Classic study: Watson and Rayner

Question 1

Aim of Watson and Rayner

Answer 1

• To demonstrate that simple emotional responses such as fear can be acquired through the process of classical conditioning

Question 2

Procedure of Watson and Rayner

Answer 2

• The study had two conditions and one participants, the participant was a healthy 9 months old baby, known as ‘Little Albert’
• The dependent variable was Albert’s responses to the two conditions which was the presence of a loud noise which was the unconditional stimulus paired with a rat which was the neutral stimulus
• To test Albert’s baseline emotional responses to a range of objects, he was presented each object one at a time, a rat, a rabbit, a dog, a monkey, various masks, cotton wool and a set of wooden blocks
• He showed no fear to these objects. Albert’s response to a loud noise was then tested by striking a hammer to a steel bar
• The conditioning process began two months later

Question 3

Session 1 (Watson and Rayner)

Answer 3

• Albert was presented with a white rat and when he reached towards the rat, the bar was struck loudly behind is head

Question 4

Session 2 (Watson and Rayner)

Answer 4

• A week later Albert returned again, he was exposed five times to the paired rat plus loud noise
• From this point he was tested with the wooden blocks, and he showed no fear
• This is key to show that he wasn’t just getting more scared generally

Question 5

Session 3 (Watson and Rayner)

Answer 5

• After 5 days Albert’s responses were assessed towards the rat and the other range of objects used previously

Question 6

Session 4 (Watson and Rayner)

Answer 6

• Albert was taken to a new environment which was a lecture room with four people presented
• He was assessed again for response to various objects

Question 7

Session 5 of Watson and Rayner

Answer 7

• A month later he was assessed again and for the final test it involved a Santa Claus mask, fur coat, the rat, the rabbit, the dog and the wooden block

Question 8

Finding of Watson and Rayner (Baseline Test)

Answer 8

• At the baseline testing, Albert displayed no fear of the objects but he did respond to the loud noise, which was an unconditional response

Question 9

Finding of Watson and Rayner (1st session and 2nd session)

Answer 9

In the 1st session he again reacted to the loud noise
- By the 2nd session he was more cautious towards the rat by not reaching out and pulling away when the rat came towards him
- After furthering conditioning he began to cry and tried to rapidly crawl away

Question 10

Finding of Watson and Rayner (3rd session)

Answer 10

• In the 3rd session Albert reacted to the white fury objects with fear as he cried which was a conditional response
• He also displayed fear to the dogs but none towards the other objects

Question 11

Finding of Watson and Rayner (4th session and 5th session)

Answer 11

• In the 4th and 5th session it revealed how Albert’s fear towards to white fury objects but become less extreme when he was in a different environment and after time

Question 12

Conclusion of Watson and Rayner

Answer 12

• It is relatively easy to condition an emotional response to a neutral stimulus
• In this study just two sessions pairing an unconditional fear stimulus which was the loud noise and the neutral response which was the rat to produce a fear response which was a conditional response towards the rats and other similar objects which demonstrated stimulus generalisation

Question 13

Strength of Watson and Rayner

Answer 13

• One strength of the study is that it had high levels of internal validity
• Albert’s response to wooden blocks were a clever thing to use as it was a good way to measure that Albert’s responses were only towards fury objects and not just a increase of anxiety
• Furthermore, the tests were conducted in two different controlled environments ensuring Albert’s fearful responses were not specific to a single context
• This designs make it likely that the changes in Albert’s behaviour were due to the conditioning rather than extraneous variable such as an overall increase in anxiety

Question 14

Weakness of Watson and Rayner

Answer 14

• One weakness of the study is that only one participant was used, who was also described as unusual as he was rarely was afraid or cried
• Due to there being one participant there is problems of generalisability because the individual studied may not be representative population
• As Albert was a 9 month old baby, he not as representative and as we didn’t know his identity, we don’t how representative he was
• Therefore, the results from the study may not be applicable to the general population and only applicable to Albert’s age group