Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev (; 20 January 1857 – 24 December 1927) was a Russian neurologist and the father of objective psychology. He is best known for noting the role of the hippocampus in memory, his study of reflexes, and Bekhterev's disease. Moreover, he is known for his competition with Ivan Pavlov regarding the study of conditioned reflexes.
The sudden circumstances of his death has led to rumours that he died on the orders of Joseph Stalin. This is because Bekhterev performed a medical diagnosis of Stalin shortly before his death which was considered to be politically damaging to the position of the Soviet dictator. This remains disputed among scholars due to the lack of direct evidence.
Early life
Vladimir Bekhterev was born in Sorali, a village in the Vyatka Governorate of the Russian Empire between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains. V. M. Bekhterev's father – Mikhail Pavlovich – was a district police officer; his mother, Maria Mikhailovna – was a daughter of a titular councilor, was educated at a boarding school which also provided lessons of music and the French language. Beside Vladimir they had two more sons in the family: Nikolai and Aleksandr, older than he by 6 and 3 years respectively. In 1864 the family moved to Vyatka, and within a year the head of the family died of tuberculosis when Bekhterev was still very young. While his childhood was not simple, Bekhterev did have the opportunity to attend Vyatka gymnasium in 1867, one of the oldest schools in Russia, as well as the Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg in 1873. Then he studied in St. Petersburg Medicosurgical Academy where he worked under professor Jan Lucjan Mierzejewski (pl). It was here where Bekhterev's interest in the disciplines of neuropathology and psychiatry were first sparked. Then, on 4 April 1881, Bekhterev successfully defended his doctoral thesis, "Clinical studies of temperature in some forms of mental disorders," and received his doctorate from the Medicosurgical Academy of St. Petersburg. This doctorate allowed Bekhterev to become a "private-docent" or associate professor, where he lectured on the diagnostics of nervous diseases.
During his time at the University of Kazan, Bekhterev made some of his greatest contributions to neurological science. He established the first laboratory of experimental psychology in Russia in 1886 to study the nervous system and the structures of the brain. As a result of his research, Bekhterev believed that there were zones within the brain and each of these zones had a specific function. Moreover, because nervous disorders and mental disorders usually occur in conjunction with each other, he believed that there was no definite distinction between these disorders. the first Russian journal on nervous disease.
"Suggestion and its role in social life" is a book of its time, the turning of the nineteenth to the twentieth century.
On the question of the so-called psychic epidemic (folie à deux, folie à millions...), the author refers Calmeil, Landel, Laségue, Falret, Legrand de Saule, Regnard, Baillarger, Moreau de Tours and Morel. Gustave Le Bon and Gabriel Tarde are also mentioned on the psychology of the crowds.. He stresses the difference between suggestion and hypnosis
Bekhterev was interested in phenomena of direct mental suggestion and made experiments to influence behavior of dogs at distance (José Manuel Jara, 2013).
During his time away from teaching, Bekhterev worked to open an orphanage, complete with both a kindergarten and school, for refugee children from the western regions of Russia. He also participated in creating health services in the "young country" of Russia.
Rivalry with Ivan Pavlov
Both Ivan Pavlov and Bekhterev independently developed a theory of conditioned reflexes which describe automatic responses to the environment. What was called association reflex by Bekhterev is called the conditioned reflex by Pavlov, although the two theories are essentially the same. Because John Watson discovered the salivation research completed by Pavlov, this research was incorporated into Watson's famous theory of Behaviorism, making Pavlov a household name. While Watson used Pavlov's research to support his Behaviorist claims, closer inspection shows that in fact, Watson's teachings are better supported by Bekhterev's research.
Bekhterev was familiar with Pavlov's work and had multiple criticisms. According to Bekhterev, one of Pavlov's major research flaws included using a saliva method. He found fault with this method because it could not be easily used on humans. In contrast, Bekhterev's method of studying this association (conditioned) reflex using mild electrical stimulation to examine motor reflexes was able to demonstrate the existence of this reflex in humans. Bekhterev also questioned using acid to encourage saliva from the animals. He felt that this practice may contaminate the results of the experiment. Finally, Bekhterev criticized Pavlov's method by stating that the secretory reflex is unimportant and unreliable. If the animal is not hungry then food may not elicit the desired response, acting as evidence of the method's unreliability. Pavlov however was not without his own criticisms of Bekhterev, stating that Bekhterev's laboratory was poorly controlled. and Shereshevsky (1992), mystery surrounds the death of Bekhterev. Bekhterev was a co-founder of the First All-Russian Congress of Neurologists and Psychiatry, held in December 1927 in Moscow, and was appointed as an Honorary President of the Congress. On 23 December 1927, after having lectured on child neurology at the Congress, Bekhterev went to the Kremlin to examine Joseph Stalin. About 3 hours later he came back to the Congress for a meeting and said to some colleagues there: "I have just examined a paranoiac with a withered arm." The day after, Bekhterev suddenly died, causing speculation that he was poisoned by Stalin as revenge for the diagnosis.