Windholz G
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte 28223. USA.
Am J Psychol. 1995 Winter;108(4):575-88.
Pavlov's aim was to use the salivary conditioning method to investigate the function of the brain of higher animals in their adaptation to the external environment. The salivary reflex, according to Pavlov, was of minor biological significance but a good indicator of the subtle changes in the brain under different experimental conditions. To account for conditioned reflex phenomena, Pavlov faced two alternatives: to offer an objective (physiological) or a subjective (psychological) explanation. In 1901, after a bitter conflict with his disciple A. T. Snarskiy, Pavlov chose the first alternative. During the next decades, Pavlov provided reasons for this decision: The physiological approach (a) avoids anthropomorphizing or speculations about the dogs' subjective experiences, and (b) permits the explanation of observed phenomena which the subjective method is not capable of doing. Pavlov realized that the conditioned reflex method has a limitation; it cannot be used in the study of human subjects because their thinking interferes with experimental results.
巴甫洛夫的目的是运用唾液条件反射法来研究高等动物大脑在适应外部环境中的功能。按照巴甫洛夫的说法，唾液反射的生物学意义不大，但却是大脑在不同实验条件下细微变化的良好指标。为了解释条件反射现象，巴甫洛夫面临两种选择：给出客观（生理学）的解释或主观（心理学）的解释。1901年，在与他的弟子A.T.斯纳尔斯基发生激烈冲突后，巴甫洛夫选择了第一种选择。在接下来的几十年里，巴甫洛夫为这一决定给出了理由：生理学方法（a）避免了对狗的主观体验进行拟人化或猜测，（b）能够解释主观方法无法解释的观察到的现象。巴甫洛夫意识到条件反射法有一个局限性；它不能用于人类受试者的研究，因为他们的思维会干扰实验结果。
