Psychology Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Psychology - Research Paper Example He was devoted in the field of physiology and even won the 1904 Nobel Prize for his work in physiology (Martin, 1988). Even though Pavlov was never a psychologist and never wanted to be associated with psychology, he is one of the greatest contributors to the field of psychology. He came through most of his findings through experiments that he performed on animals such as dogs. One of his greatest contributions to the field of psychology is classical conditioning. This is one of the most useful discoveries in the field of psychology and most psychology students have to pass through it in their early years of study. While studying the digestive system of his dog, he noticed something that was very interesting and that led to the development of classical conditioning. He noticed that whenever his assistant entered the room, his dog would immediately start salivating. In the experiment, they started introducing different items to measure the level of salivation that the dog had. He later went on to note that salivation was an automatic response or reflex process (Prokasy, 1965). From the experiments and their outcomes, Pavlov was able to conclude that salivation was a response that could be learned. He noted that the dogs were responding to different stimuli that were presented to them just before food was delivered. They therefore learnt to connect these things with food. He noted that there was the salivary response which came when the dog was presented the food and the conditioning reflex that came when the dog was expecting food. After several experiments, he noted that there was a conditioned stimulus which was food for the dogs and the response which in this case was salivation. This discovery is still the most important discovery in the field of psychology. Apart from the fact that this discovery led to the formation of behavioral psychology, the discovery is used today in the treatment of some health issues as well as the modification of behavior