Ivan Pavlov, a famous Russian scientist, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for his research. His notable experiment tested the saliva^注 flows of a dog. His experiment, conducted at the beginning of the twentieth century, was the first to demonstrate classical conditioning. In this experiment, two tubes are inserted into a dog's mouth. When a mixture of vinegar and water is poured through one tube, the other tube discharges the dog's digestive juice. Because salivation is not a learned response, but a natural response to the sour fluid, this salivation is called an unconditioned reflex.

Pavlov developed further experiments to study reflexes. In one experiment, he put food in front of a dog, and just before feeding the dog, he rang a bell. After repeating this action many times, he found that the dog salivated whenever the bell rang, even when the dog saw no food in front of lt. This unnatural response is called a conditioned reflex. The stimulus for the dog's salivation this time was the sound of a bell, not food.

Further studies of conditioning were made by an American psychologist, B. F. Skinner, who used rats or pigeons to test responses in a chamber known as a Skinner box. He (a)coined the term “operant conditioning,” in which a subject must perform a certain action in order to get a reward. For example, a pigeon is placed in a Skinner box and when it strikes at a button located in the box, it receives a pellet of food. As this situation is repeated over and over, the pigeon learns how to get the desired result, and the behavior is (b)reinforced.

Skinner's findings from these experiments resulted in his being known as a leader of the field called behaviorism.

Skinner even applied his theories to human behavior. Although he recognized other important influences such as genetics, he (c)advocated that rewards and punishments mainly guide human action. Whether or not punishments are effective ways of preventing undesirable behavior is still (d)controversial. During the first half of the twentieth century, behaviorism was the (e)dominant theory in behavioral psychology; however, cognitive psychology has now gained popularity.

• 問1 下線部(a)～(e)の単語の英文内で使われている意味として、最も適切なものをそれぞれ選択肢1～4の中から選びなさい。
  • (1) (a)coined
    • 1. created
    • 2. manufactured
    • 3. prevented
    • 4. varied
  • (2) (b)reinforced
    • 1. supplied
    • 2. refilled
    • 3. strengthened
    • 4. forbidden
  • (3) (c)advocated
    • 1. explained
    • 2. proposed
    • 3. provoked
    • 4. justified
  • (4) (d)controversial
    • 1. acceptable
    • 2. arguable
    • 3. distributive
    • 4. facilitative
  • (5) (e)dominant
    • 1. anticipating
    • 2. ruling
    • 3. existing
    • 4. donating
• 問2 次の質問に対する答えとして最も適したものをそれぞれ選択肢1～4の中から選びなさい。
  • (1) What is the main topic of this passage?
    • 1. the beginning of psychology
    • 2. the experiment done by Pavlov
    • 3. the history of behaviorism
    • 4. the human's reward system
  • (2) What is the finding of Pavlov's famous experiment?
    • 1. The experiment was first conducted using water and vinegar in 1904.
    • 2. When the vinegar was inserted by one tube, water was discharged by the other.
    • 3. The dog disliked taking water instead of vinegar.
    • 4. The dog produced digestive juice every time he was fed water and vinegar.
  • (3) What is the main difference between an unconditioned reflex and a conditioned reflex?
    • 1. the nature of stimuli being used in the experiments
    • 2. the amount of food the animals ate
    • 3. the type of boxes the scientists used
    • 4. the number of responses from the bell
  • (4) What can be inferred about Skinner?
    • 1. The punishments were prohibited in the Skinner's experiments.
    • 2. Skinner's experiments were conducted on humans.
    • 3. The behaviorists participated in Skinner's experiments.
    • 4. Skinner suggested that human actions can be guided by rewards and punishments.
  • (5) What can be inferred from the passage?
    • 1. Without Pavlov, behaviorism would not have emerged.
    • 2. Cognitive psychology was popular in the nineteenth century.
    • 3. Currently, behaviorism is a widely accepted theory around the world.
    • 4. The Skinner box is well mown as a dog feeding tool.