Ivan Pavlov was a Russian scientist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for his research into the digestive system. However, that is not what he is well known for in popular culture. Anybody who has ever attended Psychology 101 at any University or College will have come across the experiments he performed on dogs to prove his theory of conditioned reflex.

Pavlov used a variety of stimulants such as the ringing of a bell, or whistles and visual stimuli to signal that he was about to present the experimental dogs with food. He taught the dogs to expect food, if for instance a bell rang. This stimulus made the dogs salivate, even though at the time of the stimuli being presented they would not necessarily have seen or been give their food. The dogs therefore came to associate a variety of odd new things with food.

Pavlov’s experimental work was picked up on by other Psychologists. One avenue it developed into was the study called Behaviourism. The basic premise of this was that rewards and punishment could change behaviour.

Where is all of the above heading, one could ask. What made me think of Pavlov was my post on whether self-development courses actually work. How is behaviour modified should be the most important question that anybody should ask themselves before looking at developing self-help material. Presenting answers to the problems people face, whether it is being overweight, or needing more money, performing better at a job, having better relationships etc may not be enough. No matter the reason for the self-help study or why people are attending workshops/talks, the inherent reasons are surely to attempt some behaviour modification in oneself. Do not eat so many calories. Have a positive approach to life. Imagine you are living in a bigger house, earning more money. Believe you can be rich in one year, and many more such topics.

Recently I was reading an excellent book by Jack Canfield. First one has to plough through many pages of introductions and endorsements by other people. Seems even wealthy and successful authors need re-assurance that they are good at their job. The first relevant chapter deals with the fact that if you want to be happy, thin, wealthy or whatever else your target is you have to take responsibility for your life. Whatever you have done in the past has made you overweight, not wealthy, unhappy etc. Once you take responsibility for all of this, you have a better chance of moving forward.

Now I totally agree with this. I have no problem with this statement at all. But, within ten minutes of putting the book down I catch myself blaming somebody or something else for being unhappy, overweight or whatever at that moment is making me miserable. With other words it is unbelievably difficult to change ones habits. Somehow we need to get to the point where Pavlov’s dogs were. A bell rings and we immediately think positive thoughts, or drop the extra slice of cake back onto our plate or burst out laughing. How do we re-enforce this behavioural change.

Whichever self-help guru can find the answer to that, will be able to push all other self-help experts into the shadow. It’s not enough to write inspirational articles on the internet, publish wonderfully inspiring books, or run exhilarating workshops. These can all be triggers to a rush of enthusiasm and well intended efforts at change, which will last a few days, possibly even a few months. Even re-reading the book/article, listening again to CDs, watching the DVD’s again, will not encourage the kind of change of behaviour that could really provide lasting help. Having said that, there are obviously a few people out there, who are able to get where they want to be, by just reading a book, or attending Weight Watchers classes. But the bulk of us, are going to require more than that to move us off our beaten path of bad habits.