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Watson and Rayner (1920) - Coggle Diagram
Watson and Rayner (1920)
AO1
Aim:
Wanted to see if they could condition a phobic response to a white rat in an infant. Using the principles ld classical conditioning they wanted to investigate if a human chukd could learn to be afraid of a previously neutral stimulus which initially caused no fear response, and whether this reaction would be generalised to similar objects
Procedure
- Used single case experiment on one Child (Little Albert) and he was chosen for his 'stolid and unemotional' character
- Initially rested Little Alberts responses to various stimuli such as a dog, mask, whit rat, cotton wool and burning newspaper. Little Albert didn't respond adversely to any of them until the noise of a hammer on a pole
- Startled response to lips Pickering and then crying fit
- Actual conditioning of the phobia didn't develop until two months later when he was 11 months old. Before conditioning they presented him with a white rat, no fear reaction. Hammer on pole when he touched the rat and after seven conditioning trials Little Albert crawled quickly away
- 17 days after, researchers noticed evidence of a stimulus generalisation. Watson presented Albert with a rabbit and he leaned away and cried
- Towards end of the study Watson relocated to a lecture room to see if there were any environmental factors implicated. This allowed researchers to control for potential context effects. However researchers noted that fear reactions were still evident
- 31 days into the experiment Little Albert was taken from the hospital by his mother
Results
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Stimulus generalisation observed as Albert transferred his fear response to other animals and objects that were similar to a white rat
Fear response lasted 31 days after emotional tests carried out but it was seen that the reaction became weaker towards the end
Conclusions
Watson and Rayner concluded that an infant could be classically conditioner to develop a fear of a white rat. Also proposed that since the fear reaction was present a month after the initial association, conditioned emotional responses have the potential to last a life time.
Objects similar to the feared stimulus can also elicit a feared response.
Ethics
S: his mother gave consent for Albert to take part in the study an the right to withdraw was given which she did do later on
S: his mother gave consent for Albert to take part in the study an the right to withdraw was given which she did do later on
S: This was study was a good study to prove humans too can be classically conditioned and so then it can be used in society to help people for example to treat phobias.
W: Since he was just a little boy, he was unable to given full informed consent so arguably the study took place without him having the knowledge of being part of it so it was unethical
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Science
S: The study involved gathering empirical data where Albert's fear was evident to the white rat as he started crying and so study was scientific.
W: Study was in a lab like settings where Little Albert was conditioned to develop fear which is not like real life behaviour and so study is not ecologically valid.
S: internal validity - lab experiment, tested for reaction before, can be sure it is the iv affecting dv
W: for ethical reasons this cannot be replicated, therefore no test re test reliability, cannot be sure if these results are consistent