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CLASSIC STUDY; Learning Watson and Rayner (1920) (PROCEDURE; (Single case…
CLASSIC STUDY; Learning Watson and Rayner (1920)
Little Albert
PROCEDURE;
Single case experiment- Albert a nine month old infant chosen for his stolid unemotional character. They tested little Albert's response to various stimuli, e.g. dog, mask, white rat, cotton wool and burning newspaper. Little Albert didn't respond adversely to any, until they struck a hammer against a metal pole and Albert reacted startled to the noise. After hitting the pole a third time Albert became to cry.
Conditioning a phobia happened 2 months later. Before the conditioning Albert was presented with a white rat, no fear reaction was noted. Later in the trials when the steel bar was hit whenever Albert touched the rat did he demonstrate fear. At first Albert was shocked but didn't cry, but 7 conditioning trails later Albert began to crawl away at the sight of the rat.
17 days after the tests began they began to notice stimulus generalisation. Watson presented Albert suddenly with a rabbit. He leaned away as far as he could, and burst into tears. Albert also showed a similar reaction to other stimuli; dog, Santa Claus mask, seal skin coat.
Towards the end of the study, Watson tried the study in a different environment- lecture room, to observe the effect of surroundings on the response. This was to get rid of potential context effects (how surrounding environment effects investigation)
AIM;
To see if you could condition a phobic response to a white rat in an infant. They wanted to investigate if a human child could learn to be afraid of a previously neutral stimulus, and if the reaction could be generalised to a similar object
RESULTS;
Study confirmed that a phobia of an object that was not previously feared could be leanred.
Stimulus generalisation was observed as Albert transferred his feared response to other animals and objects similar to the white rat.
Alberts fear lasted for 31 days after emotional tests were carried out, although the reaction became weaker towards the end. Not possible to test Albert's fear for longer as he left the hospital.
CONCLUSION;
Watson and Rayner concluded that an infant could be classically conditioned to develop a fear of a white rat. Proposed that fear reaction was present one month after the initial association, have the potential to last a life time. Objects similar to feared stimulus will trigger same response
EVALUATION;
Pros;
Highlights importance of the role of the environment in our behaviour so can be applied. Scientific methodology, like; measuring Alberts fear before conditioning, conducting the study in a different environment. Good documentation of each stage, so could be replicated easily.
Cons;
Lacks ecological validity, this is because the study was largely lab based and the tasks given to Albert he may be unlikely to confront him in everyday life. Unethical and immoral, due to the psychological and physical well being of Albert being neglected, as he was clearly distressed in the process, and didn't decondition his phobia.