Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T23:46:57.542Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pavlov in America: A Heterodox Approach to the Study of his Influence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Gabriel Ruiz ,
Natividad Sánchez  and
Luis Gonzalo De la Casa
Gabriel Ruiz*
Affiliation:
University of Seville
Natividad Sánchez
Affiliation:
University of Seville
Luis Gonzalo De la Casa
Affiliation:
University of Seville
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Gabriel Ruiz, Departamento de Psicología Experimental, C/ Camilo José Cela s/n. 41018 Sevilla. E-mail: gruiz@us.es
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This work presents a critical analysis of Pavlov's influence that goes beyond the conventional view: that which reduces his influence in American psychology to the behaviorism of Watson and Hull. In order to understand the nature of the Russian physiologist's influence in American psychology, we propose a distinction between three approaches to it: 1) the symbolic approach, on representing a model of the possibility of constructing an objective psychology; 2) the methodological approach, given the importance of the technique of conditional reflexes; and 3) the theoretical approach, which is derived from his theory of higher nervous activity. This perspective permits us to suggest that most of Pavlov's influence on behaviorism was of a symbolic and methodological nature—though the methodological influence also reached other authors that did not belong to the behaviorist traditions, as was the case of Mateer. As far as the theoretical influence is concerned, our work proposes that it is more visible in authors such as Gantt and Liddell, or even in authors such as Boldirev, Director of the Pavlovian Laboratory at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan. The case of Gantt is especially interesting because, in addition to his important contributions, he played an essential role in the foundation of the Pavlovian Society, and the journal Conditional Reflex. What our work proposes is that to understand the nature of Pavlov's influence in American psychology it is necessary to take into account the very characteristics of that psychology: its pragmatic interests, its methodological rigor, the dominant systems of neo-behavioral theory and the changes that occurred after the Second World War.

En el presente trabajo se realiza un análisis crítico de la influencia de Pavlov que va más allá de su visión convencional: aquélla que reduce su influencia en la psicología americana al conductismo de Watson y Hull. Para entender la naturaleza de la influencia del fisiólogo ruso en la psicología norteamericana proponemos distinguir entre tres sentidos de la misma: 1) el simbólico, al representar un modelo de la posibilidad de construir una psicología objetiva; 2) el metodológico, por la importancia de la técnica de los reflejos condicionales; 3) el teórico, que se deriva de su teoría de la actividad nerviosa superior. Esta perspectiva nos permite sugerir que la mayor parte de la influencia de Pavlov sobre el conductismo fue de carácter simbólico y metodológico, aunque la influencia metodológica también alcanzó a autores que no pertenecieron a las tradiciones conductistas como fue el caso de Mateer. En lo que concierne a la influencia teórica, nuestro trabajo propone que es más visible en autores como Gantt y Liddell, o en otros menos conocidos como Boldirev, director de un laboratorio pavloviano en el Battle Creek Sanitarium de Michigan. El caso de Gantt nos parece de especial interés porque además de sus importantes contribuciones, jugó un papel esencial en la fundación de la Pavlovian Society y de la revista Conditional Reflex. En conclusión, lo que nuestro trabajo propone es que para entender la naturaleza de la influencia de Pavlov en la psicología norteamericana hay que tener muy presentes las propias características de esa psicología: sus intereses pragmáticos, su rigurosidad metodológica, los sistemas teóricos neoconductistas dominantes y los cambios que se fueron produciendo tras la segunda guerra mundial.

Keywords

PavlovAmerican psychologybehaviorismPavlovpsicología americanaconductismo
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 6 , Issue 2: Special Issue: A Century of Pavlovian Theory: The Madrid Lecture (Pavlov, 1903) , November 2003 , pp. 99 - 111
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aguado, L. (This issue). Neuroscience of Pavlovian conditioning: A brief review.Google Scholar
Álvarez-Buylla, R. (1950). Descripción de una cámara para el estudio de los reflejos condicionados construida en la Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas del I. P. N. Ciencia, 10, 291–294.Google Scholar
Álvarez-Buylla, R., & Carrasco-Zanini, J. (1960). A conditioned reflex which reproduces the hypoglycemic effect of insulin. Acta Physiologica Latinoamericana, 10, 153–158.Google ScholarPubMed
Anonymous (1929). A summary of the work of the Pavlov Physiological Institute of the Battle Creek Sanitarium during its first six years of existence. The Bulletin of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and Hospital Clinic, 232–236.Google Scholar
Ashby, W. R. (1952). Design for a brain: The origin of adaptive behaviour. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Babkin, B. P. (1949). Pavlov. A biography. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ban, T., & McGuigan, F. J. (1987). An overview of Gantt's contribution to science. In McGuigan, F. J. & Ban, T. (Eds.), Critical issues in psychology, psychiatry and physiology. A memorial to W. Horsley Gantt (pp. 6–13). New York: Gordon and Breach Science.Google Scholar
Boakes, R.A. (this issue). The impact of Pavlov on the psychology of learning in English-speaking countries.Google Scholar
Brogden, W. J., & Gantt, W. H. (1942). Intraneural conditioning: Cerebellar conditioned reflexes. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 48, 437–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bykov, K. M. (1957). The cerebral cortex and the internal organs. New York: Chemical Publishing.Google Scholar
Cason, H. (1922a). The conditioned pupillary reaction. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 5, 108–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cason, H. (1922b). The conditioned eyelid reaction. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 5, 153–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Catania, A. C., & Laties, V. G. (1999). Pavlov and Skinner: Two lives in science (An introduction to B. F. Skinner's “some responses to the stimulus ‘Pavlov’”). Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 72, 455–461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, S. R. (1988). Assessing Pavlov's impact on the American conditioning enterprise. Pavlovian Journal of Biological Science, 23, 102–106.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corson, S. A., & O'Leary, E. (1987). Schizokinesis and autokinesis. Significant components of biopsychogenic stress reactions and of psychosomatic disorders. In McGuigan, F. J. & Ban, T. (Eds.), Critical issues in psychology, psychiatry and physiology. A memorial to W. Horsley Gantt (pp. 255–284). New York: Gordon and Breach Science.Google Scholar
Dicara, L. V., & Miller, N. E. (1967). Instrumental learning of urine formation by curarized rats. Psychonomic Bulletin, 1, 23–24.Google Scholar
Dewsbury, D. A., & Bolles, R.C. (1995). The founding of the Psychonomic Society. Part 1. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 2, 216–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. (1957). The dynamics of anxiety and hysteria. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. (1967). The biological basis of personality. Springfield, IL: Thomas.Google Scholar
Fernández Guardiola, A. (1997). Las neurociencias en el exilio español en México. México: F.C.E.Google Scholar
Frolov, Y. P. (1937/1965). La actividad cerebral. Estado actual de la teoría de Pavlov. Buenos Aires: Psique.Google Scholar
Furedy, J. J. (2001). An epistemologically arrogant community of contending scholars. A pre-Socratic perspective on the past, present, and future of the Pavlovian Society. Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science, 36, 5–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gantt, W. H. (1944). Experimental basis for neurotic behavior. Origin and development of artificially produced disturbances of behavior in dogs. New York: Paul B. Hoeber.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gantt, W. H. (1953). Principles of nervous breakdown in schizokinesis and autokinesis. In Kempf, E. J. (Ed.), Comparative conditioned neuroses (pp. 143–163). New York: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Gantt, W. H. (1959). Application of the conditional reflex method in preventive psychiatry. Diseases of the Nervous System, 30, 30–32.Google Scholar
Gantt, W. H. (1970a). Cardiovascular components of the conditional reflex to pain, food and other stimuli. In Gantt, W. H., Pickenhain, L., & Zwingmann, Ch. (Eds.), Pavlovian approach to psychopathology. History and perspectives (pp. 69–94). Leipzig, Germany: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Gantt, W. H. (1970b). The physiological basis of psychiatry: The conditioned reflex. In Gantt, W. H., Pickenhain, L., & Zwingmann, Ch. (Eds.), Pavlovian approach to psychopathology. History and perspectives (pp. 305–327). Leipzig, Germany: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Gantt, W. H. (1972). Organ system responsibility, homeostasis and the conditional reflex. Conditional Reflex, 7, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gantt, W. H. (1982). The science of behavior and the internal universe. In Eccles, J. (Ed.), Mind and brain. The many-faceted problems (pp. 113–130). Washington: Paragon House.Google Scholar
Giral, F. (1994). Ciencia española en el exilio (1939-1989). El exilio de los científicos españoles. Barcelona: Anthropos.Google Scholar
Gray, J. A. (1964). Pavlov's typology: Recent theoretical and experimental development from the laboratory of B. M. Teplov. Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Hagbloom, S., Warnick, R., Warnick, J. E., Jones, V. K., Yarbrough, G. L., Russell, T. M., Borecky, C. M., McGahhey, R., Powell, J. L. III, Beavers, J., & Monte, E. (2002). The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century. Review of General Psychology, 6, 139–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamel, I. A. (1919). A study and analysis of the conditioned reflex. Psychological Monographs, 27, 1–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, A. M. (1995). W. Horsley Gantt—A legend in his time. Integrative Physiological & Behavioral Science, 30, 237–243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heaton, N. A. (1986). The W. Horsley Gantt papers. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.Google Scholar
Hilgard, E. R. (1933a). Reinforcement and inhibition of eyelid reflexes. Journal of General Psychology, 8, 85–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hilgard, E. R. (1933b). Modification of reflexes and conditioned reactions. Journal of General Psychology, 9, 85–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hull, C. L. (1929). A functional interpretation of the conditioned reflex. Psychological Review, 36, 498–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kline, N. S. (Ed.). (1960). Pavlovian conference on higher nervous activity. New York: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Lashley, K. S. (1916a). The human salivary reflex and its use in psychology. Psychological Review, 23, 446–464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lashley, K. S. (1916b). Reflex secretion of the human parotid gland. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1, 461–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laties, V. G. (1987). Society for the experimental analysis of behavior: The first 30 years. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 48, 495–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liddell, H. S. (1926). A laboratory for the study of conditioned motor reflexes. American Journal of Psychology, 37, 418–419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liddell, H. S. (1953). A comprehensive approach to the dynamics of conditioning neuroses. In Kempf, E. J. (Ed.), Comparative conditioned neuroses (pp. 164–170). New York: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Liddell, H. S. (1956). History and prospects of the behavior farm laboratory at Cornell University. In Gantt, W. H. (Ed.), Physiological bases of psychiatry (pp. 243–251). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.Google Scholar
Livingston, A. Jr., & Gantt, W. H. (1968). An attempt to condition components of urine formation in dogs. Conditional Reflex, 3, 241–253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lynch, J. J. (1987). W. Horsley Gantt's effect of person. In McGuigan, F. J. & Ban, T. (Eds.), Critical issues in psychology, psychiatry and physiology. A memorial to W. Horsley Gantt (pp. 93–106). New York: Gordon and Breach Science.Google Scholar
Mackintosh, N.J. (this issue). Pavlov and ssociationism.Google Scholar
Mateer, F. (1918). Child behavior: A critical and experimental study of young children by the method of conditioned reflexes. Boston, MA: Badger.Google Scholar
Pare, W. P. (1990). Pavlov as a psychophysiological scientist. Brain Research Bulletin, 24, 643–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pavlov, I. P. (1906). The Huxley lecture on the scientific investigation of the psychical faculties or processes in higher mammals. Lancet, 2, 911–915.Google Scholar
Reese, W. G., Peters, J. E., & Dykman, R. A. (1987). Gantt on Gantt. In McGuigan, F. J. & Ban, T. (Eds.), Critical issues in psychology, psychiatry and physiology. A memorial to W. Horsley Gantt (pp. 17–56). New York: Gordon and Breach Science.Google Scholar
Rescorla, R.A. (this issue). Contemporary Study of Pavlovian ConditioningGoogle Scholar
Ruiz, G., Sánchez, N., & De la Casa, L. G. (2002a). Pavlovianos en América. Revista de Historia de la Psicología, 23, 467–476.Google Scholar
Ruiz, G., Sánchez, N., & De la Casa, L. G. (2002b, August). Pavlov's influence on American psychology: Completing the puzzle. Paper presented at the 21st annual conference of the European Society for the History of the Human Sciences. Barcelona, Spain.Google Scholar
Schlosberg, H. (1928). A study of the conditioned patellar reflex. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 11, 468–494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1938). The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1983). A matter of consequences. Part three of an autobiography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
Spence, K. W. (1956). Behavior theory and conditioning. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strelau, J. (1972). The general and partial nervous system types–data and theory. In Nebylitsyn, V. D. & Gray, J. A. (Eds.), Biological basis of individual behavior (pp. 62–73). New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Todes, D. P. (2002). Pavlov's physiology factory. Experiment, interpretation, laboratory enterprise. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Watson, J. B. (1916). The place of the conditioned reflex in psychology. Psychological Review, 23, 89–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walter, W. G. (1953). The living brain. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Wiener, N. (1948). Cybernetics, or control and communication in the animal and the machine. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google ScholarPubMed
Windholz, G., & Lamal, P. A. (1986). Priority in the classical conditioning of children. Teaching of Psychology, 13, 192–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolf, S. G. (1987). W. Horsley Gantt's conceptual contributions to clinical medicine. In McGuigan, F. J. & Ban, T. (Eds.), Critical issues in psychology, psychiatry and physiology. A memorial to W. Horsley Gantt (pp. 336–342). New York: Gordon and Breach Science.Google Scholar
Yerkes, R. M., & Morgulis, S. (1909). The method of Pawlow in animal psychology. The Psychological Bulletin, 6, 257–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar