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Pavlov and Associationism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Nicholas J. Mackintosh
Nicholas J. Mackintosh*
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to N.J. Mackintosh, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, England. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Pavlov's contribution to experimental psychology was to invent a technique that allowed him to undertake a prolonged and systematic series of well-controlled experiments that, astonishingly enough, uncovered many if not most of the phenomena of what is rightly called Pavlovian conditioning. It was not for another 30 years or more that English-speaking psychologists began to match that achievement. Of course there have been new developments and discoveries since his time. Two examples are discussed: the important role of variable associability or attention even in simple conditioning, and the rigorous application of associative learning theory to the behavior of adult humans.

La contribución de Pavlov a la psicología experimental fue inventar una técnica que le permitió acometer una serie prolongada y sistemática de experimentos bien controlados que desvelaron muchos, si no la mayoría, de los fenómenos de lo que justamente se llama condicionamiento pavloviano. Los psicólogos angloparlantes tardarían 30 años o más en igualar ese logro. Por supuesto, se han dado nuevos desarrollos y descubrimientos desde su época. Se comentan dos ejemplos: el importante papel de la asociabilidad variable o la atención incluso en el condicionamiento simple y la aplicación rigurosa de la teoría del aprendizaje asociativo a la conducta de los seres humanos adultos.

Keywords

Pavlovassociationismattentionassociative learningPavlovasociacionismoatenciónaprendizaje asociativo
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 6 , Issue 2: Special Issue: A Century of Pavlovian Theory: The Madrid Lecture (Pavlov, 1903) , November 2003 , pp. 177 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003

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