Michael E.

Kimble

ATE 603-131 Introduction to Adult Education and Adult Learners

Module 13 Adult Learning Theory and Theorists

19 November, 2016

Dr. Feon M. Smith

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Introduction

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov is a behaviorist learning theorist who is most recognized for his

classical conditioning experiment, which won a Nobel Prize in 1904. During my undergrad

studies I recall hearing Pavlovs name but have no recollection of his accomplishments and/or

contributions to the world of education. It is from no profound admiration for him or his work,

but rather a lack of understanding about his work, and in fact, about who he even was, that he

became the topic of this paper. Perhaps a better understanding of who he was, what he did, and

how his classical conditioning experimentation has impacted the realm of education, will give a

better grasp on the art of teaching.

Biography

On September 14, 1849, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born in the city of Ryazan in Russia to the

village priest, Dmitreivich Pavlov. It is easy to assume that Ivan came from a well-respected, if

not wealthy, family, but instead he began life in a very humble environment. Ivan began his

education at the church school and then attended the theological seminary, both located in

Ryazan. In 1870, Ivan made the choice to devote his life to science and began studying natural

science. In 1875, Pavlov completed his Natural Sciences degree. His next move was to

continue his studies at the Academy of Medical Surgery in physiology, which he completed in

1879. Upon completion of his studies, he won a fellowship at the Academy and worked as the

director of the Physiological Laboratory under famous Russian S.P. Botkin. Ivans fellowship

allowed him to continue his research work, and in 1883 he presented his doctoral thesis on The

centrifugal nerves of the heart. In 1890 Pavlov began to work as the director of the Department

of Physiology at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, a job which he held for 45 years until

his death. It was at the institute during this time, 1891-1900, that Pavlov performed the majority
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of his research on the physiology of digestion. This research, which was the basis for his

classical conditioning learning theory, won a Nobel Prize in 1904. After a lifetime of

contributions to the educational community, on February 27, 1936, Pavlov died in Leningrad

(Nobel, 2014).

Pavlovs Contribution to Behaviorism

In order to understand Pavlovs work and contribution, it is necessary to first understand

behaviorism, the area in which his learning theory is based. Pavlovs research of classical

conditioning is considered to be one of the best examples of behaviorism. According to Knowles

(2015), behaviorism is a learning theory which states that learning is the result of conditioning.

In other words, behaviors are learned through stimulation and positive reinforcement and not, as

some believe, a result of uncontrollable reactions.

In the 1890s Pavlov was studying the salivation of dogs when fed and believed that a

dog does not need to learn to salivate when it sees food, but rather will do it automatically. To

prove this, he measured the amount of saliva a dog produced when presented with a bowl of

food. Like many great scientific advances, Pavlovian conditioning (aka classical conditioning)

was discovered accidentally (McLeod, 2013). It was a great surprise when he noticed that they

salivated anytime the lab assistant entered the room, whether or not he had food. Contrary to the

old saying, you cant teach an old dog new tricks, this triggered response made it apparent to

Pavlov that the dogs had indeed learned to respond to certain stimuli with salivation. To prove

that the dogs had indeed been taught this behavior, he began research in which he rang a bell

every time he gave his dogs food. After repetitively ringing this bell and simultaneously feeding

the dogs, he then rang the bell without food and noted an increase in salivation. The increased

salivation due to the ringing of a bell served to prove that the dogs had learned a new behavior.
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Pavlovs work also demonstrated the necessity for stimuli to be presented closely together, which

is known as the law of temporal contiguity, which states that if there is too much time between

conditioned stimulus (the bell) and unconditioned stimulus (food) no learning will occur. Pavlov

became famous in the educational community because his study of classical conditioning was the

first ever performed (McLeod, 2013).

The Impact and Legacy of Pavlovs Work

Pavlovs findings included concepts of reinforcement, generalization, differentiation and

extinction, which have been incorporated into the way behaviorists think and rationalize

learning. Reinforcement is the process where a conditioned stimulus is followed by an

unconditioned stimulus and responses with in a set time interval. This causes a reflex to develop

and become automatic. Extinction is the loss of a conditioned response, and is achieved by

presenting a conditioned stimulus without a reinforcement. A generalization is a reflex that can

be triggered by different stimuli which may be dissimilar. The finial concept of differentiation is

how a reaction is triggered only by a positive stimulus and not a negative one (Knowles, 2015).

The research and related findings of Pavlov have had a vast influence upon the world of

education. Many theorists have used Pavlovs work as the basis for their own research. Pavlovs

findings were used by John Watson in 1913 to create the theory of classical conditioning.

Watson used Pavlovs work as proof that everything humans did was the result of a pattern of

stimulus and response. Classical conditioning consists of three stages, before conditioning,

during conditioning, and after conditioning. According to the learning theory, these stages can

be used to teach students expected behaviors. It is important that teachers strive to make

students associate school with positive feelings. A failure to do so could negatively impact a

student. If a student gets beat up every day on the playground, then that student will begin to
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associate recess with pain. This association can cause the student to refuse to go to recess or to

act out in order to avoid recess. If the dislike is strong enough, it could continue to impact the

student for the rest of his or her academic career. The reverse results if students have positive

feelings about school. These positive feelings could cause a student to put forth greater effort to

learn, to have better interaction with both their superiors and peers, to have better attendance, and

to have higher levels of achievement. It is because of the work of Pavlov that we professional

educators are able to positively influence our students and help ensure they achieve their

maximum potential (McLeod, 2014).

Conclusion

Although the research of Pavlov was conducted around the turn of the last century, his

findings are still useful today. Pavlovs findings illustrated how an animal can be trained to

illicit a response through conditioning, and it is thought, therefore, that a human can be trained

the same way. It is important for educators to understand the importance of classical

conditioning in order to ensure students have positive experiences in the educational setting.

These positive experiences can help to ensure students maintain higher levels of achievement

and reach their maximum potential which, after all, is our goal in the classroom.
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References
Knowles, M. S., Holton III, E. F., & Swanson, R. A. (2015). The adult learner: The definitive
classic in adult education and human resource development (8th ed.). Burlington, MA:
Routledge.
McLeod, S. A. (2013). Pavlov's Dogs. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/pavlov.html
McLeod, S. A. (2014). Classical Conditioning. Retrieved from
www.simplypsychology.org/classical-conditioning.html
Nobel Media AB 2014. Ivan Pavlov - Biographical. Nobelprize.org. Retrieved from
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1904/pavlov-bio.html