as the basis for the development of a conditioned response to a previously neutral stimulus. Conditioned stimulus (CS) - A previously neutral stimulus that begins to evoke a conditioned response due to associations with an unconditioned stimulus; Conditioned response (CR) - A learned, or acquired, response to a stimulus that initially did not cause a reaction. Insight into learning In the recent past, scientists have found that the best evidence for complex learning comes from primates. Among these scientists was Wolfgang Köhler, who set tasks for chimpanzees that left some room for guesswork (insight), since none of the elements of the task were hidden from the chimpanzee's eyes (unlike the work of dispensing food in a Skinner box, which the animal could not observe ).

Conditioning increases sensitivity to pre-existing fears (PEP)

Author: N. J. Mackintosh, University of Cambridge.

Source: book “Introduction to Psychology”. Authors: R.L. Atkinson, R.S. Atkinson, E.E. Smith, D.J. Boehm, S. Nolen-Hoeksema. Under the general editorship of V.P. Zinchenko. 15th international edition, St. Petersburg, Prime-Euroznak, 2007.

Article from Chapter 7: Learning and Conditioning

John Watson, the father of behaviorism, believed that babies have only a few innate fears, and of these, the two most important are the fear of loud noise and the fear of being neglected. Literally all other fears, in his opinion, are acquired as a result of conditioning. To prove his point, Watson and his student Rosalie Rayner demonstrated the development of a conditioned fear response in the 11-month-old infant Albert B. (Watson & Rayner, 1920). At first, Albert was happy when he reached out to any small animal brought to him. The infant was then presented with a white rat (conditioned stimulus) seven times and, as he touched it, a steel block was suddenly struck behind him (unconditioned stimulus). As a result, at the sight of the rat, Albert began to cry and pull his hand away from it. The conditioned fear reflex developed for the rat was generalized to other stimuli - a rabbit, a dog and a seal coat. Since then, hundreds of laboratory experiments have shown that pairing random and initially neutral stimuli with an aversive event, such as a brief electric shock or a very loud noise, results in a conditioned fear response. Watson and Rayner's research has often been cited (Harris, 1979) as evidence that adult phobias, whether fear of snakes or spiders, open spaces or enclosed spaces, are based on one or more episodes of conditioning in which an initially neutral stimulus, such as a snake, associated with some unpleasant consequence. Such a direct application of conditioning theory is not without difficulties, one of which is worth noting in particular (if only to defend Watson and Rayner from the charge of cruelty): little Albert was only slightly agitated even when a rat was allowed to crawl on him, and at whatever level fear, the experimenters did not find generalization when testing in another room.

Vicarious conditioning research has shown that simply observing a fear response to a specific conditioned stimulus can act as an unconditioned stimulus that is sufficient to serve as a reinforcer for the acquisition of a conditioned fear response. Free-born rhesus monkeys are usually afraid of snakes. This is not an innate fear, as it was not exhibited by baby rhesus monkeys born in the laboratory. But for a baby macaque it is enough to see an adult exhibit a fear reaction to a snake once for it to develop a fear of snakes (Mineka, 1987). This is just one way that parents can unintentionally influence their children's behavior.

The traditional view of behaviorists was that any stimulus can be associated with any consequence. At first glance, this makes it even more problematic to explain phobias in terms of conditioning, since so far the most common phobias have been associated with social situations or animals, and not with a huge number of other objects or events (electrical sockets, the sight of one's own blood) that are more likely to be associated with painful consequences. Does this mean that there is a genetic predisposition to phobias? No, if you remember that we are all afraid of spiders from birth, but not everyone suffers from arachnophobia. Of course, it is differences in individual experience that, at least in part, cause one person to be afraid of spiders, another to be afraid of snakes, and another to be afraid of neither. But why only spiders, snakes, etc.? To answer this question, a number of conditioning experiments were conducted.

In a series of studies, Ohman and his colleagues showed that the conditioned galvanic skin response in humans is more resistant to attenuation when the conditioned stimulus is a picture of a snake or spider rather than a picture of flowers or mushrooms (Ohman, 1986). Cook and Mineka (1990) obtained evidence for the existence of such selective fear in monkeys. Infant monkeys were afraid of snakes after watching a videotape of an adult monkey exhibiting a fear response to a snake, but showed no fear response to flowers after watching a cleverly edited videotape of an adult monkey exhibiting a state of panic at the sight of a flower. Findings like these have been interpreted as evidence for the existence of a biological predisposition to associate certain kinds of stimuli with certain consequences: in the evolutionary history of early hominids or other African primates, snakes and spiders were potentially dangerous, while flowers and mushrooms were not. There are other questions that remain unanswered by learning theories. Ohman's experiments found that fear of snakes fades more slowly than fear of flowers, but they are acquired at the same speed. Other experiments have shown that pictures of snakes are as easily perceived as safety signals as pictures of flowers (McNally & Reiss, 1984). Baby monkeys in Cook and Mineka's experiments, after watching videos of adult monkeys showing fear responses to flowers but not snakes, still showed significant fear of a live snake (and no fear of flowers).

It can be concluded that if fear previously existed, then under conditions of threat or stress, sensitivity to certain types of stimuli increases, but faster development of a conditioned fear response does not occur (Lovibond, Siddle & Bond, 1993).

Phobias are an innate defense mechanism Defense against predators is a matter of urgency; it is necessary to quickly respond to danger with effective behavior. Slow learning through trial and error will not work in this case.

Pavlov's dogs

Many of the operations that the scientist performed ended in failure for the animal. As Pavlov himself said, when he cuts and destroys a living animal, he suppresses the caustic reproach within himself that he is breaking the artistic mechanism. But he does this only in the interests of truth and for the benefit of people. When conducting his experiments, Pavlov performed all surgical interventions only under anesthesia, so as not to cause additional suffering to the animal. The dog monument he erected in St. Petersburg speaks about the scientist’s attitude towards his charges.

Now Pavlov's dog is not just a dumb experimental animal. This is a real martyr, a patient hero who suffered to help science and all people. Many films have been made about her, a large number of books have been written, and monuments have been erected. Despite his death, the memory of this animal is still alive. Any of us immediately associates the very name Pavlov with a dog, so we can safely say that this is a rare case when the memories of an experimental animal outlived the memories of the great scientist himself.

The essence of experiments and experiences

Pavlov's experiments initially concerned themselves exclusively with the functioning of the digestive tract. He performed an operation through which he could observe the process of secretion of gastric juice in animals at the time of feeding.

The difficulty of such work was that the contact of gastric juice with the tissues of the abdominal cavity led to their digestion and the animals died. Pavlov spent a decade overcoming this problem and obtaining a fistula, a sealed opening in the gastrointestinal tract.

Later, the scientist noticed the dogs’ reaction to the sound of the footsteps of the person who usually feeds them. He saw that animals salivate while waiting for food, before the very moment of feeding.

The scientist thought about studying reflex activity. The experiments took on a different character. Salivation and secretion of gastric juice were studied in connection with external events (a light bulb was lit or a bell sounded).

Development of classical conditioning theory

The name of the famous Russian physiologist is also associated with a method that allows one to train a person or animal to react in a certain way to a previously neutral object or phenomenon. It is called classical conditioning. With its help, Pavlov and his dogs proved the existence of conditioned reflexes that can be developed by repeating an action many times under the same conditions.

For your information! Conditioning occurs through reinforcement - positive or negative.

The essence of the doctor's experiment was to develop the animal's reaction to light. It was held in the 1900s and proceeded as follows: