Psychology Atlas

How The Mind Works
Studies and Experiments

Pavlov's Dog Experiments

PAHV-lawf (Russian: Павлов)

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Beginning in the 1890s, Ivan Pavlov paired a neutral stimulus, such as the sound of a metronome, with food until dogs began salivating to the stimulus alone, absent food, establishing the terminology of unconditioned stimulus, neutral stimulus and conditioned stimulus. Later analysis found the conditioned and unconditioned responses were not identical (a dog's saliva differed in composition between the two), complicating a simple stimulus-substitution account.

Facts
Key Finding
Dogs learned to salivate to a previously neutral stimulus once it was repeatedly paired with food, demonstrating classical conditioning. 1
Study Year
1897 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Pavlov's dogs experiments are the founding demonstration of classical conditioning.

Conducted By

In Branch

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Classical conditioning
Wikimedia FoundationPavlov's dogs section
Quote, Pavlov's dogs section
after a few repetitions, the dogs started to salivate in response to the stimulus
1. Wikipedia: Classical conditioning
Wikimedia Foundationbody text
Quote, body text
published the experimental results in 1897
1. Wikipedia: Classical conditioning
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Classical Conditioning, Article body, section on Pavlov's original observations and the metronome-pairing procedure
Quote, Associated With: Classical Conditioning, Article body, section on Pavlov's original observations and the metronome-pairing procedure
Putting these informal observations to an experimental test, Pavlov presented a stimulus (e.g. the sound of a metronome) and then gave the dog food; after a few repetitions, the dogs started to salivate in response to the stimulus.
Wikipedia: Ivan Pavlov
Wikimedia FoundationConducted By: Ivan Pavlov, intro paragraph
Quote, Conducted By: Ivan Pavlov, intro paragraph
known for his discovery of classical conditioning through his experiments with dogs
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