4.3.1 watson and rayner Flashcards
What are the aims of watson and rayner’s study?
To find out if classical conditioning works on humans
Specifically, to find out if a fear response can be conditioned into a 9 month old baby
To see if this fear response could be generalised to other animals and objects
What is the sample used in Watson and Rayner’s study?
Little Albert - healthy baby boy 9 months at the start of the study
What is the independent variable in Watson and Rayner’s study?
pairing of a loud noise (UCS) with the sight of a rat (NS)
What is the dependent variable of Watson and Rayner’s study?
fear response
describe the procedure of watson and rayner’s study
at the start albert showed no fear response to a white rat, rabbit, dog, monkey, various masks, cotton wool and wooden blocks. his response to a loud noise was tested by hitting a steel bar with a hammer
session 1 - at 11 months and 3 days old he was taken to a ‘lab’. a white rat was presented to him. when he reached towards the rat, the bar was struck loudly just behind his head
session 2 - a week later albert returned again. he was exposed five times to the paired sight of 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 showing he wasn’t just getting more scared generally
session 3 - five days later albert returned and his responses to the rat and a range of other objects were assessed. the other objects included wooden blocks, a rabbit, a dog, a seal fur coat, cotton wool and John Watson’s hair
session 4 - five days after that albert was taken to a new environment - a lecture room with four people present. placed on a table and once again assessed for responses to the various objects
session 5 - tested again a month later. final tests involved a santa claus mask, fur coat, the rat, the rabbit, the dog and the blocks
describe the findings of watson and rayner’s study
baseline - showed no fear of any of the objects except the loud noise, which caused him to be startled and his lips trembled (UCR)
session 1 - albert again reacted to the noise (cried)
session 2 - more cautious towards the rat (not reaching out and pulling away when rat nuzzled him). after further conditioning he began to cry and tried to rapidly crawl away
session 3 - reacted to the white furry objects (rat and rabbit) with fear, which made him cry, a conditioned response (CR). he displayed mild fear towards the dog and none to the other objects
sessions 4 and 5 - albert’s fear reactions to white furry objects remained but became less extreme when he was in a different environment and after time
describe the conclusion of watson and rayner’s study
- it is relatively easy to condition an emotional response to a neutral stimulus (e.g rat)
- just two sessions pairing an unconditioned stimulus (UCS, loud noise) and a neutral stimulus (rat) were enough to produce a CR (fear) towards rats and similar objects (stimulus generalisation)
watson and rayner - generalisability
evaluation
P - low generalisability
E - only a single ppt used (9 months old American male), and may have been unusual although he was chosen based on how ‘normal’ he was and how often he was upset or cried
T: Therefore this makes it androcentric and ethnocentric so the results of the study about whether classical conditioning works on humans can’t be generalised to other ages or genders
watson and rayner - reliability
P - high reliability
E - for example, a standardised procedure was followed where a metal bar was hit every time albert reached for the rat, and the same objects were used throughout the study such as wooden blocks, cotton wool etc
T - therefore, it is easy to replicate to compare results and check for consistency.
watson and rayner - application
P - A strength is that the findings can be applied to real life
E - For example, findings shows that a phobia develops due to association between a neutral and unconditioned stimuli. therefore, this suggests that learning could be reversed by pairing the neutral stimulus with something good/relaxing
T - Therefore the findings of the study can help society to identify the cause of their phobias and how to treat them such as through SD
watson and rayner - internal validity
P - high internal validity as the study controlled extraneous variables
E: For example, when the metal bar was hit it was hidden behind a curtain to ensure that Little Albert was scared of the white rat and not the metal bar. He was also occasionally shown building blocks in order to show that he wasn’t getting scared in general
T - Therefore the study is controlled, making the findings about whether CC works on humans true and valid.
watson and rayner - ethics
P - unethical
E - LA was often put in distressing situations when he was associating the loud noise with the rat, which caused him to show many uncomfortable responses such as crying, whimpering and trying to move away from the objects or animals. The objects and animals were forcefully pushed too LA when he clearly showed discomfort.
T - Therefore the study should not have happened as it caused psychological distress to a baby and did not abide by the protection from harm principle, meaning that the study cannot be replicated
