Educational Psychology—Limitations and Possibilities

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov 189
in context, he took the subjects out of context and tried to isolate and observe the phenomenon
within a laboratory. This type of observation had, and still has, a great amount of privilege over
other kinds of observation.
As discussed earlier, during Pavlov’s life, building large contraptions and performing surgery
not only isolated the phenomena under study, but it added symbolic validity to the research. Not
only did his contraption have a functional effect of trying to isolate the dog from its surroundings,
and not only did surgically attaching the tube isolate the dog’s saliva, but there were also
associative effects. These associative effects granted his research authority.
This authority does not come from any scrutiny over his truth-claims, but rather because we
have been conditioned to accept it as valid. White men with big, bushy beards that don lab coats
and have the ability to engineer big contraptions are the only ones we trust to have access to
the truth. What Pavlov observed may or may not be true; however, the idea that he, and only
he, should be credited with the theory of conditioning is highly suspect. The laboratory, the
large contraption, the surgery, the white skin, the male scientist all came together under the right
circumstances to grant Pavlov credit with the theory of conditioning.