PAVLOV,IVAN,P. - 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 translati ons of Western natural science literature, especially that with strong Darwinian overtones, and he abandoned a career in the church. He beca me a professor of physiology in 1895 at the imperial Military-Medical Academy in St, Petersburg, where he did research on the digestive proc ess (for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1904). Starting in 19 01 and for the next 35 years, Pavlov, using primarily the salivary ref lex conditioning method, systematically accumulated experimental resul ts that were sufficient to formulate the theory of higher nervous acti vity which described the functions of the brain in complex organisms' adjustment to a changing external environment. Essentially a psycholog ical theory, it encompassed innately determined instincts, temperament types, the acquisition of knowledge and adjustive patterns in terms o f a dynamic stereotype, the nature of language, the characteristics of old age, and the etiology of neuroses and psychoses. Pavlov's interna tional reputation as a scientist most likely enabled hint to be critic al of the Bolshevik regime and to publicly defend human rights and aca demic freedom in the Soviet Union.