Pavlov's Dog

There's a better than average chance that most of you have heard about Pavlov's Dog.  If you happened to take an Introduction to Psychology class at any point in your life, it's almost a certainty that you've heard about Pavlov and his dog.  Pavlov, in this case, was a Russian physiologist (his full name was Ivan Pavlov) who is perhaps best known for his experiments that led to the concept known as "Classical Conditioning", even though he won the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work studying digestion.  

Apparently it all happened by accident.  Basically, while conducting experiments that would eventually lead to his Nobel Prize, he noticed that dogs started to salivate whenever his assistants walked into the laboratory.  He was interested in the role of the salivary gland in digestion, and his research team would bring different edible and non-edible items into the lab to see how much saliva would be produced and if there were any differences in its chemical composition.  Soon, the dogs would begin to salivate even before they were presented with food.  Pavlov realized that the dogs had learned to salivate whenever they saw the white lab-coats of his research assistants, which they had come to associate with food.  In other words, they were "conditioned" to respond to the lab assistants by salivating.  He then conducted a series of experiments involving a bell, and eventually "conditioned" his dogs to salivate whenever they heard the sound of a bell. 

I won't go into further details - you can read all about "Classical Conditioning" on the Internet or in any introductory psychology textbook (here's a short video reenactment that also explains Pavlov's experiments).  And while you are at it, be sure to read about “Operant Conditioning” too - I always mix them up and I’m sure that I’ve done so again here!

I was recently reminded of Pavlov's experiments by our dog at home.  He likes to chew on sticks and pine cones outside.  He frequently tries to bring these sticks or pine cones inside our house, which of course we would rather not let him do (there's nothing harder to clean-up than a pile of tiny twigs).  I am quite proud of the fact that I can catch him when he comes inside, place my fingers deep inside his mouth, and pull the stick or pine cone out before he starts to chew it.  Of course, after a few times getting caught, he's figured out how to run away and make me chase him.

So, guess what happens now?  He almost always tries to bring in a stick or pine cone from outside, because he thinks it's a lot of fun to have me chase him around our house!  I can see him waiting for me at our back door, and as soon as I open the door, he bends down and picks up a stick that he has hidden underneath his paw.  My wife just rolls her eyes and tells me not to let him inside if he picks up the stick!

I've suddenly realized that I've "conditioned" our dog to pick up a stick every time that he wants to come inside!  Actually, if I think about it, he may actually have "conditioned" me to chase him, because I find myself doing that all the time now, regardless of whether he has a stick in his mouth or not.  Who's Pavlov and who's the dog in this situation?

If “conditioning” really develops this easily, I can now fully appreciate why "change" is so difficult for folks.  Just as important, given the ease with which we are "conditioned" (and regardless of whether that is of the "classical" or "operant" variety), it makes sense that we should be able to establish new habits and behaviors just as easily as it is to hold on to our old ones.  As I've frequently said, leadership often requires being able to lead and manage change.  Managing change is the law of leadership!  It doesn't take much to establish deeply ingrained habits and behaviors.  Don't believe me?  Just remember Pavlov's Dog.