Pavlovian George Windholz (1931-2002): an exemplar of scholarly "observation and observation" and a critical contributor to psychology, and hence to behavioral neuroscience

• Published in: Integrative Physiological & Behavioral Science Vol. 39; no. 2; pp. 139 - 147
• Main Author: Furedy, John J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-04-2004
• Subjects: Animals; Behaviorism - history; Conditioning, Classical; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; Humans; Neurosciences - history; Observation; Psychology - history; Russia; United States; United States; Russia
• ISSN: 1053-881X; 1936-3567
• DOI: 10.1007/BF02734279

Although most members of the Pavlovian Society properly focus their efforts on empirical research, the scholarly, critical conceptual contributions of some individuals are also relevant to progress in psychology and behavioral neuroscience. This paper discusses the contributions of the late George Windholz (often in collaboration with Peter Lamal) as: (a) a historian of Pavlov's life and work; (b) an analyst of priority issues in psychology as a science; (c) a refuter of myths perpetrated by psychology texts. These contributions provide an example of the scholarly form of the motto "observation and observation," where the data used to test hypotheses comprise original documents (often in languages other than English) examined by the historian's critical eye.