Classic study - Watson & Rayner

Question 1

What is the aim ?

Answer 1

To find out if classical conditioning works on humans & if a fear response can be conditioned into a 9 month old baby

Question 2

What is the sample ?

Answer 2

One baby boy called Albert B

Question 3

How old was Albert at the start of the study ?

Answer 3

9 months

Question 4

How old was Albert when conditioning began ?

Answer 4

11 months

Question 5

How were Albert’s emotions ?

Answer 5

Solid and unemotional

Question 6

What type of sampling was used ?

Answer 6

Opportunity sampling

Question 7

Who was Albert’s mother & what did she get in return for the study ?

Answer 7

Nurse & was paid $1

Question 8

What are the 2 IVs ?

Answer 8

1. Before compared to after conditioning
2. Presented with rat compared to other white fluffy objects

Question 9

What is the DV ?

Answer 9

Number of fearful behaviours when presented with stimuli

Question 10

What happened at 9 months old ?

Answer 10

Albert tested with white fluffy objects e.g. white rat, rabbit, cotton wool

Question 11

Why was Albert tested at 9 months old ?

Answer 11

To see if he produced a fear reaction, he didn’t

Question 12

What was the neutral stimuli ?

Answer 12

White fluffy objects

Question 13

What 2 things did researchers check Alberts fear response with ?

Answer 13

1. White fluffy objects
2. Striking an iron bar

Question 14

How did Albert react to the iron bar at 9 months old ?

Answer 14

He cried

Question 15

What was the unconditioned stimuli ?

Answer 15

Striking the iron bar

Question 16

What was the unconditioned response ?

Answer 16

Crying

Question 16

How many times was Albert shown the white rat at 11 months old ?

Answer 16

3 times

Question 17

What was showing the white rat paired with ?

Answer 17

Striking the iron bar

Question 18

What response did Albert with the pair at first ?

Answer 18

He started to whimper

Question 19

How long later was Albert retested and what happened ?

Answer 19

A week later the pair was shown again 3 times

Question 20

What began to happen when the rat was presented alone ?

Answer 20

He began to whimper

Question 21

What happened after the retest a week later ?

Answer 21

Pair presented 2 more times, and rat alone another time which he cried

Question 22

What was the conditioned stimulus ?

Answer 22

Neutral stimuli

Question 23

What was the conditioned response ?

Answer 23

Crying

Question 24

How was Albert's fear generalised ?

Answer 24

Showed other white fluffy objects 10 days later (rabbit) where he whimpered & cried

Question 25

Where was the initial study carried out ?

Answer 25

A large & well lighted room, with a table in the centre under a skylight

Question 26

How was Albert's fear transferred ?

Answer 26

Carried out study in lecture theatre with 4 other people, reaction remained

Question 27

What happened a month later ?

Answer 27

Retested, showing slightly weaker response

Question 28

What 2 things were concluded from the study ?

Answer 28

1. Can be conditioned to produce fear 2. Fear can be generalised & transferred

Question 29

Why is the sample not generalisable ?

Answer 29

One baby boy, androcentric, not representative of women & adults

Question 30

Why is the study not generalisable ?

Answer 30

Reared from hospital environment since birth, never been shown rage before, may have reacted differently to others

Question 31

Why is the study highly reliable ?

Answer 31

Standardised procedures, high control over EVs so can be replicated to test for the consistency of the results

Question 32

Why is the study high in test retest reliability ?

Answer 32

Tested at different points in time but with same researcher

Question 33

How can the study lack ecological validity ?

Answer 33

Lab environment so can't be generalised out of lab, may react differently in natural setting

Question 34

How can the study have high internal validity ?

Answer 34

No prior learning at age that could have influenced fear of rats

Question 35

How was the DV measured ?

Answer 35

Video footage & verification

Question 36

What ethical guideline was broken ?

Answer 36

Protection from harm as Albert was conditioned to numerous stimuli & mother removed before they could remove fear

Question 37

What ethical guideline was protected ?

Answer 37

Protection from harm = evidence they tried not to upset him too much