Conditioned Reflexes


Book Description

The Nobel Prize-winning scientist offers a precise, full, and accessible exposition of his landmark work in experimental psychology. Pavlov details the technical means by which he established experiments and controls, the experiments, observations on formation of conditioned reflexes, external and internal reflex inhibitions, the function of cerebral hemispheres and cortex, and more. 18 figures.







I. P. Pavlov


Book Description




Psychopathology and Psychiatry


Book Description

Pavlov’s fundamental theory of higher nervous activity concerns the adaptation to changing external environments of organisms such as dogs, apes, and humans. In the 1920s, Pavlov and his disciples used laboratory experimentation to study the etiology and therapy of neuroses In human beings and other species. Later, In the 1930s, Pavlov devoted much time and effort to the systematic study of psychopathology In clinical settings. Psychopathology and Psychiatry is Pavlov’s little-known series of descriptions of these experiments and findings. Pavlov used two fundamental approaches In the study of neuroses and psychoses: the conditioned salivary reflex method, with dogs as subjects; and the observation of neurotic and psychotic behavior In humans. Pavlov was primarily Interested In how the cortex worked to facilitate the orgaftilsm's adaptation to the external environment. The conditioned reflex findings were explained In terms of hypothetical physiological processes. Pavlov was certain that dogs’ Inability to adapt flexibly was the result of conflicts and traumatic experiences. Soon thereafter, he linked these discoveries to actual human cases of neuroses and psychoses. These are covered In this volume. In a new introduction to this classic text, George Windholz traces Pavlov’s scholarly and scientific life, highlighting his various studies and results under stressful political and pedagogical conditions. Psychopathology and Psychiatry continues to be a highly significant work of scientific study. Psychologists, psychiatrists, and behavioral researchers of all professional persuasions will find this work to be essential reading.




The Word as a Physiological and Therapeutic Factor


Book Description

"In outlining the sequence of our material, we deemed it necessary to show ways of eliminating functional disorders of the higher nervous activity of man by psychotherapeutic methods. In this our investigations were concerned both with the nearest subcortical region and the two signal systems of reality, the normal co-ordination of which underlies the healthy personality, the integrity of our 'ego.' ."The object of our monograph is to show precisely what psychotherapy can and does effect under certain conditions. Not only somatologists but frequently even psychiatrists, have inadequate knowledge of the efficacy of psychotherapy. In order that the methods of psychotherapy be extensively introduced into medical practice, we need facts directly testifying to its efficacy. It has been our object to give these facts since, according to Pavlov, 'facts are the breath of life for the scientist.' At the same time, we intended to acquaint the reader with our methods of studying and employing psychotherapy on the basis of Pavlov's teachings."




Dark Persuasion


Book Description

A harrowing account of brainwashing’s pervasive role in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries This gripping book traces the evolution of brainwashing from its beginnings in torture and religious conversion into the age of neuroscience and social media. When Pavlov introduced scientific approaches, his research was enthusiastically supported by Lenin and Stalin, setting the stage for major breakthroughs in tools for social, political, and religious control. Tracing these developments through many of the past century’s major conflagrations, Dimsdale narrates how when World War II erupted, governments secretly raced to develop drugs for interrogation. Brainwashing returned to the spotlight during the Cold War in the hands of the North Koreans and Chinese. In response, a huge Manhattan Project of the Mind was established to study memory obliteration, indoctrination during sleep, and hallucinogens. Cults used the techniques as well. Nobel laureates, university academics, intelligence operatives, criminals, and clerics all populate this shattering and dark story—one that hasn’t yet ended.




Pavlov's Physiology Factory


Book Description

Russian physiologist and Nobel Prize winner Ivan Pavlov is most famous for his development of the concept of the conditional reflex and the classic experiment in which he trained a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell. In Pavlov's Physiology Factory: Experiment, Interpretation, Laboratory Enterprise, Daniel P. Todes explores Pavlov's early work in digestive physiology through the structures and practices of his landmark laboratory—the physiology department of the Imperial Institute for Experimental Medicine. In Lectures on the Work of the Main Digestive Glands, for which Pavlov won the Nobel Prize in 1904, the scientist frequently referred to the experiments of his coworkers and stated that his conclusions reflected "the deed of the entire laboratory." This novel claim caused the prize committee some consternation. Was he alone deserving of the prize? Examining the fascinating content of Pavlov's scientific notes and correspondence, unpublished memoirs, and laboratory publications, Pavlov's Physiology Factory explores the importance of Pavlov's directorship of what the author calls a "physiology factory" and illuminates its relationship to Pavlov's Nobel Prize-winning work and the research on conditional reflexes that followed it. Todes looks at Pavlov's performance in his various roles as laboratory manager, experimentalist, entrepreneur, and scientific visionary. He discusses changes wrought by government and commercial interests in science and sheds light on the pathways of scientific development in Russia—making clear Pavlov's personal achievements while also examining his style of laboratory management. Pavlov's Physiology Factory thus addresses issues of importance to historians of science and scientists today: "big" versus "small" science, the dynamics of experiment and interpretation, and the development of research cultures.




Ivan Pavlov


Book Description

Winner of the Pfizer Award from the History of Science Society "Contrary to legend, Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) never trained a dog to salivate to the sound of a bell." So begins this definitive, deeply researched biography of Ivan Pavlov. Daniel P. Todes fundamentally reinterprets the Russian physiologist's famous research on conditional reflexes and weaves his life, values, and science into the tumultuous century of Russian history-particularly that of its intelligentsia-from the reign of tsar Nicholas I to Stalin's time. Ivan Pavlov was born to a family of priests in provincial Riazan before the serfs were emancipated, and made his home and professional success in the booming capital of St. Petersburg in late imperial Russia. He suffered the cataclysmic destruction of his world during the Bolshevik seizure of power and civil war of 1917-21, rebuilt his life in his seventies as a "prosperous dissident" during the Leninist 1920s, and flourished professionally as never before in the 1930s industrialization, revolution, and terror of Stalin times. Using a wide variety of previously unavailable archival materials, Todes tells a vivid story of that life and redefines Pavlov's legacy. Pavlov was not, in fact, a behaviorist who believed that psychology should address only external behaviors; rather, he sought to explain the emotional and intellectual life of animals and humans, "the torments of our consciousness." This iconic "objectivist" was actually a profoundly anthropomorphic thinker whose science was suffused with his own experiences, values, and subjective interpretations. Todes's story of this powerful personality and extraordinary man is based upon interviews with surviving coworkers and family members (along with never-before-analyzed taped interviews from the 1960s and 1970s), examination of hundreds of scientific works by Pavlov and his coworkers, and close analysis of materials from some twenty-five archives. The materials range from the records of his student years at Riazan Seminary to the transcripts of the Communist Party cells in his labs, and from his scientific manuscripts and notebooks to his political speeches; they include revealing love letters to his future wife and correspondence with hundreds of scholars, artists, and Communist Party leaders; and memoirs by many coworkers, his daughter, his wife, and his lover. The product of more than twenty years of research, this is the first scholarly biography of the physiologist to be published in any language.




Ivan Pavlov


Book Description

This is a definitive, deeply researched biography of Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) and is the first scholarly biography to be published in any language. The book is Todes's magnum opus, which he has been working on for some twenty years. Todes makes use of a wealth of archival material to portray Pavlov's personality, life, times, and scientific work. Combining personal documents with a close reading of scientific texts, Todes fundamentally reinterprets Pavlov's famous research on conditional reflexes. Contrary to legend, Pavlov was not a behaviorist (a misimpression captured in the false iconic image of his "training a dog to salivate to the sound of a bell"); rather, he sought to explain not simply external behaviors, but the emotional and intellectual life of animals and humans. This iconic "objectivist" was actually a profoundly anthropomorphic thinker whose science was suffused with his own experiences, values, and subjective interpretations. This book is also a traditional "life and times" biography that weaves Pavlov into some 100 years of Russian history-particularly that of its intelligentsia--from the emancipation of the serfs to Stalin's time. Pavlov was born to a family of priests in provincial Ryazan before the serfs were emancipated, made his home and professional success in the glittering capital of St. Petersburg in late imperial Russia, suffered the cataclysmic destruction of his world during the Bolshevik seizure of power and civil war of 1917- 1921, rebuilt his life in his 70s as a "prosperous dissident" during the Leninist 1920s, and flourished professionally as never before in 1929-1936 during the industrialization, revolution, and terror of Stalin. Todes's story of this powerful personality and extraordinary man is based upon interviews with surviving coworkers and family members (along with never-before-analyzed taped interviews from the 1960s and 1970s), examination of hundreds of scientific works




Pavlov's Typology


Book Description

International Series of Monographs on Experimental Psychology, Volume 1: Pavlov's Typology presents problems of personality and the theoretical framework done in the U.S.S.R. Part 1 of this book deals with the development of Pavlov's theory of personality on experiments conducted on dogs and the problems encountered in studies of higher nervous activity in man and animals. These tests include investigation into the capacity of cortical cells of the test subject; the speed of movement and termination of the nervous process; and the speed of formation of positive and negative conditioned connections. Part 2 is the application of Pavlov's theory of types to individual differences in human beings. This part emphasizes that when using data from Pavlov's studies of animals, typological differences are considered when applied in man; that experimental methods are to be improved; and that operations definitions and concepts can change. Part 3 concerns experiments from Teplov's laboratory on the dimension of strength of the nervous systems in human beings. This strength is shown from the working capacity of nerve cells as 1) the strength of excitation the nerve-cell can endure when a stimulus acts on it in a single time and 2) the time that the nerve-cell can endure prolonged stimulus or at shorter but frequent intervals. The conclusions observed in strong subjects and weak subjects are then analyzed. This book can be appreciated by psychiatrists, psychologists, behavioral scientists, and students and professors in psychology.