01. Classic Study Watson and Rayner Little Albert Flashcards
What was the classic study’s aim?
-To demonstrate that simple emotional responses such as fear can be acquired through a process of classical conditioning, what they called ‘conditioned reflex factors’.
-See if the response can be generalised to other objects. And for how long the conditioning lasts.
Describe the classic study’s sample.
-One child, Little Albert. This infant was reared almost from birth in a hospital environment; his mother was a wet nurse in the Harriet Lane Home for Invalid Children.
-Albert’s life was normal: he was healthy from birth and one of the best developed youngsters ever brought to the hospital, weighing 21 pounds at 9 months of age.
-He was on the whole stolid and unemotional. His stability was one of the principal reasons for using him as a subject in this test.
-Watson and Rayner felt that we could do him relatively little harm by carrying out such an experiment.
What was the classic study’s dependent variable?
Albert’s observed response.
What was the classic study’s independent variable?
Pairing of a loud noise with the sight of a neutral stimulus (initially a white rat).
Summarise the classic study’s procedure.
-To test Albert’s baseline emotional responses to a range of objects he was presented, one at a time, with a white rat, a dog, a monkey, various marks, cotton wool and a set of wooden blocks.
-He showed no fear to any of these.
-Albert’s response to a loud noise was then tested by striking a hammer upon a suspended steel bar. The conditioning began 2 months later.
-The researchers filmed each session.
Describe the 1st session at age 11 months and 3 days.
(Conditioning rat and steel bar starts)
He was taken into a lab and presented with a white rat, when he reached towards the rat a steel bar was struck loudly behind his head.
Describe the 2nd session at age 11 months and 10 days.
(With blocks)
(5 times rat with sound)
(Conditioning rat and steel bar completed)
-A week later Little Albert returned again. He was exposed 5 times to the paired sight of the rat and the loud noise behind his head.
-From this point he was tested with the blocks, to which he showed no fear, this is key to show that he wasn’t just getting more scared generally.
Describe the 3rd session at age 11 months and 15 days.
(Generalisation starts)
-A further 5 days later Albert returned and his responses to the rat and a range of other objected were assessed.
-The other objects included wooden blocks, a rabbit, a dog, a seal fur coat, cotton wool and John Watson’s hair.
Describe the 4th session at age 11 months and 20 days.
(New environment testing generalisation)
-5 days later Albert was also conditioned to hear the loud noise when he touched the rabbit and the dog.
-Then taken to a new environment, a lecture room with 4 people present. He was placed on a table.
-Again, Albert head the loud noise when he touched the white rat and was assessed for responses to the various objects.
Describe the 5th session at age 1 year and 21 days.
(New environment testing time delay effect)
-Albert was tested again one month later.
-The final test involved a Santa Claus mask, fur coat, the rat, the rabbit, the dog and the blocks.
-No steel bar noises.
What did the classic study conclude?
-It is relatively easy to condition an emotional response to a neutral stimulus. In this study just 2 sessions pairing an unconditioned fear stimulus (loud noise) and a neutral stimulus (the rat) were enough to produce a fear response (conditioned response) towards rats and similar objects, which is an example of stimulus generalisation.
What was the importance of the blocks?
This showed that Albert was not just becoming more anxious and upset, the blocks never elicited a fear response from him, which increases the internal validity of the findings.
