Question

Who was Ivan Pavlov, and what did he do in terms of his experiment and theory?

Option 1: A psychologist known for the Little Albert experiment, exploring fear conditioning.
Option 2: A biologist famous for discovering the conditioned reflex through experiments with dogs.
Option 3: A philosopher who formulated the Law of Effect in instrumental conditioning.
Option 4: A sociologist studying the impact of culture on cognitive development.

Answer 1

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist who discovered the conditioned reflex, known as classical conditioning, through his experiments with dogs. The correct answer to the question is Option 2.

Step-by-step explanation:

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist known for his research on the digestive system of dogs, which led to the discovery of classical conditioning. This process involves learning to associate two stimuli, resulting in the ability to anticipate events. Pavlov observed that dogs could learn to associate a neutral stimulus, like a bell sound, with an unconditioned stimulus (food), leading to an unconditioned response (salivation). Eventually, through repetition, the neutral stimulus could elicit the same response, now called a conditioned response, even without the unconditioned stimulus present.

Option 1, which mentions the Little Albert experiment, refers to John B. Watson, and not Pavlov. Option 3 involves the Law of Effect, which was theorized by Edward Thorndike. Option 4, the study of the impact of culture on cognitive development, is more closely associated with the work of Lev Vygotsky. Therefore, the correct answer is Option 2: A biologist famous for discovering the conditioned reflex through experiments with dogs.

Answer 2

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist who established the concept of classical conditioning through experiments with dogs, discovering the conditioned reflex by demonstrating how a natural reflex can become associated with a new stimulus.

Step-by-step explanation:

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist known for his discovery of the conditioned reflex, a fundamental concept of classical conditioning in behaviorist psychology. Pavlov's experiments with dogs, in which he measured the amount of saliva produced in response to various stimuli, led him to observe that dogs began to salivate not just at the taste of food but also to associated stimuli like the sight of the bowl or the footsteps of laboratory assistants. These observations led Pavlov to understand that a reflex response could be conditioned to a new stimulus through repetitive association of the two. The correct answer to the question is therefore Option 2: A biologist famous for discovering the conditioned reflex through experiments with dogs.

Pavlov's experimental findings were seminal in the field of psychology because they explained how animals (including humans) can learn to expect certain events based on experiences that repeatedly occur together, laying the groundwork for behaviorism, a theory which focuses on observable behaviors rather than internal experiences.