Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich (1849–1936)

Russian physiologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for his discovery of the physiology of digestion. Pavlov studied conditioned reflexes in animals (see conditioning). His work had a great impact on behavioural theory (see behaviourism) and learning theory.

Pavlov was born in Ryazan and studied in St Petersburg at the university and the Imperial Medical Academy, where he became professor in 1890.

Studying the physiology of the circulatory system and the regulation of blood pressure, Pavlov devised animal experiments such as the dissection of the cardiac nerves of a living dog to show how the nerves that leave the cardiac plexus control heartbeat strength.

Pavlov's work relating to human behaviour and the nervous system also emphasized the importance of conditioning. He deduced that the inhibitive behaviour of a psychotic person is a means of self-protection. The person shuts out the world and, with it, all damaging stimuli. Following this theory, the treatment of psychiatric patients in Russia involved placing a sick person in completely calm and quiet surroundings.

Pavlov summarized his Nobel prize-winning work in Die Arbeit der Verdauungsdrüsen/Lectures on the Work of the Principal Digestive Gland (1897).