Final answer:
Ivan Pavlov's animal studies were used to gain insight into classical conditioning, a type of associative learning where organisms learn to associate events that repeatedly happen together.
Step-by-step explanation:
Ivan Pavlov's animal studies were used to gain insight into classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a type of associative learning where organisms learn to associate events that repeatedly happen together. Pavlov's experiments with dogs showed how stimulus-response bonds are formed through the association of stimuli. This form of learning was further developed by behaviorists like John Watson and is a key concept in understanding how reflexive responses can be conditioned.