Category: Psychology

Who was Ivan Pavlov? Ivan Petrovitch Pavlov was a Russian physiologist (1849 – 1936) who won the Nobel Prize in 1904 for Physiology and Medicine. He was able to acquire this honor by studying digestion and salivary glands. Although his focus was on digestion, he accidentally stumbled across an important and fundamental process through which animals and humans learn. Pavlov’s Accidental Discovery: One day, Pavlov noticed a peculiar phenomenon. Not only did the dogs salivate when their food (meat powder) was brought into the room, but they also salivated whenever Pavlov or one of…

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Sigmund Freud was an Australian neurologist and most commonly known as the “Father of Psychoanalysis,” or the Psychoanalytic Theory. Born in 1856, his philosophies had a huge impact on the world in the beginning of the 20th century, and he later died in 1939. Sigmund Freud and His Cocaine Addiction: Freud was well known for his cocaine addiction, which he recommended for the treatment of certain disorders such as depression and morphine addiction. Obviously, we now know this to NOT be the best strategy for the treatment of addiction and…

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In 1943, a psychologist by the name of Abraham Maslow wrote a paper for the Psychological Review entitled, “A Theory of Human Motivation.” In this paper, Maslow proposed a five-part theory where he describes what motivates human beings based on a hierarchy of their needs. How Did Maslow Come Up With These Needs? The way that Maslow devised these levels of human needs was by studying the characteristic of people who have been successful and accomplished great things in their lives, instead of studying people who were dysfunctional. In other words,…

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What Is Rational Emotive Therapy? What was formerly known as Rational Emotive Therapy is now most commonly referred to as Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy or REBT. This form of therapy was founded by clinical psychologist Dr. Albert Ellis, commonly known as the father of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT.) The idea behind REBT is that much of our emotional distress is caused by irrational beliefs and that if we can substitute those beliefs with rational ones, then we can eliminate a great deal of our distress. Dr. Ellis developed what is known…

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