Ivan P. Pavlov - An overview of his life and psychological work

Ivan P. Pavlov (1849-1936), while studying in the 1860s at the Riazan' Ecclesiastic Seminary, was profoundly influenced by Russian translations of Western natural science literature, especially that with strong Darwinian overtones, and he abandoned a career in the church. He became a professor of physiology in 1895 at the imperial Military-Medical Academy in St, Petersburg, where he did research on the digestive process (for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1904). Starting in 1901 and for the next 35 years, Pavlov, using primarily the salivary reflex conditioning method, systematically accumulated experimental results that were sufficient to formulate the theory of higher nervous activity which described the functions of the brain in complex organisms' adjustment to a changing external environment. Essentially a psychological theory, it encompassed innately determined instincts, temperament types, the acquisition of knowledge and adjustive patterns in terms of a dynamic stereotype, the nature of language, the characteristics of old age, and the etiology of neuroses and psychoses. Pavlov's international reputation as a scientist most likely enabled hint to be critical of the Bolshevik regime and to publicly defend human rights and academic freedom in the Soviet Union.