classic study: watson and rayner Flashcards
state 3 aims of watson and rayner’s study
- investigate whether a phobia can be conditioned into a child
- investigate whether a phobia can be generalised
- investigate whether time will affect the CR
describe the sample
- little albert
- 9 months old
- grew up in a hospital
describe the procedure
- albert was assessed on his responses to a white rat, santa mask etc (no fear)
- 2 months later, reintroduced
- metal bar banged above his head when he reached for the rat
- repeated 5x a week later
- repeated 2x 17 days later
describe the results
- first trial = jumped violently
- second trial = suspicious of rat
- third trial = leaned away from rat
- cried at rabbit
- 7 weeks later cried at white fur coat
what is a weakness of the study (PEE)?
- generalisability
a weakness of the study is that it lacks generalisability. for example, only a single ppt was used (9 month old American male). this makes it androcentric and ethnocentric so it cannot be generalised to other ages or genders.
what is a strength of the study (PEECA)?
- reliability
a strength of the study is that it has high reliability. for example, a standardised procedure was followed where a metal bar was hit every time albert reached for the rat. therefore, it is easy to replicate and check for consistency. however, the study had ethical issues where psychological harm and distress was put on albert. therefore, it would not be morally correct to replicate this.
what is a strength of the study (PEE)?
- application
a strength of the study is that it has practical applications. for example, it shows that a phobia arises 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. so, it has applications in treating phobias such as through systematic desensitisation.
what is a weakness of the study (PEEIA)?
- validity
a weakness of the study is that it lacks ecological validity. for example, it was carried out in a lab setting with artificial conditions such as the metal bar being hit, which wouldn’t be likely to occur naturally in real life. therefore, the artificial and unnatural situation may not reflect how learning takes place in everyday life. in addition, internal validity is also low. this is because there was only one participant and no control group. therefore, the response could have been due to a third variable such as repeated exposure. as a result, a cause and effect cannot be easily established which is a weakness for the study.
what is a weakness of the study (PEE)?
- ethics
a weakness of the study is that there are ethical issues. for example, little albert’s mother withdrew him from the study before watson and rayner could uncondition the fear. therefore, he has sustained long term psychological damage which breaks the ethical guideline of protection from harm.
