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W. Horsley Gantt, Nick, and the Pavlovian Science at Phipps Clinic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2016

Gabriel Ruiz  and
Natividad Sánchez
Gabriel Ruiz*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Sevilla (Spain)
Natividad Sánchez
Affiliation:
Universidad de Sevilla (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Gabriel Ruiz. Departamento de Psicología Experimental. Universidad de Sevilla. C/ Camilo José Cela S/N. 41018. Sevilla (Spain). E-mail: gruiz@us.es
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Abstract

William Horsley Gantt is well known as one to the principal proponents of Pavlovian methodology in the U.S. After a long stay at Ivan Petrovich Pavlov’s laboratory in Leningrad from 1925 to 1929, Gantt was invited by Adolf Meyer to join the Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, where he founded and directed the Pavlovian Laboratory from 1930 to 1964. Soon after his arrival at Phipps Clinic in 1931, Gantt began a Pavlovian research program that included the investigation of nervous disturbances in dogs and clinical researches with psychiatric patients. In these studies, Gantt combined a physiological method (the conditional reflexes approach), with a psychiatric problem (nervous disorders) in the context of Meyer’s psychobiology that established the person or individual as unit of analysis. This fact, concentrating upon a single individual, made Gantt studies with dogs recognizable and interesting to physicians, psychologists, and psychiatrists who also worked on individuals. In this paper, we use archival materials –including correspondence, notebooks, and unpublished autobiographical material- to present a case study, that of William Horsley Gantt and his dog Nick. We will explore the reasons why Gantt’ studies on nervous disturbances with this dog captured the interest of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists.

Keywords

experimental neurosishistory of psychologyNickWilliam Horsley Gantt
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 19 , 2016 , E71
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2016 

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