A Concept in Application: How the Scientific Reflex Came to be Employed against Nazi Propaganda

The article analyzes Sergej Chakhotin's transfer of the concept of reflex from Russian physiology to German propaganda. Chakhotin had been working at Ivan Pavlov's laboratory in St. Petersburg in the 1910s. The experiences he had there with reflex conditioning, the boom of psychotechnics, and the application of psychological practices for aesthetic purposes were his basis for the invention of a socialist propaganda program against the Nazi regime. It is shown how the concept of reflex changed as it meandered through different disciplines.