Wales isPavlovs Dog : The Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1848-1936) conditioned dogs to respond in what proved to be a highly predictable but purely reactive (unthinking) manner. For example, by first ringing a bell before feeding them their traditional meals. Subsequent ringing of the now familiar and comforting bell stimulated feelings of reassurance and well being and they would begin to salivate as if they were about to eat as expected. Repeated use of the bell produced a collective reaction (group reinforcement) as the dogs looked to each other for confirmation of their identities, situations  and common perceptions. Pablovs experiments have been condemned for their cruelty (he severed the connection between stomach and cortex and bared the saliva glands), but they revealed the irrational basis of conditioned, unthinking and primitive cognitive actions and wider group behaviour - in nationalist circles.