Dr. Joseph J. Plaud

Dr. Plaud was chosen to present a paper on Professor Ivan Pavlov and his legacy to behavior therapy at an international commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of Pavlov's historic lecture at the University of Madrid. In April, 1903 the soon to be Nobel Laureate unveiled his research on the "conditioned reflex," thereby revolutionizing psychology as a scientific discipline.

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936) traveled to Spain from Russia in April, 1903 to present his paper at the International Medical Congress in Madrid entitled "The Experimental Psychology and Psychopathology of Animals." It is at this famous lecture that for the first time Pavlov unveiled his theory of the conditioned reflex, demonstrating this principle as a foundational element of what became known as Pavolvian or respondent conditioning. Pavlov himself went on to receive many distinguished honors and awards, including the 1904 Nobel Prize which followed shortly after his lecture in Madrid, as well as an honorary doctorate at Cambridge University in 1912.

 

To commemorate the one hundreth anniversary of this groundbreaking event in the history of psychology and physiology, in April, 2003 Dr. Plaud was invited to present a paper on Pavlov's contributions to what later became known as behavior therapy, in the same preserved lecture hall in Madrid in which Pavlov himself delivered his groundbreaking lecture in April, 1903.

 

Dr. Plaud's paper was later published in The Spanish Journal of Psychology, entitled "Pavlov and the Foundation of Behavior Therapy." You may download a reprint of this article below.