classic research Flashcards
Identify 2 stimuli used by Watson and Rayner in the procedure of their 1920 research ‘conditioned emotional reactions’
First White rat presented to Albert, he showed no fear. Second was the steal bar used to scare Albert the second time around.
Describe the conclusions of Watson and Rayners 1920 research.
The study demonstrates that a fear response can be created but the intensity may be lost over time.
It is probable that many of the phobias in psychopathology are true conditioned emotional reactions either of the direct or transferred type.
It is also possible that the persistence of conditioned responses will only be found in people who are not as strong willed
Emotional disturbances in adults cannot be traced back to sex alone, as freudians believe. They must be considered with regards to conditioned and transferred responses set up in infancy and early youth in all three of the fundamental human emotions, love fear and rage.
Discuss one ethical issue in watson and rayners research
As little Albert was an infant, he himself could not give fully informed consent. His mother had been debriefed on the experiments however she was never actually present therefore could not know what was actually happening within the experiments.
Risk of stress, anxiety, humiliation and pain. Conditioning a phobia from a young age might stay with the child for life. Watson and Raynor artificially gave Albert a phobia that may not be able to be reversed.
Describe the methodology and procedures of Loftus and Palmers research ‘reconstruction of automobile destruction’
Methodology used was an experiment conducted in a laboratory environment. Both experiment 1 and 2 used an independent measures design. The independent variable was the verb used (for both experiments) and the DV was the estimate of speed (experiment 1) and whether the participants saw broken class (experiment 2). There weee 45 students in the experiment 1 and 150 students in experiment 2
