The Nobel Prize winner’s discovery was so groundbreaking that it influenced the development of behaviorism, a theory that suggests “all behaviors are acquired through conditioning processes,” Verywell Mind explains.

In simple terms, “It all comes down to the patterns of learning we’ve acquired through associations, rewards, and punishments. This approach argues that it’s our environment that shapes our actions more than our thoughts and feelings.”

Baby experiment

Influenced by Pavlov’s work, John B. Watson – widely regarded as the founder of the school of behaviorism – decided that in 1920, he would test conditioned reflexes – fear reactions –on a 9-month-old human baby.

“He was healthy from birth and one of the best developed youngsters ever brought to the hospital, weighing twenty-one pounds at nine months of age,” Watson and his study partner, Rosalie