Conditioned Reflexes

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Ivan Pavlov was one of the world's most influential scientists and the first Russian to win the Nobel Prize (Shiraev, 2016). Pavlov used dogs in his experiments but he loved studying human behavior. He viewed his studies as an objective study of reflexes. He set out to explain the role that reflexes play in someone's personality.
Two categories of reflexes

Inborn or unconditioned reflexes are associated with a signal's direct influence.
Conditioned reflexes - are acquired under certain conditions.

Two conditions must be present to form a conditioned reflex (Shiraev, 2016):

a specific situation
An underlying unconditioned reflex

Pavlov believed that the dynamics of reflexes can be explained by the opposing forces of excitement and inhibition. Excitement is a state of increased activity in the brain, while inhibition is a state of decreased activity. These two forces can override each other, and the balance between them determines how a person will behave in a given situation.
Some people may lose self-control and act erratically due to excessive excitement, while others may freeze due to excessive inhibition whenever they encounter a difficult or dangerous situation. When someone acts rationally they are able to maintain a balanced level of excitement and inhibition(Shiraev, 2016).
Induction is when one type of behavior can also inhibit other behaviors such as anticipating a future event vs. the suffering of waiting in line.
Self-control refers to the ability to inhibit immediate impulses in order to gratify them later and is considered an important personality feature.

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Pavlov believed that individual personality types are determined by the dynamics of the nervous system, which he characterized by three functions: strength, balance, and agility (Shiraev, 2016):

🟦 Strength - the ability of the nervous system to maintain a state of excitement without becoming inhibited

🟦Balance - The ability to maintain a balance between excitement and inhibition.

🟦Agility - The speed with which the nervous system can change from a state of excitement into a state of inhibition aka adaptability.

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Pavlov believed that people with different personality types have different combinations of these three functions. For example, people with strong, balanced, and agile nervous systems are likely to be confident, outgoing, and adaptable. People with weak, unbalanced, and agile nervous systems are likely to be anxious, impulsive, and easily stressed.

Pavlov's theory of personality has been influential in psychology, but it has also been criticized for being too simplistic. Some psychologists believe that personality is more complex than a simple combination of three functions. However, Pavlov's theory remains an important contribution to our understanding of the relationship between the nervous system and personality.

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References