Ivan Petrovich Pavlov

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Ivan Petrovich Pavlov Ivan Pavlov was born in Ryazan, Russia on September 14, 1849. His father, Peter Pavlov, was one of the most respected priests in the area and wanted his son to follow his footsteps into the clergy life. Ivan held little qualms about his predetermined lifestyle, studying at a church school in Ryazan until his interests were diverted to the works of a Russian physiologist I.M. Sechenov and the concepts proposed by D.I. Pisarev. Pavlov abandoned his religious career for a life dedicated to science, studying and working tirelessly on a seemingly endless number of projects that would later yield a series of discoveries representing a pivotal turning point in psychological viewpoints. He became obsessed with physiology, which eventually earned him a gold medal for is work on the physiology of pancreatic nerves and ended up being his fundamental area of study. In the Institute of Experimental Medicine, Pavlov did most of his research regarding the digestive system. This research would inadvertently lead to Pavlov’s most famous and well recognized discovery, which brought with it a Nobel Prize in Psychology and Medicine. Ivan was a behaviorist, focusing only on observable behaviors that could be quantified, recorded, and connected with other data and evidence. This fundamental practice somewhat limited the spectrums of research that Pavlov could perform but he didn’t let that hold him back. He had a particularly strong interest in the behavior of both humans and animals, especially the innate reflexes contained inside all organisms. The vast majority of his experiments, however, were done with dogs, specifically because of the plasticity of their brains as well as the abundant quantity in which he could amass them to conduct his research. These dogs eventually came to adopt a generalized name; “Pavlov’s Dogs.” Due to his extensive medical
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