pavlov's experiment

pavlov's experiment

1. control condition

   • presented dog with food
     • dog salivated

2. as an experimental control

   • presented dog with sound of metronome - dog salivated
     • to condition dog , paired sound with food
       • then sound but no food
         • dog started to salivate 9 secs after hearing sound
         • by 45 secs produced 11 drops of saliva

3. evaluation

   • generalisability
     • animal
       • cannot extrapolate to human
         • humans have much more different brains + more complicated thoughs and motives
         • e.g. not motivated by food all the time
     • theory of evolution supports
       • humans will learn through association in the same way as other animals
   • reliability
     • standardised procedure + carefully documented
       • can be replicated to check for reliability of results
     • got different researchers to observe and measure salivation
       • high inter-rater
       • test-retest
   • applications
     • led to aversion therapy
       • take a sip of alcohol while under the effect of a nausea-inducing drug
         • sipping followed by vomiting
           • In future the smell of alcohol produces a memory of vomiting and should stop wanting a drink
       • e.g. addictions
   • validity
     • controlled settings
       • findings objective + scientifically credible
         • don't seem to be other factors making dog salivate
     • low ecological validity
       • The dogs were kept in very unusual conditions (tied up in a harness in a box)
         • and they were presented with odd stimuli
           • nothing normal about their reactions
   • ethics
     • but
       • no Ethical Guidelines for Psychologists in the early 20th century.
     • research animals should be treated humanely
       • not sealed up in small room, tied up on harness + subjected to surgery
         • protected from harm