classic study: Little Albert Flashcards
Who did the study? What year? And what was their aim?
Watson and Rayner (1920)- to see if they could condition a phobic response to a white rat with an infant.
What was the procedure?
What kind of experiment was it?
What initial testing did they do? How did he respond?
What did they actually do? How did Albert respond?
It was a single case study experiment . A nine month old infant chosen for his stolid and unemotional character
He was initially tested to various stimuli such as a dog, a mask, white rat, cotton wool and a burning newspaper. He did not respond adversely to any of them
The actual experiment consisted of every time Albert was presented with the white rat they would bash a four-foot pole hanging from the ceiling with a hammer which caused a startled response. The pole was banged again and Albert was startled and his lip started trembling. On the third hit, little Albert broke down into a crying fit
When did little Albert start getting conditioned?
At 11 months old the conditioning of the phobia began
When did stimulus generalisation start occurring? With what stimuli? What would Albert do?
17 days after the conditioning began and it occurred with a rabbit,a dog, a seal skin coat and a Santa Claus mask.
He would lean away as far as he could and start whimpering and would burst into tears
What were the results?
> The study confirmed that a phobia of an object that was not previously feared can be learned. The presence of the white rat the controlled stimulus resulted in fear the conditioned response
stimulus generalisation was observed as Albert transferred his feared response to other stimuli
What can we conclude?
An infant could be classically conditioned to develop a fear of a white rat. They also proposed that since fear reaction was present one month after initial association, such conditioned emotional responses have the potential to last a lifetime
