Have you ever heard of Pavlov?
Do you know the name? We’re sure it rings a bell (pun intended).
We bet it rings 2 bells, or maybe even 3!
It’s all about psychology. The study of the psyche, the way the brain works.
Well, Pavlov was a scientist, a psychologist of sorts, and a he had a theory, a theory that has gone on to shape the very world of psychology, medicine and everything in between.
Pavlov had a couple of dogs.
You know what he did?
He fed them. That’s right. He fed them.
He didn’t do anything special, in fact, all he did was feed them, he’d ring a bell and then he’d feed them.
Soon enough the dogs would hear the bell and come rushing.
They’d look at the food and start salivating and licking their lips. In fact, the bell became synonymous with food, before Pavlov knew it they dogs would hear the bell and get ready for food, salivating and licking their lips as if the food was there in front of them.
Then Pavlov did something crazy. He stopped giving them food.
You know what happened?
The dogs would still hear the bell and they’d get ready for food, even when it wouldn’t come, they’d wait patiently for hours.
What’s this called?
Learned behaviours. As people do something over and over again they learn to associate situations and behaviours together, circumstances trigger behaviours. For example, if every time you scratch your head you start speed reading, then before you know it every time you need some extra motivation to read then you scratch your head and hey presto…you’ve got it!
Learn more about psychology with a UNICAF MSc in Business Psychology.
